For those who aren’t planning to buy the game right away, there will be a Starter Edition and Guest Pass!

Information about this was originally leaked, as Battle.net account holders discovered they had access to the Diablo III beta client.. and that they were able to create characters tagged with a Starter Edition label.  Blizzard have since taken the beta down to address “an issue affecting the beta accessibility”.

The Starter Edition will be very like the Beta: containing Act 1 up to the Skeleton King, and allowing a max character level of 13.  However, players will only be able to use matchmaking with others using the Starter Edition, so no grouping with friends who own the full game.. and as you’d probably expect, these players will not be able to use the Real Money Auction House.

In other news for Blizzard last week, the battle for the DOTA label is now over, with Valve winning the right to use the name for their game, DOTA 2.  Blizzard’s game is now to be called Blizzard All-Stars.. and both games will be going ahead without any more legal issues threatening delays.

Blizzard have also been working on World of Warcraft, with new technology developed for Mists of Pandaria allowing them to introduce cross-server zones for under populated areas such as low level zones!  This should liven up some of those deathly quiet places.. though it might mean more competition for those of us farming herbs and the like ;)

                          

I planned to have just a quick go, to compare it against the PC version which I’ve sunk many, many hours into.  As usual, I spent my first night up on a pole.. I’ve never been keen on the hole in the ground method!  Once I had some resources gathered, it was on to the crafting..

There have been a few changes to crafting, making it a lot easier to use!  The system allows you to navigate through categories and then just click on the item you want to make.. and as long as you have the ingredients to hand, the item will appear in your inventory.

This system even tells you what you need, removing the old reliance on the wiki as well as removing the need to drag items around to make anything.  I was rather glad of this change, as moving a cursor when using gamepad isn’t exactly one of my favourite things.. and though it could be said to remove the trial and error from the game, there isn’t a lot of trial and error if you’ve got the wiki open on a second monitor ;)

As it’s an Xbox game, there are achievements to collect too.. twenty of them, for a total of 400 Gamerpoints.

Because there’s an achievement, I’ve started to build a railroad!

This is the first time I’ve bothered for myself, as all the rail on our multiplayer server was put together by someone else and I just wasn’t interested enough to get involved in that when there were other things to build..

The achievement is for travelling 500m.. this track goes all the way to the building in the distance, but that doesn’t seem to be far enough.  I set this up with a hill at either end, as I only had a little gold.  Riding it all the way, then hoping it’d make it up the slope at the far side reminded me a little of my rollercoasters in old favourite Rollercoaster Tycoon! :D

Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is a port of an older build of the PC version of Minecraft, so it’s missing quite a few updates such as the hunger meter, sprinting, jungle biomes and ocelots.. and the game world is quite limited, unlike the PC version, with maps capped at 1024×1024.  Updates will be coming over the next months, but it’s not known if it will catch up with the PC version.

This version does have splitscreen for up to four players, as well as online multiplayer, though only with other 360 users.  Sadly it won’t connect to our PC server gameworlds.. and there are no custom skins, only versions of the Steve skin.  I want my Kirria skin! ;)

If I’m honest.. once I’ve got the achievements, I’ll probably only return to this version for split-screen, or to play with people who don’t have the PC version.  I feel like this is more of a demo of the game.. the small size of the maps means any designs I build will always be limited by size, location and building materials.. and I quite like being able to walk through a large range of buildings as we can on our multiplayer server.

                          

The Mark of Valor Sigils are now unlocked on the website, so you can create your own banner for each character to use in-game, using your own uploaded photographs or designs.  Blizzard have also made a Launch Day Preparation Guide.. purchasing, downloading, creating a Battletag and so on.

They don’t suggest what to do while waiting these last five days, tho ;)

The Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative was released for free via Steam on Tuesday.. and it really is as easy to use as they said it would be.

Objects can be added to your map from the menu at the side, and extra controls are accessed via a simple right-click menu, while the room itself can be changed by pulling and pushing highlighted sections of the wall.  There are now over fifteen thousand community-made maps on the Steam Workshop..

Of course, some of the community maps were made using the Portal 2 Authoring Tools and Hammer, which allows for more detail and control, but the in-game editor is a good starting place!

Less good news came in regards to BioShock Infinite, which is to be delayed to February next year.  I say “less good new”, rather than “bad news”, as the delay is due to the development team wanting to add some improvements and tweaks.. we’ll get a better game for the delay.

And to mention another delayed game.. Black Mesa: Source!  There’s been so little news about the development of this homage to Half Life that it seemed as if it was never going to be finished.. but RPS have posted an interview with the developers: Part 1 is here, and Part 2 here :)

                          

I met a random player in the Mines, who was looking for Netherwing Eggs.  He was under the impression that the only way to reach Exalted was via turning in the eggs.. but I found the quests were a more reliable source of reputation gains, and while slower, they were less frustrating.  I only found a few eggs after I’d started looking for them, and when I came across a suggested route, I discovered that flying and looking around gave me motion sickness!  This has to be due to flying, as I had no problems running around looking for Easter eggs during Noblegarden.

I finally made it to Exalted yesterday, and went back to Shattrath to claim my own Drake :)

I picked the Veridian Netherwing Drake as the quest reward, but have also been back to Netherwing Ledge to purchase the others for 200g apiece :D

                          

I nearly had this pet on the last run of the Faire, but was short by just a few tokens.. I think he makes a good 100th tho ;)

Of course, reaching 100 pets means gaining the Petting Zoo achievement.. and the reward pet, Nuts’ Acorn!

Nuts arrives in the post with a note about wearing your helmet.. I quickly discovered that Nuts throws acorns, and they ‘stun’ the target, though this is only a cosmetic effect.

Next stop: Menagerie, the achievement for 125 pets ;)

                          

I’m now up to 99 pets.. :D

Last night, I also managed to land a rather rare drop: the Sea Turtle!

It was only by chance that I decided to fish the pools that appeared in Hyjal before going to do the Firelands dailies.. and while I knew there was a turtle mount, I hadn’t checked up where to fish for it or even thought about chasing it yet! :)

                          

The Zenimax Online team have been working on the game for several years now, which will be set a millennium before the events of Skyrim with an entirely new story for players to discover.  There will apparently be three player factions, with PvP conflict as well as PvE.

More information will be posted to GameInformer’s Elder Scrolls Online hub as it is released!

                          

This bundle has been causing a bit of a stir amongst some indie developers, with accusations that the huge company is just cashing in on the popularity of “indie” bundles, and more arguments about what the term “indie” means.  The games in the bundle are apparently EA Partners games.. the label which publishes third party games from independent developers.

So.. the games..

HotHead Games‘ DeathSpank, and DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue, Vanguard Games‘ action adventure Gatling Gears; Klei Entertainment‘s action games Shank and Shank 2; and Trapdoor Inc.‘s stealthy puzzler Warp, available for £14.38 until 9th May.. 70% off against £47.94 if buying all the games at full price: a far cry from the usual indie bundles which start off in single figures ;)

I did notice that Gatling Gears comes with a dirty word.. DRM.  This game also has a five machine activation limit.  Would this be in place if not for EA?

                          

The first game in the bundle is Dungeon Defenders, an addictive tower defense RPG game with lots of loot and skills to learn by Trendy Entertainment.

Next in the bundle are Containment: The Zombie Puzzler, an action puzzler from Bootsnake Games, and three games by Digital Eel: Data Jammers: Fastforward, a 3d driving and destruction racer; arcade game Brainpipe – A Plunge to Unhumanity, and Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space, a sci-fi adventure and strategy game set in a randomly generated universe.

There are a few extras: Dr. Blob’s Organism, VooDoo Interface OST and Temporal Logic Grid Blues OST, and for those who pay at least $7 (or equivalent, so £4.36), Starscream’s chiptune album Future, Toward the Edge of Forever.

The May Hurray Bundle is available for another six days, and is pay what you want above a current minimum of £3.27.

                          

More information is available on the official site.