BT Gold

Confirming suspicions from earlier this week, Microsoft announced today they have released Bungie Studios “to embark on a path to become an independent company.” The studio will remain in its Kirkland, Washington offices and maintain a strong publishing relationship with Microsoft.
As expected, Microsoft retains all rights to the Halo franchise, but Bungie will remain involved in overseeing the development of current (Halo Wars, the Peter Jackson collaboration) and future Halo titles. That doesn’t, however, necessarily mean they’ll be on Halo 4 or whatever Microsoft plots next for the franchise. With $300 million in the bank on the first week alone, the Halo IP isn’t going anywhere.

“This exciting evolution of our relationship with Microsoft will enable us to expand both creatively and organizationally in our mission to create world-class games,” said Bungie studio head Harold Ryan in the press release. “We will continue to develop with our primary focus on Microsoft’s platforms; we greatly value our mutually prosperous relationship with our publisher, Microsoft Game Studios, and we look forward to continuing that affiliation through Halo and beyond.”

This works out well for both parties. 1UP learned much of the disagreement between the two companies was derived from intense deadlines that frustrated Bungie. Instead of creative folks jumping ship and leaving Microsoft with a crippled Bungie, the studio gets creative independence and Microsoft keeps their flagship developer. It’s a smart business move on Microsoft’s part.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Microsoft

Those who have completed the Demon Slayer quest may recall the name of Wally – the first to banish Delrith with the famed Silverlight. You would be forgiven for forgetting, however, as the name of Wally has faded in the light of Arrav and other, more memorable, warriors.

Wally’s position in Varrock’s history may well change. With the aid of Aris’s magic, Reldo has been able to recover a text that was thought to be burnt and beyond saving. Its contents tell an interesting, and very human, story of Varrock’s forgotten hero.

Head over to the Lores and Histories page to learn of Wally in Eulogy for a Forgotten Hero.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Histories, Lores

A forgotten and weakened altar has been unearthed north of the Observatory. With the ability to produce any type of rune, the altar holds undeniable power, but its discovery would be so much sweeter if the Zamorakian Magical Institute (ZMI) hadn’t got there first.

The ZMI unearthed the Ourania Rune Altar near Scorpius’s grave, but their attempts to repair it have gone a wee bit awry. Regardless of the altar’s weakened state, the ZMI are guarding it fiercely to prevent any rival mages from stealing their source of runes. Continue reading »

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: ZMI

Amongst the warriors, knights, ogres and castles depicted in this week’s fantastic Players’ Gallery comes an imaginative use for sausages. Intrigued? Postie Pete certainly was!

Head over to the Players’ Gallery to view this month’s fantastic selection.

Don’t forget to keep submitting your images, whether they be line drawing, watercolour, render, comic, pastel sketch or even a toad crunchy collage. Postie Pete especially likes the latter.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Gallery

Microsoft says that “Halo 3″ has officially become a global phenomenon, garnering more than $300 million in sales in the first week alone. The critically acclaimed Xbox 360 exclusive, which was released in Europe on Wednesday 26th September, is the fastest-selling video game ever and already one of the most successful entertainment properties in history.

Initial reports from retailers worldwide show console sales have more than doubled compared with the weekly average before the launch of “Halo 3.” With games like “Halo 3″, “BioShock”, “Mass Effect” and “Project Gotham Racing 4″, Xbox 360 has the greatest line-up in the history of video games and the only console where consumers can play all of the year’s biggest blockbusters.

“Halo 3″ is quickly staking its place as the most popular Xbox LIVE game in history with members gathering in record numbers to play on the world’s largest online gaming and entertainment network on TV. More than 2.7 million gamers have played “Halo 3″ on Xbox LIVE in the first week, representing nearly one-third of the 7 million Xbox LIVE members worldwide. Within the first day of its launch, “Halo 3″ players worldwide racked up more than 3.6 million hours of online gameplay, which increased more than elevenfold to 40 million hours by the end of the first week, representing more than 4,500 years of continuous gameplay. Since “Halo 3″ launched, gamers have unlocked nearly 30 million achievements. In its first week alone, “Halo 3″ drove a record number of Xbox LIVE Gold Memberships as hundreds of thousands of new members gathered online with friends, family members and other gamers around the world to collectively compete and complete the game.

“Halo 3″ is the conclusion to the epic trilogy and picks up where “Halo 2″ left off, answering questions about the fates of the beloved protagonist Master Chief and his artificial intelligence sidekick Cortana as they struggle to save humankind from destruction at the hands of the alien coalition known as the Covenant. In addition to the rich storyline, “Halo 3″ continues the franchise’s tradition of delivering innovative online multiplayer experiences via Xbox LIVE. The game’s online multiplayer and innovative four-player cooperative gameplay for Xbox LIVE Gold users, the much-talked-about Saved Films feature that enables players to capture and save their favourite moments on their hard drives, and Forge, an innovative map editor that enables myriad customization options, are just some of the new features gamers are experiencing.

Developed by Bungie Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios, the “Halo” franchise is exclusive to the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system and optimized for the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network. “Halo 3″ was released in 37 countries and 17 languages. To date, more than 20 million copies of the games in the “Halo” trilogy have been sold worldwide.

Record week-one sales come on the heels of the previously announced $170 million in sales in the U.S. within the first 24 hours of the game’s release, which marked not just the biggest video game launch, but the biggest entertainment launch in history. The Xbox 360 title beat previous U.S. sales records set by blockbuster openings for entertainment events such as the release of “Spider-Man 3″ and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.” In addition, more than 1.7 million copies of “Halo 3″ were pre-ordered in the United States, making it the fastest pre-selling game in history, surpassing the previous record-setting pre-sales of “Halo 2.”

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Halo 3

You’ve cast your votes, the results are in and the next wallpaper to be released is…Triple Trouble! Three brave adventurers face off against one of the most fearsome monsters in RuneScape: the King Black Dragon.

Will their trio of weapons prove mightier than the three fire-breathing heads of the King? You’ll just have to wait and see. Our graphic artists have been fed, watered and are already working on this new piece; however, please be patient as great art takes time. We tried using an abyssal whip to ’suggest’ they work faster, but unfortunately their brushstrokes just ended up wonky!

A big ‘thank you’ goes to everyone who voted in this poll or provided suggestions in the original forum post – the results will really help to produce the best wallpapers for you. And, on a final note, don’t worry if you desperately wanted one of the other ideas to win – we haven’t discarded any of the ideas from the poll or indeed the original forum thread.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Guaranteed

Ever get confused about the identity of those herbs nestling in the far corners of your bank? Ever wondered exactly what your unfinished potion contains? Well, never fear! We’ve spoken to the Herbalist of Nardah and put him to work, updating the Herblore skill.

The first changes are to unfinished potions. With this update you will no longer have to wonder what potion is within your vial. The Herbalist has examined them all carefully and labelled them up for you. He’s also added a new naming convention to these potions – (unf) – which stands for ‘unfinished’, so you can tell their status at a glance.

The Herbalist also felt ‘identifying’ herbs was not the difficult part of Herblore – it’s cleaning! So, your unidentified herbs have been replaced with ‘grimy’ herbs. You will now see grimy ranarrs, grimy marrentills and other mucky herbs. These require cleaning and a certain Herblore level to do so; the same Herblore level that was required to originally identify them. With no more identifying to be done, you will know exactly what herbs you are receiving from the very start.

Your efforts in herb Farming will also produce grimy herbs – giving you a small increase in Herblore experience as you clean them!

The Herbalist in Nardah is more than willing to clean up any grimy herbs for you – for a price of course. He has also, for no extra price, trawled through your herbs, identifying and sorting them into ‘clean’ and ‘grimy’ batches. Clean herbs are ready for use, whether in potions, in salamanders or anything else you could do with a herb.

We hope you’ll now find that it’s impossible to get scammed when you’re buying herbs. We know that, in the past, some scammers have tried to trick honest players by playing on the fact that many people could not distinguish between unidentified herbs, so we’ve done this to make RuneScape more enjoyable for the honest majority of players.

written by BTGold.com

This week’s update brings the latest Achievement Diary – as chosen by you in the Guaranteed Content poll!

Discover a wide range of activities and tasks to perform throughout Varrock, taking you from the Barbarian Village right through to the limestone mine near the Rag and Bone Man; from the depths of the city’s murky sewers to the highest point in the city!

Get ready to investigate dungeons and spiders’ lairs; listen to stories from the elderly; discover Varrock’s various shops and experience the very best that Varrock has to offer.

With a wide range of achievements for you to complete, you will have your work cut out if you wish to complete every last one of them. Those willing to put in the effort, however, will find themselves well rewarded with a series of useful items for completing the easy, medium and hard tasks.

Your skills will be pushed to their very limit if you wish to become a true master explorer of Varrock!

Summary

Where to start The Achievement Diary – Varrock
Speak to Rat Burgiss in the south of Varrock, Reldo in Varrock Library or Vannaka in Edgeville Dungeon

Also this week, we find an unlikely pairing of graphical improvements…

From Pirates’ Cove in the north-west to Mos Le’Harmless in the south-east, pirates everywhere are rejoicing as they unpack shipments of stunning new clothes and fashion accessories. Decked out in their new jackets, tricorns hats, hooks, peg-legs and caps, the pirates of RuneScape have never looked more… um… piratey. So, the next time you’re fighting for your life against one of these fearsome swashbuckling seafarers, take a moment to admire their outfits.

The children of RuneScape have also been given a bit of a makeover. Check out the slouch of Wilough and Shilop in Varrock, the shifty eyes of the Urchin in Pollnivneach, or maybe the anaemic pallor of Smiddi Ryak as she fights for her life on her Trek to Paterdomus. No matter whether they have been naughty or nice, the little scamps have all received a fresh new look.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Diary

In The Eyes of Glouphrie quest, you helped clear the Gnome Stronghold of some nasty ‘watcher’ creatures; cuddly spies sent by Glouphrie to keep an eye on gnome doings. While managing these menaces, you dealt with a lot of gnome history and probably received your reward thinking “Where did Glouphrie go?” and “What did he do?”

In The Path of Glouphrie quest, the story passes from the Gnome Stronghold to the second main gnomish settlement – the Tree Gnome Village. While investigating the strange goings-on you will reacquaint yourself with some old friends, solve some dastardly puzzles, seek the end of the world (which is far from gnome), slay strange creatures, stray far into gnome-man’s land, talk to spirit trees, and find out even more about gnome society, customs and history.

Questions need answering: How do gnomes choose their kings? Why is the gnomish empire split in half? Will you continue your quest to find the lost city of Arposandra and delve deeper into the dark deeds of Glouphrie the Untrusted? Are there going to be more of those creepy, furry watchers? The answers could well be found along the Path of Glouphrie: only those brave and inquisitive enough should travel it…

In other news…

The higher level monsters of the god wars dungeon will now drop hard treasure trail clues rather than medium-level clues.

Rings of life will no longer have any effect inside player-owned houses. It’s safe to die inside a POH, so people didn’t really appreciate having their rings of life teleport them out of the house when their Hitpoints were low!

The Agility shortcut under the wall behind Varrock Palace had become invisible in low detail mode. It’s been put back now.

A small change has been made to single-way combat in the Wilderness. Player-vs-player combat now takes precedence over monster fighting, meaning that anyone in battle with a creature can still be attacked by another player. Before, a player could fight another player, run away, enter combat with a creature, and stop the other player from attacking them. All other single-way combat rules still apply, with only one player able to attack you at a time, and only one creature able to attack at any time.

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Glouphrie

It¡¯s new, it’s easy and it’s fun!!!
Come and spin the wheel of fortune! Every one a Winner!

To have a go and try your luck, click here

How can you participate?

If you subscribed to DOFUS at least once, then you¡¯ve been credited with 2 tokens: a Tofu token and a token corresponding to your longest subscription.
If you never subscribed, please note that as soon as you subscribe, now you¡¯ll be credited with a token corresponding to the length of your subscription.
There are 5 types of tokens that can make you win different prizes:

Tofu Token, offered for a one-week subscription.

Wabbit Token, offered for a month subscription.

Rogue Token, offered for a three-month subscription.

Minotoror Token, offered for a six-month subscription.

Dragon Token, offered for a year subscription.
Besides, for any subscription, no matter its length, you¡¯ll get an extra Tofu token.

Have Fun and Good Luck!

written by BTGold.com \\ tags: Dofus, Win Exclusive Gifts