World of Warcraft – 3FL Proxy [Trial]

Due to popular demand, 3FL have setup 2 WoW proxies as a trial for users. One is located in NSW and the other in WA, so we suggest if you are in WA you use the WA one and if you are anywhere else you give the NSW one a go for best results (but you can access either one if you so choose).

The proxies are restricted to Westnet and iiNet customers only and will not be counted as free traffic. It should be noted that these are purely for testing purposes and there is no guarantees on whether this will become a permanent service. As this is a trial, there may be periods of this service being unavailable or not responding properly as we make changes to it or due to other factors.

This is not a Westnet supported service and as such Westnet will not be providing any support for users utilising this service through any of our contact mediums.

This service should be used at your own risk. It should be noted that Blizzard do not support the usage of a proxy for accessing WoW, and there have been cases where users have received temporary and/or permanent account bans through the usage of proxies, so please bear this in mind before using this service.

To utilise the service, it is suggested that you utilise a program such as Freecap to enable you to make WoW use a specific SOCKS proxy. Unlike some other proxies, we do not require you to utilise PuTTY to initiate an SSH connection. All you need to do is configure Freecap (or an alternative program) to use one of the following proxy addresses and add the World of Warcraft executable as an application to launch through Freecap.

The proxy addresses are as follows:

WA: wowproxy-wa.3fl.net.au port 1080
NSW: wowproxy-nsw.3fl.net.au port 1080

We would appreciate feedback on this and we will make changes based on the feedback that we receive. If you experience difficulties accessing the proxies or have problems just accessing specific realms, please direct all feedback/questions/comments to this thread in our forum.

Motherboard chip to end piracy

Atari founder Nolan Bushnell announced at a conference recently that a chip referred to as TPM – a "stealth encryption chip" will "in fact, absolutely stop piracy of gameplay."

Bushnell advises that the TPM chip will be featured on many of the motherboards of computers that are being sold today.

"What that says is that in the games business we will be able to encrypt with an absolutely verifiable private key in the encryption world – which is uncrackable by people on the internet and by giving away passwords – which will allow for a huge market to develop in some of the areas where piracy has been a real problem."

The "people on the internet" were unavailable for comment.

[Source: gamesindustry.biz] 

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness [Demo on 3FL]

Penny Arcade, one of the most popular webcomics to date have released a game based on their award winning 'strip.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic RPG where players construct a fully customisable character to play along side the comic's two main character Gabe and Tycho. Reviews for the game have been so far positive and it's definitely something to check out for fans of the award winning web comic.

The demo is about 220MB and can be found on our download vault for Mac, Linux and Windows (click on the link for your respective operating system).

Enjoy and let us know what you think!

Warhammer Online to get Australian servers

It seems in order to get an upcoming MMO game server in your native country – all that it takes is to send threats in the form of your nation's most feared creature – for this instance the old drop bears in a mail parcel seems to have done the trick for Australia. That's right, Australia will apparently receive a dedicated server for the oceanic regions to cater not only for Australia but for New Zealand and South East Asia.

Gamespot and IGN recently sat down with Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR) producer Josh Drescher to discuss and clarify the Australian server announcement.   

From the interview:

From the very beginning the Australian fans were very vocal. One of the first strange packages that we got in the mail a couple of years ago was from an Australian fan who sent us a bunch of drop bear stuffed animals, and he attached fangs to them and there was blood all over their faces – and was basically threatening [producer] Jeff Hickman and letting him know that if there weren't Oceanic servers, that he would send a drop bear invasion to attack the developers physically.

Australians have just been a group of fans that have been very vocal in our communities, in fan sites, and in terms of beta applications and so forth. It's clear to us that it's a completely viable new market that hasn't got the attention it deserves. So we're really excited to be out in the front of the market there saying "Yes, they deserve their own server equipment and so forth".

You can check out the Oceanic WAR FAQ here. Hopefully this will be the first for many MMOs both future and present that will take such great initiative to cater for the expanding Australasian and South East Asian market specifically, as opposed to simply time shifting the local server times to +10GMT and labling them "Oceanic". 

Gamers needed for documentary

What role does gaming play in your life? Would you be willing to participate in a documentary? Film-maker Peter Nizic is developing a documentary exploring the attraction and effects of multiplayer online role playing games (MMORPG) and is calling for Australian gamers to share their experiences.

Experts believe that excessive videogame playing can be associated with a wide range of negative health consequences including photosensitive epilepsy,
auditory hallucinations, enuresis, wrist pain, neck pain, elbow pain, hand-arm vibration syndrome, repetitive strain injuries and obesity.

How has this come about? Why is this happening? What is so engaging about MMORPGs? What are the personal and societal impacts of this phenomenon? These are some of the questions film-maker Peter Nizic is seeking to explore with his project.

“Absorbing, adrenaline fuelled, engaging and thought-provoking… but why?”

If you can answer the above question, we NEED YOU! Peter Nizic is calling for gamers to participate in this project by sharing their thoughts and experiences.

This is your opportunity to share an obsession.

For further information or to register interest please contact Peter Nizic at pete@designfunktion.net

Xbox, Halo, Hookers, World of Warcraft, Credit Card fraud and a 13 year old Texan

The saying goes everything is bigger in Texas - this week a 13-year old boy from Texas was convicted of fraud after him and his buddies had racked up $30,000 on an illegally issued credit card that was ordered by the offender under his father's name.

The boys hired a hotel room under the guise that they had just "won a World of Warcraft tournament". In true Home Alone 2 style, after the boys had ordered Dr Pepper, Oreos and Fritos (Corn Chips) to their room, suspicions arouse after the boys asked the delivery person where they could score some chicks and were willing to pay.

The boys acquired the services of a pair of $1000/night prostitutes who apparently were used to play Halo rather than actually …*ah-hem*. The boys allegedly tricked the prostitutes into thinking they were people of restricted growth working with a travelling circus and based on discrimination laws that protect the disabled in the state of Texas – they abided. When questioned about the prostitutes, the boy answered that he thought it was a reasonable thing to do after winning a World of Warcraft tournament (indeed).

The delivery person (perhaps out of jealousy?) alerted the police who found the boys with around $3,000 in cash, a heap of gadgets, an Xbox and two Halo-playing hookers. The boy in the centre of this had apparently only just turned 13 the week before and said that his lawyer father wouldn't mind because he had seemingly forgotten to buy his wonderful son a present, when in fact he was due to be taken on a surprise visit to Disney Land instead.

You don't need to be genius to point this one out but if there is any bright side to this story, it would definitely be the fact it was Halo and not GTAIV that they were playing instead.

[Source: Money.co.uk]

Bioshock – coming to a cinema near you!

 

Set in an alternative history 1960, the game places the player in the role of a plane crash survivor named Jack, who must explore the underwater Objectivist-dystopian city of Rapture, and survive attacks by the mutated beings and mechanical drones that populate it. The game incorporates elements found in role-playing and survival horror games, and is described by the developers and Levine as a "spiritual successor" to their previous titles in the System Shock series.

[Source: Wikipedia]

The news of the movie comes not long after the confirmed sequel (or prequel) for Bioshock which is currently targetting a fourth quarter 2009 release.  

TF2 Update: Goldrush + Free Weekend + Medic Upgrades

3FL have set up 9 new dedicated TF2 servers that are running the new Gold Rush map – for server and player levels check out the 3FL Server Spy.  

The Medic class is the first to receive the new array of achievements (below) which will eventually unlock 3 new weapons.

• The Blutsauger: a syringe gun which generates health upon hitting an enemy, this is unlocked by completing a 3rd of the new Medic achievements
• The Kritzkrieg: a new medigun which uses its Ubercharge to grant the recipient of the charge 100% chance to critically hit enemies, this is unlocked by completing two thirds of the Medic achievements
• The  Ubersaw:  upon taking damage through melee attacks, this will directly be converted to Ubercharge – four melee hits with the Ubersaw will be enough to fully charge whatever medic gun the Medic has equipped. This weapon is unlocked by completing all 36 achievements.

The 36 Medic class achievements

First Do No Harm: Play a full round without killing any enemies, and score the highest on a team of 6 or more players.
Quadruple Bypass: Heal a teammate who's taking fire from 4 enemies at once.
Group Health: Work with 2 other Medics to deploy 3 simultaneous Uber-Charges.
Surgical Prep: Have an Uber-Charge ready before the Setup phase ends.
Trauma Queen: Deploy 3 Uber-Charges in less than 5 minutes, and assist in 5 kills during that time.
Double Blind Trial: Deploy an Uber-Charge within 8 seconds of a nearby enemy Medic deploying his.
Play Doctor: In a team with no Medics, be first to switch to Medic after a teammate calls "Medic!", and then heal 500 health.
Triage: Deploy an Uber-Charge on a teammate less than a second before they're hit by a critical explosive.
Preventive Medicine: Block the enemy from capturing a control point with an Uber-Charged teammate.
Consultation: Assist a fellow Medic in killing 5 enemies in a single life.
Does It Hurt When I Do This?: Kill 50 Scouts with your syringe gun.
Peer Review: Kill 50 Medics with your bone saw.
Big Pharma: Assist a Heavy in killing 20 enemies, where neither of you die.
You'll Feel a Little Prick: Assist in killing 3 enemies with a single Uber-Charge on a Scout.
Autoclave: Assist in burning 5 enemies with a single Uber-Charge on a Pyro.
Blast Assist: Assist in exploding 5 enemies with a single Uber-Charge on a Soldier.
Blunt Trauma: Assist in punching out 4 enemies with a single Uber-Charge on a Heavy.
Medical Breakthrough: Assist in destroying 5 enemy Engineer buildings with a single Uber-Charge on a Demoman.
Midwife Crisis: Heal an Engineer as he repairs his Sentrygun while it's under enemy fire.
Ubi concordia, ibi victoria: Assist in killing 5 enemies on an enemy control point, in a single life.
Grand Rounds: Heal 200 teammates after they've called for "Medic!".
Infernal Medicine: Extinguish 100 burning teammates.
Doctor Assisted Homicide: Assist in killing 20 nemeses.
Placebo Effect: Kill 5 enemies in a single life, while having your Uber-Charge ready, but undeployed.
Sawbones: Hit enemies with your bonesaw 5 times in a row without dying or missing.
Intern: Accumulate 7000 heal points in a single life.
Specialist: Accumulate 10000 heal points health in a single life.
Chief Of Staff: Accumulate 1 million total heal points.
Hypocritical Oath: Kill an enemy Spy that you have been healing.
Medical Intervention: Save a falling teammate from dying on impact.
Second Opinion: Uber-Charge 2 teammates at once.
Autopsy Report: Provide an enemy with a freezecam shot of you taunting above their ragdoll.
FYI I Am A Medic: Use your bonesaw to kill 5 enemy Spies who have been calling for "Medic!".
Family Practice: Uber-charge ten of your Steam Community Friends.
House Call: Join a game that one of your friends is in and then deploy an Uber-Charge on him.
Bedside Manner: Be healing a teammate as he achieves an achievement of his own.

Source: http://www.steampowered.com/goldrush/