So what's this 5punk stuff all about then?
Well, one day Woo Elephant Yeah decided it would be a good idea to get like minded b3tans' (b3ta.com) to all play online games together. Since then there's been no looking back, and 5punk has now turned into an active online gaming community for all ages and types of people. I took over in May 2007 and hope to continue to grow the site whilst keeping it in the spirit of what WEY started.
You do not have to be a member of b3ta to join 5punk, as it's an open gaming community, it's just that b3ta is historically a root for people to come here.
What do I have to do to join 5punk?
Quite simple really, just download/install xfire (xfire.com) and then update your 5punk forum profile with your xfire user name.
Simply visit http://www.xfire.com/clans/5punk/ and add yourself to the list to instantly have every other 5punker appear within Xfire.
Are you a clan based site?
Nope, not at all, we're just a bunch of like minded gamers who enjoy playing online games together and having a laugh.
How can I help 5punk out?
Well if you have friends who enjoy online gaming, then please recommend us, or if you see a post on the b3ta/4rthur boards related to gaming, then please post a message about 5punk.
Please feel free to link to us with one of the following images :
There is also a donation page for those of you feeling generous, as our dedicated game servers are run through donations from 5punkers.
It's not compulsory, but every little helps.
Full Throttle Remembered
I would like to publically declare my love for Full Throttle. Something very strange happened with history and opinion on that game - it was well received by critics, it was completely fantastic, it was Tim Schafer's most mature writing (three years before Grim Fandango). And then somehow it became the black sheep of LucasArts' [...]
Author: John Walker
Category: RockPaperShotgun bill tiller full throttle Lucasarts
Publish Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:43:54 +0000
I would like to publically declare my love for Full Throttle. Something very strange happened with history and opinion on that game - it was well received by critics, it was completely fantastic, it was Tim Schafer's most mature writing (three years before Grim Fandango). And then somehow it became the black sheep of LucasArts' output, condemned by false memories of being too short, and having awful arcade sequences throughout. Which just isn't true! Certainly it was a shorter adventure compared to others in their catalogue, but it was such an astonishingly fine one. And the arcade bits? Pieces of piss, apart from one crappy section with the demo derby. Get over it! Restore Full Throttle to its rightful glory! And then check out this excellent piece from Adventure Classic Gaming, discussing the fate of the two aborted sequels with former LucasArts artist, Bill Tiller.
Mission Architect:
First the City of Heroes Character Creator set a new standard for player creation and customization. Now, Issue 13 takes another giant step, allowing players to design their own missions and story arcs to share with the entire City of Heroes community. Using an intuitive interface similar to the game’s detailed Character Creator, players can create missions from the ground up. Players will determine details ranging from environments, mission objectives, and enemies, to written fiction and character dialogue; giving their stories nearly infinite depth and personalization.
Among other rewards, authors and architects who create the most extraordinary content will garner acclaim and reputation. Community feedback will be paramount and some missions will elevate in status unlocking new rewards and benefits for their creators.
Day Jobs (Offline Character Progression)
Scholar? Caregiver? City Official? Now when players log out of City of Heroes / Villains they’re just getting started! A character’s day job is determined by the actual in-game location from which he or she logs out. If players log out from a University their day job is considered to be a Scholar. If they log out from City Hall they're a City Official. The benefits are thematically appropriate to the location. For example, a City Official earns extra Influence, a Scholar is granted Salvage, a Caregiver is granted Health Regeneration Buffs, etc.
Once characters have accumulated the required amount of time for each Day Job, they are rewarded with the appropriate Day Job Badge and Title, increasing their “earnings” for that job. Multiple Badges can be combined to unlock Accolades and the ability to accumulate additional new rewards. Almost every location within Paragon City and the Rogue Isles has an associated Day Job, resulting in a wide selection of jobs and rewards!
New Powersets
Shields – Heft a Shield for Heroic of Villainous Ends! This new powerset brings a classic power to City of Heroes: Shields! Now, you can arm Tankers, Scrappers, Brutes and Stalkers with a powerful shield to protect themselves and their allies.
Pain Domination – Villains can now bend the power of pain to serve their own ends! Those playing a Corruptor or Mastermind have access to this new powerset. The antithesis of the Hero healing powerset “Empathy,” Pain Domination brings parity between Heroes and Villains with a distinctively evil flair.
New Cimerora Missions
New Hero and Villain story arcs expand upon the history and lore, and delve into the players and politics of Cimerora.
The Merit Rewards System
A new game system that allows players to earn tokens by completing Trials, Task Forces, Strike Forces, Raids, etc. The most challenging and time consuming tasks grant the most reward tokens, which can be redeemed throughout Hero and Villain zones for recipes, enhancements, salvage, costume pieces, badges, inspirations and other game items.
Other features
New Invention Origin Sets, new Costume Sets, a Patron Power Respec, Zone Refinements, and more!
Positron wrote:
Good morning Players!
I wanted to be the first to let you all know that the primary feature list for Issue 13: Architect is now live! That said, I’d like to take this opportunity to talk to you about some of the new features, more in depth.
First off is the issue name, Architect. I liked the correlation that the name has between some of the improvements we are making to bases (in the way new things are purchased for them) and to our Mission Architect feature. Players can now be architects of their own story arcs that other players can play. When I first mentioned this system in the 4th Anniversary post, I had no idea how wildly popular that single concept would be. The thread that followed that post had a plethora of ideas of how such a system could, and should work from a player’s perspective.
With virtually no information to go on, some people very much underestimated what would be possible with the Mission Architect. Some got it spot on, and some people wanted features that were simply impossible to get into the system at launch. Even so, we are very proud of the system as it stands. Players can make their own story arcs using a customized version of the tool used by our mission writers, in some cases rivaling our own internal tools in ease-of-use. I am really looking forward to playing the stories you all create with this amazing tool!
I should probably take this moment to talk about what the Mission Architect is not meant for. It is not meant for “easy leveling” or “badging” or “farming”. Those are things that we specifically wanted the Mission Architect NOT to do. This may be a disappointment to some, I know. The goal was to give creative minds an outlet to tell the stories they have in their heads. We didn’t want the system clogged with Farm missions, so actually finding someone’s story that they lovingly crafted became more a chore than it was worth.
To that end, the Rewards in the Mission Architect are something we, ahem, discussed with raised voices time and time again. How much was too much? How little was too little? What limits needed to be put into place to stop farming? Should we even have such limits? Etc. In the end, we have a system that we believe is the best suited for what Mission Architect was made for, and is not abusable. Time and testing will tell if that is really the case though. Like the Invention System, there will be many iterations on the Mission Architect to make sure we get it right before it goes to the Live servers.
Next I want to talk about Day Jobs. This started out as a kind of “secret identity” system, but we wanted to save the term Secret Identity for a system that fit that name better. Day Jobs works well because it is “what your character is doing when not being a Hero or a Villain”. It’s their “day job”. A character who logs out in the Hospital is assumed to be working in a medicinal capacity, and they will receive a themed bonus when they log back in, that sort of thing. We even made it possible to have your character’s Day Job to be “On Patrol” or “Committing Crimes”, just in case you couldn’t envision your character having a “normal life” while you were not actively playing them.
There are plenty of other features in Issue 13: Architect as well, like the new powersets, including the much requested “Villainous Version of Empathy” called Pain Domination. We’re also adding some great new missions to Issue 12’s Roman Zone “Cimerora,” as well as a brand new reward system that will hopefully see the end of “necessary” Task Force farming trying to get that one specific Recipe you have been dying to get. The Issue 13 Feature List explains more about that. We’ll be announcing more specifics of each of these features between now and the beta testing for Issue 13.
Finally, I want to tell you about two “Booster Packs” that will be available in a month or so. Many players have requested the ability to buy the 30 day temporary jetpack that comes with the new City of Heroes Game Cards. Once the retailer exclusive period ends next month, we are making the same jetpack available for purchase for $4.99 (which is the cost difference between the one month game time and the $20 Game Card price). We are also excited to launch our Super Booster I: Cyborg Pack for $9.99. This pack has an awesome set of costume pieces, emotes, auras and a power. We’ll be sharing all of the details shortly.
So thank you players for the enthusiastic support and I can’t wait to get these new features into your hands and to answer your questions about Issue 13 over the coming months and at Hero-Con in October.
I'm amazed by the amount of people out on the intercock who are feverishly ranting about how shit Spore is. If even 1% of them have played it I'll eat my hat. It seems to happen a lot though, and I don't understand why. With about half a dozen highly anticipated games about to be released I can see there being a feding frenzy of it.
It doesn't seem to happen here, luckily. Even our Spore naysayers have a reasonable cause to dislike the game - it's been overhyped. But on other forums I see so many people slating aspects of the gameplay that they don't even know exists - one I saw hated it because it was nothing more than a social networking site with a bit of a game attached. What?
I've noticed it with games after release too. Every time I see a thread about the worst game ever, someone will declare it's Half Life 2. Now, it might not be for everyone but HL2 is lightyears away from being the worst game ever. Mention World of Warcraft on any gaming forum and the whole thread will degenerate into arguments about how "omg it's shit" or "wtf it rules". It's like watching a non-ironic version of Stoat's internet argument generator.
I don't really know where I'm going with this, I just needed to vent my spleen I think. Maybe I should retitle the thread the Dog Pants Hates The Internet Blog.
