Wasp Attack Droid

by Onder Skall

Never bring a knife to a gunfight. Well, in my case a sword, but the saying holds true.

Second Life Games readers may remember the big Wasp release  event. Check that link out for the video.

Anyhow, he sent me a demo and, always a fan of the free stuff, I rezzed it and put it through it’s paces. I customized the colors so it looked a little more wasp-like, gave it some big guns (and a foam gun just for fun), and then told it to attack… hmmm, nobody’s around… well, attack me.

TyroTech WASP Attack Droid Release Event

by Onder Skall

When - 2:30pm (SLT), Saturday April 7th 2007
Where - Techno Wasp Launch Site (click for slurl)
Check out the promo video:

From the press release:

SPECIAL EVENT LAUNCH PRICE OF $L2000! (Normally $L3000)

Up to 5 people (depending on the traffic) will be chosen at random at the end of the event, and be given a free WASP! There will also be discount TyroTech merchandise for sale.

The TyroTech WASP is a fully automated attack droid, which is capable of being controlled fully from many hundreds of kilometers away. Featuring a fully interactive radar display, the WASP is a lethal solution for many problems. Customise it’s colour and weapon scheme to fit any situation, and full chat relay allows you to taunt your enemies from afar!

He’s sending me a prototype for review but I probably won’t have time for it until mid next week, so swing by the event and take a look for yourself.

SL Combat Expo 2007 Underway

Onder Skall reports from Armory Island

The SL Combat Expo 2007 has officially launched and will be running until April 2nd. This is a great opportunity to see some of the cooler weaponry that Second Life has to offer and ask questions of the weaponsmiths themselves.

From the official release:

William Dalgleish, Project Manager for the SL Combat Expo said, “The response from combat vendors to this Expo has been great, and we have basically filled the vendor stands. Several weapons makers will be releasing new products especially in time for the Expo.”

The discussions will take place each night from 5:30 to 6:30pm followed by formal product presentations by exhibitors from 7:00pm to 9:30pm.

TONIGHT:

5:30pm-6:30pm Combat Strategies for Players Round Table Discussion

Speakers include Max Demar, Manager of Armory Xtreme and Loki Pyle, Sales Manager for Armory Island

7:00pm-9:30pm Product Demonstration by Vendors Gold and Silver (20 minutes per gold vendor, 15 minutes per silver vendor).

Here are some hawt pix (after the fold):

Countdown to SL Combat Expo - Force Prophesies

There was something immediately impressive about this product. Even the box it came in was impressive - it had this great sci-fi look and automatically updated the package when I opened it. The manual was huge, and was necessarily divided up into 8 separate notecards. Of course, I didn’t bother with that. I just started jabbing at the hud.

After bouncing off of the walls and randomly sending myself flying through a few sims I took the tool off and read the manual.

In case I haven’t made a strong enough hint at the issue: Force Prophesies does dozens and dozens of things. Now, I had reviewed Piero Patar’s “SL PTools” before and gave you an idea of how elaborate a multitool it was. Kokiri Saarinen’s Force Prophesies is pretty elaborate too, but it has the added bonus of being very fine-tuned.

The sensor alone is incredibly sophisticated. You can get a list of names of everybody within chat range, have it constantly monitor who moves in and out of range, and even produce a hologram around you showing everybody’s location. It can also give you a measurement of how efficient script performance is on the sim at any given moment and warn you if things are going slowly.

As far as weaponry it pushes, pulls, shoots lightning, sets people on fire, and puts a black ball around them to make mouselook useless. It has a series of shields, some great dodging animations, some non-physical chairs, an orbiter (of course), and great ways to attack people even when they are non-physical in no-push zones.

One of the more interesting (ie: controversial) elements is called “Extend Senses”. This will spawn a chat bug that will follow any av around so that you can listen to them from anywhere in SL. This is, potentially, a big problem and against TOS, so be sure to use it only in situations where it would be appropriate!

The tool also comes with many rezzable objects from foliage that grows over several days/months, to a speeder bike, to a toilet. Dozens of possible particle effects also come with it, but the one basic tool that kept my attention was the variable speeds at which you can set your running and flight. Suddenly I’m skipping across sims like the wind!

At L$499 there is absolutely no excuse not to get this thing. Well done Kokiri! Make more!

Countdown to SL Combat Expo - Souls of the Damned HUD

This little beauty comes to us courtesy of Artemis Latrell: scripter, salve-master of the spirits of hell, and all around great gal. Clicking “Summon” in the HUD calls to you a collection of souls that you can send against your enemies. It looks pretty badass.

Functions include sending people into orbit, killing them (making them fall down and playing a screaming sound, also kills them in combat sims), locking them in place, and shielding. It also has a guard mode where the names of anybody who comes within range pop up in a window asking if you’d like them dead. If you say yes, off go the swirling skulls and eerie whispers to surround your victim and scare them to death.

From the SL Exchange entry:

This device is a product of the Department of Experimental Armaments: Mystical Arts, Necromancy, and Arcana division, a federal branch dedicated to the research and development of high power combat technology for a modern world. The MANA division specifically is dedicated to the discovery and modernization of ancient forms of combat.

Well that’s where things fall apart a bit, unfortunately. This design is based on the old Second Life.

The current state of combat makes the shield function a little useless, so if you get this you’re probably going to want to get a shield separately. At L$999 that’s probably not too much to ask. This is a very fun way to deal with griefers, and in a combat situation it really does cut through everybody else’s shields like butter! This is a must-have for anybody who wants to do combat in style.

Besides, why kill anybody yourself when you can get a legion of damned souls to do it for you?

Countdown to SL Combat Expo - The Piero Padar Collection

Welcome to the “Countdown to SL Combat Expo” series! I’ll be reviewing weaponry and defense systems until the end of March when I’ll be focusing on the Expo itself. Basically, these reviews are just going to be about whatever people send me, so if you’re a developer and you have something better than what I’ve written about IM me.

Piero Padar sent me a nice little package of things the other day. It had a neat little ufo-soccer game, a sitting tool I still don’t understand, and this thing: the “SL PTools”. Now, that’s a pretty terrible name Piero. What in the world does this thing DO?

Apparently, this thing does just about everything.