It doesn’t hurt that they make sure your pickaxe and other things don’t break when you use them, unlike Minecraft. That fact alone has made my two older kids intensely intersted in playing Terraria, so much so that I bought a second copy, gifted it to my wife’s previously unused Steam account, and put it on my wife’s computer and in front of my oldest daughter.

The 1.8 update to Minecraft looks to tilt the balance back in its own favor in a big way. A new Create mode will allow flying and unlimited building, ameliorating the irritation of breaking pickaxes and not enough of one resource or another and including the ability to flag specific users on a server to have that capability. A revamp of the Survival mode will have a lot in store for us, too. The advent of NPC villages, underground dungeons, the beginnings of a new experience system, a new hunger and healing system, a new fighting mechanic including critical hits and the need to pull back the bow before firing, along with the scary new Enderman mob promises to drive us out of our painstakingly built caves and homes and out into the wider world.

Look for the features of 1.8 to roll out in at least two updates as 1.8 and 1.9 within the next month or so.

As for the actual content for this week’s podcast, we cover all sorts of crazy stuff including the idea of whether pricing for downloadable games should drive the price of games downwards, the new Sony Play event and yes, how Fourhman wishes to be swaddled in a comfortable baby bjorn nested on Haygood’s chest.

Wait, that may not have come out as well as it could have, but that is the Aeropause crew for you.  Always making your day more uncomfortable for an hour at a time.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Needing some Baby Bjorn Swaddling” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

This week on the Aeropodcast, Fourhman, Haygood and Stephen discuss what might have been behind the recent decision from Nintendo to cut the price of the 3DS by $80.  Did they feel the pressure of the Vita shipping at the end of the year at the same price, or could it have been due to slow sales for the device after four months.  Or is it the pains of having to compete against the likes of the Android and iPhone devices that are selling us games for a $1.00 a pop.  We look at all of those avenues, as well as answering a question from Harshy about whether it is wiser to buy a 3DS now and get all the free games Nintendo is offering, or just wait for the price cut to get it.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Guaranteed Low Prices” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

This week on the Aeropodcast, we celebrate the San Diego Comic Con by talking about some of the best, and worst that have come to gamers with superhero adaptations.  Of course, the game above is mentioned, but we look at some classic titles and more when it comes to superhero games.

Also, we talk up the recent clearance bonanza for those that visited CheapAssGamer.com and got in on the $15 Guitar Hero/DJ Hero bundles.  Who went in, and who skipped out on this deal.  We were also joined by S-Tip in the episode who, as most cool kids do, talks about himself in the third person and talks about the trials and tribulations of being in a multi-million dollar selling band.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “S-Tip” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

Apparently, there is a new hotness on HBO called A Game of Thrones, a series based on the books written by George RR Martin.  I don’t have HBO, so I have not watched the show, but I do know a lot of people that have raved about the books, and it looks as if Cyanide is looking to capture the feel of the 1000 year saga told in the books with their upcoming game release, A Game of Thrones – Genesis.

A Game of Thrones is set to follow the Westeros clan from their inception and through a thousand years of battles for their kingdom.  Cyanide was nice enough to send over a few screens from A Game of Thrones – Genesis, so feel free to hit the jump to peruse them.

A Game of Thrones – Genesis is set to release in the summer of 2011, exclusively on PC from Cyanide Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive.

So this week on the Aeropodcast, besides being on time for a change, we have a decent discussion about the recent spat between Origin and Steam and what it means to gamers in the long run.  But before we even got to that point, Fourhman and Haygood also dropped into the hatred surrounding the announcement of the newest entry into the Burnout franchise, Burnout CRASH.  Yeah, it does not end well for Criterion on that one.

The podcast was mixed, by Stephen “Podcast?  I’m Watching the X-Men Cartoons!” Munn, and features “Droid Girl”, performed by Lazyitis.

Download the podcast from here or subscribe to the podcast using one of the services below. Also make sure to review us on iTunes and now, the Zune Marketplace. If you have not yet, make sure to visit our Facebook Fan Page.

Now today SOE announced a $9.99 content pack, based on the stellar adventures of the Green Lantern Corps. Which would probably be more of a draw if the Ryan Reynolds movie had turned out to be a better box office performer. Nevertheless, as a Green Lantern fan, I squeed all over the brief press release.

So what does ten bucks get you? The “Fight for the Light” DLC pack adds a new power set – Light – and three new scenarios: STAR Labs, Coast City, and the Sciencells Prison on Oa. The press desc also makes it sound like Earth’s Greatest Green Lantern, Hal Jordan himself, will be the mentor for these missions. If there’s new Trophies, this may be a good excuse to forge a new Lantern character and climb up that 30-rung ladder all over again. Although it really doesn’t say if you get to actually join a Corps (Green, Red and Yellow are name-dropped) or if you just end up with a character that has highly similar light construct powers.

With such sparse details, it’s difficult to say whether $9.99 is a fair addition. But man it sure seems like a tough pill to swallow for a game that is already in freefall. New screens and official word follow.

ATTENTION HUMANS OF EARTH: DC UNIVERSE ONLINE WANTS YOU FOR THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS!

SOE Expands the World of DC Universe Online with All-New Downloadable Content Pack

SAN DIEGO – July 11, 2011 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) today announced the first Downloadable Content (DLC) pack for DC Universe Online (DCUO), “Fight for the Light.” Featuring DC Comics favorite The Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) and the introduction of the game’s seventh power set – Light, the new downloadable content will be available this summer for both PC and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system.

“The Green Lantern has been a mainstay for DC Comics fans for more than 60 years, and is a fan favorite among our players,” said Mark Anderson, Game Director of DC Universe Online. “We’ve listened to the feedback, and fans can now create their own Lantern-inspired characters including the use of light powers.”

In addition to the new light power set, players will also be able to interact with Green Lantern based characters and content in DC Universe Online in these all-new gameplay scenarios:

S.T.A.R. Labs – Deep within S.T.A.R Labs, Brainiac seeks to control experimental devices that will allow him to harness the power source behind the Lantern Corps’ rings. This attack throws the Lantern Corps into chaos, and players must join a fragile truce between the Green and Yellow Lantern Corps to bring the powerful devices back under S.T.A.R. Labs’ control.

Coast City – Players must battle their way through the “City Without Fear” to Ferris Aircraft, the home of fighter ace Hal Jordan. Here they face the unbridled rage of the Red Lantern Corps in a showdown to save the city and the Universe.

Sciencells Prison – On the Green Lantern Corps’ home planet Oa, heroes will join with Guy Gardner to stop a prison break that threatens to release the most feared prisoners of the Green Lantern Corps. Villains will fight alongside Sinestro as he attempts to release the Green Lantern Corps’ greatest foes and retrieve the evil Lyssa Drak from her emerald powered prison cell.

Green Lantern offers another exciting superhero for PC and PS3 players to join forces with in their epic battles online, following DCUO’s ongoing combat missions featuring other DC Comics legends such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Joker and Lex Luthor.

DC Universe Online’s “Fight for the Light” DLC pack will be available for download for $9.99 USD this summer for PC and PlayStation®3 players.

DC Universe Online is licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment on behalf of DC Entertainment. For more information about DC Universe Online, visit www.DCUniverseOnline.com.

GAME> Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010)
SYSTEM> PC
SOURCE> PC Gamer #214, June 2011

This is some cool Easter Eggery. I’d love to see the stats on how many CODBLOPS players have actually checked this out. Does Zork have voice chat?

Sometimes, reviewing hardware at Aeropause Games gives me access to some fantastic hardware that I would never be able to afford on my own.  At other times, it gives me access to hardware that makes me scratch my head.  The WOW Keys Keyboard is one of those items that left me scratching my head when I opened the box, as it was a keyboard that works with a PC, but it also has a dock so you can use it for an iPod or iPhone.  While I thought it would be an interesting product to use, as I hate typing on any mobile device, it came with a few caveats that left me less than impressed.

The WOW Keys Keyboard is a standard layout keyboard with an extension to the right of the number pad that allows for you to dock either an iPhone or an iPod device.  A standard USB connector hooks the device up to a PC and allows for you to use the device as a full keyboard for your PC or Mac computer.  The keyboard can also be configured to use a docked device as a touchpad for a computer in place of a mouse or a button can toggle the device to be an input keyboard for the docked iPod or iPhone.

As keyboards go, it is a decent device, and it does handle most tasks as advertised.  Turning on the docked device as a touchpad also works well, and could be a great mobile replacement for those that do not want to use up extra space on their desk for both a mouse and keyboard system.  It was responsive and the keys had a good spring and weight for all the fingers.  Using the keyboard for games worked well enough, although using a touchpad input device was not an option as it was far too impractical for that application.  But for general navigation of a computer, it works great.

The big downside for me was the fact that in order to use the WOW Keys keyboard as an input device for my docked device, it still had to be hooked up to a computer, leaving me less than thrilled.  I assumed this was in order to power the device, but I would have been far happier using the device with batteries and being able to disconnect it over having to keep it tethered to a computer in order to use it with my iPhone.  It removes the most compelling feature to me, which is a mobile keyboard for my iPhone.  If I have to keep it connected to a USB power source, it loses that point of functionality for me.

At the end of the day, while this device will probably work for those that want to have a general use keyboard for their computer that will allow them from time to time to enter data on their iPhone or iPod device, it will work great.  But for most, they will find it to be more of a gimmick than a practical use component for those needs.  The WOW Keys Keyboard gets 3 out of 5 Aeropausonauts.

Ubisoft’s world building title, From Dust was officially given a PC release date of July 27th, 2011, on Steam, the UbiShop, Direct2Drive and other digital retailers for the low price of $14.99.  We also have a new developer diary that shows off some of the gameplay elements that will be used in From Dust, which to me, has a vibe that reminds me of the old school PC title, Populous.

Gamers will use the environment to help guide the indiginous people around the world, as well as using them to stave off natural disasters like floods, fire and more.  Check out the full developer diary after the jump.