Monday, December 30, 2013

The Inevitable Divide

Great to see you all again.
The Inevitable Divide is now over.

Here's the inevitable return of myself, ItsFutur to ROBLOX News.

In the coming weeks:
  • I will be documenting a new experience in the production of my new philosophical puzzle game, memories.
  • I will continue reviewing games.
  • I will continue off delivering rants and editorials/opinion articles.
In addition to the things I talked about above, I'm also want to acknowledge that I started a variety of new projects. I'm working on the new Averate Community Site, as well as managing my own personal project called 'Me, Everyday' which is a daily documentary vlog about my life.

Oh and yeah! From now on, all my articles will feature that pretty awesome avatar over there to the left that was drawn by the talented Phearo! 

Oh yeah, and my stay is only promised for the six months I promise to 'stay' on ROBLOX here, so hopefully we get a lot out of that.

^ Noah 'ItsFutur' W.



Sunday, December 29, 2013

Year-ending post: Why Roblox is educational

Hello readers, RayMan36 here with the reason David Baszucki wakes up in the morning, other than the cash. I'm talking about how roblox is educational.

I. Building and Scripting Aspects
We all know that scripting can get you a job. Computer analysis, Software Designer, Tech Support, lead coder, I could go on. Everyone in a computer job should know some sort of language, and roblox helped with that by using a real-life coding language. Building can earn you a job in engineering, and other fields like it. Plus, with sources like the wiki and forum, learning can begin anywhere and only progress.

II. Roblox's Trade Currency
This resembles perfectly the actual trade currency business in the world. So back in the day when 1 R$= 10 tix, this could be the US dollar and the Mexican Peso. The rates change, and create opportunities for maximum profit.

III. The Clothing Business/Advertising
So the clothing empire can really be described as a small business world. You can all be the same (just plain suits and copies) or set yourself apart, be different, and find something people want. The only thing set apart with this is there is no risk. Making a real business cost thousands of dollars, and making shirts can cost a lot, making a small window for profit. There is no setback to making clothes in roblox, and it is pure profit, apart from labor (and pesky taxes). Advertising, though, has a risk. You pay 100 robux, or something like that, to run an ad that, if successful, will rake in a lot more profits. There was that post a while ago about making ads, and that's entirely my point. Set yourself apart, and make sure you have demand.

IV. Taxes
Taxes suck. We all know that. But they are necessary for building things in a country, such as schools, roads, or an arm. Taxes are burdened on almost every transaction made (other than things like food, water, or clothes in some areas) and take out a lot of money when things are set and done. Roblox does this so someone (cough*merely) does not have too much power in roblox. Roblox takes away robux in ways like dev ex, hats, taxes, name changes, and sales so they don't have to higher an intern because he is more powerful than quite a few admins (sorry if you don't think the same but this, in my opinion, is what it boiled down to.).

V. THE STOCK MARKET
Remember the really popular post a while back, when someone thought it would be cool if roblox had a stock market?
It already does.
let me explain: Stocks have a certain number of shares (fixed), can belong to anyone with the money, and can sell at any price imaginable. Stocks' price are determined mostly by the company, and how the company looks on paper.
Roblox limiteds have a certain, fixed number of shares, belong to anyone with enough robux, and sell at whichever price, but is determined mainly by how it looks. (example: Not So great looking v. Better Traits)
There are many stocks/limiteds available.

I think that's my time for today, comment below on what you thought!

-RayMan36

Saturday, December 28, 2013

Bluesteel and Wanwood Bundles: Are they worth it?

Okay, so a while ago ROBLOX sent out an E-Mail about gamecards and stuff, and at the bottom hinted about a "day after Christmas sale." That turned into two days of non-limited hats and a few packages. Yippee. Well, during that "sale," two things called Bundles were released. They are pretty much sets of hats that are discounted and stuffed into one group, and somehow fits under the "Packages" part of ROBLOX's Inventory. So I'm going to be writing about each package, and if it's "Worth it or Forget it," or whatever Chubbs/TheInnovative said in those other blog posts..


Bluesteel Bundle
 Bluesteel Bundle
 They made a group of great looking hats, bundled them together, and actually priced them at a pretty good price, 500 R$ for the shades, 750 R$ for the headphones, and 500 R$ for the bow tie. Okay, maybe it's a little overpriced, but they look amazing together.
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The bundle is priced at 1,575 R$, which is 10% off what the prices of the items separate would be. If you like Bluesteel items, I suggest buying this bundle, it's a great an okay deal.
~Worth it~


Wanwood Bundle
Wanwood Bundle
And then the Bluesteel Bundle was followed up by.. this.. thing. Okay, so Brighteyes wanted to make some Wanwood items. Well, my question is, WHAT IS THIS? The Wanwood texture doesn't look right on the meshes; it's light green with blotches of darker green throughout the tie and fedora. Don't even get me started on that swordpack. Apart, it's 1,000 R$ for the fedora, 250 R$ for the swordpack, and 100 R$ for the tie. Okay, the swordpack and tie prices are.. alright.. I guess... but the fedora? NO!
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The bundle is priced at 1,215 R$, once again 10% off of the price that all the items would be individually. If it wasn't so ugly, it would be a great deal. I guess two good bundles at the same time is too much to ask for.
~I beg that you Forget It~


Thanks for reading!
~pbjms~

(Oh and Happy New Year if I don't get another post in)




Place Review: Minigames by RaceMasterGame

So, lets talk about this game, it's called 'Funny and Dangerous' (EDIT: Surprise surprise, the name has now changed to 'minigames', which at least give a more accurate description of the experience).

I could tell it was a misleading title by the fact that the description had '[ Content Deleted ]' and the imagery was somewhat nothing to do with ROBLOX. These people make me sick, I mean why don't ROBLOX erase all of their Robux, Tickets & Place Visits and show them what misleading titles deserve. It annoys me there are people I know who put huge amounts of effort into their places and are rewarded by 3 visits a week, however the people who do not put any effort and just insert things from the model section of the catalog are rewarded with a stupid amount of commendation. Does it annoy you?

Anyway, this game has a very misleading title as well as the image being misleading. I do not see any resemblance to ROBLOX on the title image. The game is basically mini-games that wouldn't have reached the front page unless the creator kept changing the title and put ridiculously bad quality images as the image to hide the horror that is the game.

The mini-games in this place are so common which proves my point of how the game is made out of free models, I actually don't even have much to talk about, this might be a very short somewhat review. Whatever there is to review.

Some of the mini-games are so unfair it's unbelievable, I  killed everyone in this round where you have to pick up gear, and one person managed to get me when I had like 10% health? Don't I deserve commendation at least for coming second? It means the second best players are always given zero reward, which favours the best player in the server.

The lobby is about the only thing in this game the so called 'creator' did make, and even that is poorly built, I can't even describe how badly put together this game is, all I can say is "Thank Arbirator this is the only time I will ever visit this place".

Building: 1/10

Scripting:  0/10

Overall: 0.5/10

Good riddance, good riddance.


Thank you for reading,

~Zak

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

The Festive Gift of Christmas Spirit!

Merry Christmas to all you avid ROBLOXians out there from myself (Arbirator), IBarrageI, Flingi2 and the rest of the Roblox News team! I hope you all received the gifts you wanted underneath your Christmas trees and looking to spend your money on ROBLOX gamecards and on the Steam sale! As it is the 25th December, I thought it was appropriate to release a freebie gift (as part of my series) that celebrates the date and basks in the Christmas festivities.

The Festive Gift of Christmas Spirit will be free for all players on the 25th December (and possibly through to the 26th, depending on how generous I'm feeling). The thumbnail hasn't loaded as of writing this post, so here is an in-game screenshot of what you are bagging in your virtual inventory:


So, feel free to take a copy and make sure you keep having a very merry Christmas! Look out for more Roblox News gifts towards the end of the month and into the New Year! 

Thanks for reading!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News 



Good Christmas Finds!

Rayman36 here, with my two front teeth. Anyway, I thought ROBLOX did a really nice job with some of the regular hats (on-sale for robux, maybe timed). I've got a list (I have checked it twice) of great and cheap impulse buys this year. I've made this list mostly because I have 250,000 tickets because of a hopeful TC profit, but the rates are too high. I've been living like a bum in Chicago, roblox-wise.

I like this because of its fedora-ness. On every major event, on ROBLOX  or globally, ROBLOX releases a fedora. This is no exception, but it is higher on the list of other fedoras because the holly, colors, and considerably low price makes this a great addition for any neckbeard to wear.

  The main reason this is on the list is its price and originality. The hat's cheap, and is a nice shoulder pet for the holidays. I also liked Skating penguin for its originality and sort of low price.


These may not look the best, but they are super cheap for the price of 10 tickets.

Three pluses: price (25 Robux), look, and originality. There aren't many crowns out there,  but most are 1000 robux. This is an  original Cesar-type crown for really cheap.




These hats were ROBLOX showing their holiday cheer.The hat looks well enough, but the price is phenomenal.

I guess that's it for today. Agree with me? Want to come at me with an angry mob of villagers armed with flame- encrusted pitchforks? Rant or simply comment down below!
-RayMan36

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Review: Deathrun 2 by Erikwesley96


It's been a good amount of time since my last actual game review but here we are once again to look at the finally released sequel to Erikwesley96's ROBLOX de-make of the source mod of the same name, Deathrun 2. Unfortunately, the first game has been removed from existence and replaced with this one which is a waste of a few nice maps. But oh well, let's get on with the actual review.

UPDATE: Deathrun 1 is not gone forever, it's just being updated and fixed to be up to more of the standards of Deathrun 2.

Gameplay

Deathrun 2 is more or less the same game, but with a lot more polish and work put into it. As someone who played the first game on and off this can be seen just from the lobby's much more extravagant design and higher quality well... everything but I'll touch more on this later.

For those that have never played Deathrun or just may have a bad memory, the premise is very simple; there are two teams, Runners and the Killer(s). Runners have to advance through the course without being killed by the various traps spread throughout each map and (hopefully) getting to the end and being able to "kill the killer". Killers are the ones who set off the traps and their goal is to wipe all of the Runners off the map with correctly timed traps and clever thinking.

As far as the interface goes it actually works and is more organized unlike the one from the first, so that's a plus I assume. Without dragging this part on, I'll just make this brief, the interface contains the following, *ahem*. News, Stats, Shop, Coin Counter, Medals, Configurations, and Spectate. They all do exactly as the name says in that exact order, the shop contains some fancy death effects, and some weapons which will replace the default sword you use when you go to kill the killer at the end but have not been implemented yet, hooray.

The only real tips or tricks I can give to people playing on either team is to try to outsmart each other, Runners, outsmart the killer by zooming in to check their position on the map or try to fake them out on certain traps. Learn the layout of each map as well, very important. Killers, watch for opportunities when to strike with your next trap, don't just waste them or you will not have enough to dispose of the remaining runners. Learn what they do, and put it to good use. That's about all I can say in terms of "strategy".

Building

Now comes the fun part, we've already praised the lobby design and improved quality of the game overall, now for pretty much the most important part, talking about the maps. Deathrun 2 launched with about 4 maps, around the same as the original Deathrun, two of which playable in the Deathrun 2 "beta". Oh, right, I should probably note all of these have a "4" or "3" out of 5 star difficulty rating, which doesn't exactly make sense but oh well.

Death Mountain (Slight Return)



Death mountain, one of the easiest maps from the original game is back and even if my memory isn't the greatest ever I'm pretty sure most of the traps are recycled from the older version of the map so it's basically an "HD" remake of this bar a few unique traps like the platforms at the end that slide out from underneath you and the rotating rocks in the lava that killers can make go into a "hyperspeed" mode. Best part is probably the random lava spheres flying out of the volcano in the center of the map, dunno if they can kill, though.

Poisoned Sky Ruins 


Officially, the first unique map in Deathrun 2. Pointless facts aside what I like about this map is the traps actually make sense. They mesh into the environment and just aren't there as a dead giveaway as to what's coming next. From falling pillars to collapsing ceilings this map has a good amount of variety, along with some older stuff like walls that slide out and knock you into a pit of poison. Though, the main gripe with the map is that monkey trap at the end, I honestly think they need to get a small speed reduction so I'm not stuck jumping at the teleporter to the killer and get mauled to death by monkeys in the process.

Seasonal Island


This map tries a lot of new things, which are to honestly say, a bit hit and miss. Problem with this map mainly is a lot of the traps are very sporadic and never have a consistent point where they will strike, this is especially the downfall of the "lightning cloud" trap and er, water spout trap along an early section of the map? It's a bit hard to explain where half of the traps on this map even fit in. I give points for effort, but if the trap isn't exactly effective then I dunno what to say. Things like the sled section are cool, though.

Surface Escape 

By far my favorite of the current maps in the game, the thumbnail does it no justice at all. It, quite literally, opens with a bang as a section of the wall explodes outward in a chaotic motion killing anyone around, or in front of it. Other clever traps like minecarts that run along rails, flooding water, and a treacherous range of high-rise platforms just ready to sweep you down to your death. Yeah, as you can tell I like this map. Heck, the creator of it even added little drawings for what each of the switches do, pretty cool if you ask me.

Deathrun 2's map line-up thus far is either original and fun to play through, or just gimmicky with many traps that just don't work right. I will say all of these maps are more difficult than some in the original, though. I also forgot to mention each of them has bonus coins you can get if you're willing to go off the beaten path for some extra loot. I don't see the benefit in it but heck, added replayability never hurt anyone.

Creativity 

I don't even know why I bother to add this category anymore, but a Deathrun game on ROBLOX isn't the most creative concept ever but this is probably the best one to date.

Overall

While it isn't a "magnum opus" or one of the best games to come out this year, Deathrun 2 is a fun little time waster and I'm glad to see it brought back up to date instead of just rotting in outdated and broken condition. Erikwesley96 has learned a few things from the first game it would seem too, all things that can be bought in the shop are now purely cosmetic and cannot give players and unfair advantage.

Most, not all, but most problems from the first game have been worked out. GUIs all seem to work fine at this present time at least. A proper spectate mode has been added, but there's still one problem left.. but what could it possibly be? Map design, I know that most of the maps in this game were made by other users besides Erik, but I do think that playtesting new maps before they are added would be a good idea before they're added to the game so they can be edited accordingly. None of the maps in the game are exactly "bad", per say, but Seasonal Island in particular I think needs a revamp, at least in the traps department.

Deathrun 2 isn't about innovation, it's about taking the old and making something higher quality and more polished than the "before" product. While there are new things they can be seen as minor if I'm honest since they don't directly impact gameplay but are rather there to increase longevity.

Apparently you can be killed by
lava boulders on Death Mountain.
If there's anything I can really suggest it's to add more maps to the game, but make sure they're up to a certain standard before adding them in, I'd rather not see another Pyramid of Doom. I wouldn't mind certain maps allowing two killers, just like in the original since it seemed to up the tension since you had to deal with two people, instead of just one. Another concern but I doubt this can be fixed, make players able to walk through each-other so we don't have it to where I try to jump on a platform and the person in front makes it, but I hit them and plummet to my death due to collision.

I'd love to keep rambling on about this game but I'm pretty sure you just want me to say the obvious, Deathrun 2 I would say is a worthy successor to the original. It doesn't have the most replay value right now, but hopefully that changes if they keep updates consistent to keep the game on the front page and people interested. Expect separate posts, or updates to this post regarding new maps as soon as they are added. So, yeah, go play it. (Before you ask going over the game passes, they really aren't anything special).

Another game down, and with no idea of when the next review will be, I'll just say the usual; good day, and thank you for reading another one of my probably monotonous "reviews" about games.

Oh, right, happy holidays!



Giftsplosion 2013 Interview with IBarrageI!

Merry Christmas to all Roblox News readers out there! This Christmas Eve I bring you a giftsplosion themed interview with Roblox News' very own assistant editor: IBarrageI. In the interview we cover his views on the gift items and the achievements to earn them. We talk prices, accessibility and creativity of the 2013 Giftsplosion and give our overall impressions of the Christmas event.

 Note: apologies for the gaps between audio at various points in the video - I'm not used to the editing of several pieces of audio and meshing them together, it will be improved for the next audio interview. So sit back and relax, and check out the interview below. It's a podcast basically, so you can listen to it whilst doing other things on the internet.




Thanks for watching, listening and reading! 

Thanks to IBarrageI for taking part!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News 

Monday, December 23, 2013

Interview with DailyBasis

Christmas interview with DailyBasis!

Greetings to all ROBLOXians, here is a Christmas Interview from Prolixen, my first interview for Roblox News! In a server of Starbucks I managed to interview DailyBasis the millionaire Robloxian!

1) How many gifts did you obtain this year, and of them all how many were bought and how many were achieved?
I got 5, 3 were bought and 2 were achieved.

2) Did you get more gifts this year than in the Giftsplosion of 2012?
No, I got 9 in the 2012 Giftsplosion.

3) What is your opinion on the gifts this year, were they too pricey or of a bad quality? Why?
They were too pricey and bad quality. For starters, I bought a 10k gift to be awarded with a poor retexture of a 1k hat. Mainly though, I just disliked most of them. 

4) Which was your favourite gift, and which was your least favourite?
Eh....Probably the gift that gave the golden shades, they match my necklace and fedora. The least favourite, hmm....The Merrywrath Gift, it is ugly and was too pricey. 

5) What Christmas items from previous years would you like to see back on-sale this year?
Both the items I would like to see back on-sale were from 2010, the Igloo of Solitude (TBC) and the Snowball Machine Gun (OBC). Although, if they went back on-sale I would want them to be selling for everyone not just TBC/OBC, although they would stay at their original prices.

6) In your opinion, were the gifts this year easier to get or harder to get and why?
Harder. Hard achievement with little hints and very expensive.

7) What's your favourite part of Christmas?
Hmm, getting the decorations set up.

8) If next year you could decide how people obtain a gift, what would you do?
An idea for a gift? Uh...Perhaps a gift that a bunch of Knockouts or Wipeouts was needed, say 100,000 Knockouts.

9) Do you think, that overall, the gift requirements were fair this year?
They were fair, but hard. Poor hints.

10) What gift box design is your favourite this year?
DevEx Gift. I like black gifts, makes it look mysterious.

Thanks for reading Robloxians! 

-Prolixen


Sunday, December 22, 2013

Roblox News Festivities: Giftplosion, Site Logo, Group Logo

Image kindly provided by Sporeman15
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all you ROBLOXians out there! This month has already been a blast; with the successful ROBLOX 2013 Giftsplosion, the excellent gamecard items and of course the stylish seasonal themed items (both new and old) available in the catalog. The Siege of Quebec added an extra surprise to budding ROBLOX gamers and even rewarded the vigilant among them with cool virtual hats. Roblox News has joined in with the Christmas cheer and has festivities of its own to bring to the blocky table.

Roblox News Giftsplosion 2013 

May I present to you the Roblox News 2013 Giftsplosion - an annual seasonal event where I (Arbirator) release a set of gifts (in model format) which I make available at specific points between now and the end of the month. In previous year's I have released gift boxes with encoded descriptions, that when deciphered reveal the exact time they will be put on sale on the catalog. Some I release as freebies, but some are more cryptic as mentioned above. On top of the puzzling gifts, I release a Roblox News themed gift to celebrate the achievements of the blog in that calendar year and as a special thanks to the thousands of fans that support the blog on a daily basis. Without the readers, this blog would never have reached this far. These boxes are regarded by myself as quite collectable and serve as a staple as to when a reader started following the blog.

Three of the gift boxes have already been uploaded to my models, with keen gift collectors already owning one of them. The uploaded gift models are as follows:

Bedazzling Orange Retro Gift 

Bedazzling Orange Retro Gift
"Bedazzling is the design, but in what respect is it retro?"  This gift was available on two separate Retro Hours. From 10:30-11:30 AM Central on the 16th December and from 4:00-5:00 PM Central on the 18th December. It will be opening soon!

Beautifully Vibrant Gift of Bubbles
Beautifully Vibrant Gift of Bubbles
"I'm forever blowing bubbles Pretty bubbles in the air They fly so high, nearly reach the sky Then like my dreams they fade and die". I'll give you a clue with this one; it's to with blurbs, well, one blurb in particular...



The Wonder Gift 
The Wonder Gift
"Creating content admired by the community. You are a wonder". Ok, I'll admit it, this one is going to be pretty exclusive, but hey, that's life. 



More gifts are to come, including the collectable yearly RN themed gift - so look out for that!


Festive Site Logo and Group Logo

Roblox News
By TheInnovative

To bring about the Christmas cheer we have decided to make use of two themed logos to accompany our blog and our official group over on ROBLOX. The site logo was created by our very own Catalog Analyst: TheInnovative (previously known as Chubbs21). I particularly liked his design choice of the piled ROBLOX gifts from 2012 with different sizes to reflect the reality of Christmas items buried beneath the tree. I loved the addition of Santa and an Elf which really reflects the Christmas cheer and plays on the traditional mindset we have of the holiday. The old style background and font really cemented this traditional feeling, completing the RN Christmas site logo.

ROBLOX News Official Group
By Chris7198

The group logo on the other hand was created by long time fan of the blog: CYNICALCHRIS. Chris managed to captivate the feel of our default group logo (devised by none other than Assistant Editor IBarrageI) whilst adding a traditional Christmas theme. The blend of the snowman, elf and Santa Claus really presents the seasonal theme well, with players easily identifying its purpose. I also applaud the font style in which it captures a more seasonal theme than our default logo, with a more 'fun' look to it that you might seen on promotional Christmas material.


 Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

 -Arbirator
 Editor of Roblox News

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Interview with EmeraldRooster!

EmeraldRooster
Season's greetings ROBLOXians! Today I bring you the second gift interview of the holidays. I managed to catch up with ROBLOX forumer EmeraldRooster who was more than willing to answer a few questions! 

1) How many gifts did you obtain this year? Are you pleased with this figure?
I obtained 8 gifts. I am pleased since in previous years it was harder for people to obtain gifts.

2) Of these gifts, how many did you earn and how many did you purchase?
I earned 7 and purchased 1.

3) What is your view on the gift prices this year? 
I thought most of the gifts were reasonably priced.

4) Of the gift items released this year, which is your favourite? Why?
My favorite is probably the sparkle coal. I am a gear collector myself and most of the items that come out of gifts are hats and not gear.


Hat Review: Dominus Aureus

Let me first just take a chance to say, I WAS RIGHT. Yeah. My guesser for the Dev Ex Gift was right, they made it too obvious. Okay, so, the gift that was awarded for people who used Developers Exchange or bought the gift for 50,000 R$ opened to reveal...

(shocker!)
Dominus Aureus
Okay, let me just take this chance to point out a few things:

1. This is an updated texture. The texture when it first came out had some AWFUL stripe on the back of the hood that made the dominus look like a folded pancake.
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2. As the most recent dominus, Dominus Vespertilio, this dominus has a new mesh, which is a lot better than the vespertilio mesh. I'm a fan of the chrome-looking features, I must say.
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3. 259 people own this. Eh, not too bad. It's rarer than a lot of other big gifts, but still, not very rare. But hey, it's not like 1.63 million people have it like that Gandolf thing.

Okay, review time.

Mesh: Eh. The new mesh is alright. I love the pointed features, but the hood itself comes to a point at the end. Eww. The button things that I honestly have no idea what their proper name is are similar to the others, but a bit better to fit with the rest of the mesh. The opening of the hood is also different than the opening of the hood on all the other dominuses.. er, domini? What's the plural of dominus? I think it's domini. 8/10
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Texture: Even more.. Eh. Before the updated texture, this texture was awful. Now, it's better. It's gold, it's shiny, it's darker gold at areas, it's... okay. It could be better. I don't know how, but it could be better. Brighteyes, figure out what's missing, because something is missing. 7/10
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Price/Requirement/Whatever: Okay so there are like 4 different possible prices for this dominus. 50,000 R$, 100,000 R$, 250,000 R$, and 500,000 R$. The prices that aren't 50,000 R$ would get you that price divided by 1000 in dollars ($). If you bought it for 50,000 R$, well, you get nothing in return but a gift that looks like a void of candy canes and flowers, along with a golden dominus with a 7.5/10 grade in the appearance. Yippee. Okay, so if you earned this, it's great, if you didn't, it's probably still kind of great seeing as how it's most likely going to make profit whenever it goes limited. 9/10

Overall: 8/10




And that wraps of my review of Dominus duplex subcinericius - er, Dominus Aureus.
~pbjms~





Friday, December 20, 2013

Interview with jojods1125!

jojods1125Today I bring you the first in a series of user interviews which will focus on the views of the community towards the 2013 ROBLOX gifts! In this interview we talk to jojods1125, an experienced gift collector who has spanned three giftsplosions. 


1) How many gifts did you obtain this year? How did this compare to 2012's Giftsplosion? 
 I obtained 11/13 gifts this year. The ones that I missed were the sound gift and DevEx gift. Last year I got all of the gifts excluding the "Big One", so I would say it's about the same.

2) How many of these gifts did you earn and how many did you purchase?
 Of the eleven gifts I got, I only bought the Approval gift. All of the rest I earned.

3) What is your opinion on the gift prizes this year?
 The prizes this year are pretty cool. I like how some of them (so far) aren't technically Christmas-related, so I'm able to wear them all year round. 

4) Out of all the gift items released so far, what is your favourite? Why? 
Musica Infernus Dominator Out of the ones I earned, I would have to say it's a tie between The Wisest Wizard and the Stylish ROBLOX Scarf. The Wisest Wizard is basically a Gandalf hat, and I love any hats that are based on books. I like the StylishScarf because it's good for more than Christmas. The gray color goes with many winter clothes, and I'm a sucker for anything with the ROBLOX R on it. For the ones that I didn't earn, it would have to be the Musica Infenus Dominator. I'm really glad that ROBLOX continued the Dominus Headphones series, and MID looks a lot better compared to Musica Dominator.

5) Which gift item do you think was most worth its price tag? 
As I said before, I'm overjoyed that ROBLOX made another Dominus Headphones. I always assumed that if they were to make another one, it would be worth at least 10k, and it would definitely not come out of a gift. Considering the fact that it was only 5k robux, or 1,250 if you earned it, it was totally worth the price.

6) What was your favourite gift to earn this year? Why?
Opened Achievements of the Populace
 I would have to say either the Achievements of the Populace. The badges weren't too hard to earn, yet some weren't too easy. It was an almost perfect mix of difficulty, and the prize inside was worth it.

7) Which is gift box design is your favourite? Why? 
The Eventful Gift, by far. I love the mix of the different shades of blue and the various Christmas symbols on it.

8) In your opinion, were the Giftsplosion achievements this year fair? Why?  
Well, it depends on your definition of "fair." If you believe people who earned the robux needed to get the DevEx gift deserved something, or if you think people who spent multiple hours in TWH deserve another prize, then it's fair. But if you think people, no matter the join date, deserve a shot at the gifts, then no, it's not fair. As for me, I believe that if you put in the hard work to get the robux or badges needed to get those gifts, then you deserve something for it.

9) If you were to devise a gift achievement for next year's giftsplosion, what would it be? 
 Usually, the gifts are based on features that were added in the previous year, and since Universes are coming out soon, maybe for making a Universe? It would be a simple gift to earn, and anyone who actively builds should earn it. Yeah, I think that'd be a good gift achievement.

10) If you were to design a gift box texture for next year's giftsplosion, what would it look like? Just for the sake of staying constant, I'll think of a texture for a Universe Gift box. Maybe something futuristic, like along the lines of the iEgg? I think that would be a nice gift for any sci-fi fans on ROBLOX.


Thanks for reading!

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News

Christmas Rush Quick Guide

Hello guys :D This is my latest post, and I am sorry for taking soooo long!
I am sure all of you are excited for Christmas, looking forward to waking your parents up at 6 in the morning to look in stockings, running upstairs or downstairs to the Christmas tree for the presents, eating Christmas dinner and maybe celebrating it all with family and friends that aren't normally around!

The Christmas Rush is an amazing game where you make, paint and wrap gifts. All the while you are dressed as an Elf, and you deliver the gifts to Santa's Sleigh and gain Cookies. Christmas Rush has been around since 2011 I think, although I started to play it in 2012. I think it is an amazing game,  because to see the young children talking about Santa, and Christmas, it makes me feel happy to know people still believe in him.

The clip below is my way to make cookies quick:



Steps:
[1] Buy the Exclusive VIP Game Pass
[2] Buy the Half-Speed VIP Game Pass
[3] Join the game
[4] Go to the Storage Room, and get 3 Strings
[5] When you get 50 cookies, go in the Workshop
[6] To the left of the workshop, there is a little room, go in
[7] To the left hand side of the little room, there will be 2 potions, buy the blue one - You will be faster at walking
[8] When you get 100 cookies, go back and buy the red potion - You will get +3 cookies per gift
[9] Now you just get 3 strings, go to Magic Infusers (Near Plastic Modeling) to make them into Gravity Coils
[10] Then head into Gift Wrapping and make them into Presents
[11] Then go to the back of the Sleigh, and click it - then click all the presents
[12] Do this over and over

I have all Badges, except the Beta Tester ones. It took me roughly 3 hours maybe a bit more. Everyone starts of with a Crafting Book. This tells you how to make everything, and for people with Exclusive VIP you just get a finished item (Only Guitars, Swords, Skateboards, String, Sleighs and RoPeds) and put it in a Magic Infuser.

Hope this helps you guys :D

To go to the game, Click Here.
To go to Tiger12289's Profile, Click Here.

-Prolixen

Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Christmas Gifts: Overview

Yes, it's that time once again to go over all of the gifts and what actually came out of them, this time for Christmas! For those that actually do remember I did one for the Halloween gifts this year, and shall be doing it for the Christmas gifts since they're both.. gifts. Anyway, let's start!

Well Outfitted Gift of Style                                                                 Stylish ROBLOX Scarf

Being the first gift people were expecting something pretty "meh" but this scarf is good, could be better though since it's a bit.. flat compared to the others.




      Gift of Passage                                                                           The Wisest Wizard

Fun fact, the hat that came out of this gift was leaked for quite a while. But back on topic, it's pretty good for how easy and cheap the gift was.





Gift of The Little Seed                                                                       Holiday Branchlers

A pretty common gift as far as I know, considering how many people actually bought the seed. This is a nice payoff I think, even if they aren't exactly "antlers" like many have wanted.



Admit One Gift                                                                                   Gold Flash Shades

Welp, I must admit I'm slightly jealous for those that got this gift. For only 1,500 a re-texture of the green flash shades is quite... surprising.




Eventful Gift                                                                                 Eventful ROBLOX Top Hat


The prize for this gift was actually leaked some time before the gift actually opened, but the texture was a little lighter, as far as I know. Good enough for what is a BLOXcon related gift.




Achievements of the Populace                                                                     Snowbot 


I'm honestly indifferent to this, a lot of people seem to like it, but it's not my thing. Oh well, to each their own. Still a good prize for those who earned it.




Festive Gift of Impossibility                                                                     Merrywrath


For 10k this one seemed a little steep, even if I like what they did for the idea behind this hat. Either way, it's pretty creative even if the texture isn't the greatest in some places. Good for those who got it for free.




Gift of Approval                                                                                     Festive Swordpack


A nice, cheap item, for a nice, cheap gift. This is fairly nice looking for a re-invented mesh and I think it'll go nicely with those who like to use sword packs.




Sound as a Bell Gift                                                                 Musica Infernus Dominator                           

I can't be the only one who was a little mad when this came out, right? Anyway, I like it. It's a worthy successor to the first of what is probably a new series of hats. (even if the 5 sounds requirement was a bit dumb..)




Double Double Gift of Trouble                                                       Gingerbread Headrow

Double gift, double item. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a bit sick of headrows being reused quite often now but all things aside it's one of the better looking headrows.





Bewitching Gift of Santa                                                            BLOXikin #32 Santa Claus
 

Okay, okay, they did a good job on the detail and all but charging 3.1k to the people who bought the gift was a bit much for another BLOXikin. I'm not sure honestly.





Muneris Aureus Dev Ex                                                                           Dominus Aureus

Ah, yes. Hopefully what is the final, final entry into the "Dominus" series of hats. Either way, good on those that got it for free and are satisfied with their purchase. The texture and mesh could use some work, though.




The Unluckiest Gift                                                                               Sparkle Time Coal


Released at an hour when most people were at school, this is probably the most "unfair" gift, or unluckiest if you want to go with the theme. What it contained though, is essentially a reskinned,
sparkling war rock that is better than the original. Not bad, I think.



Well, that about wraps this up. Maybe they'll learn from their mistakes this year to make the next one even better, good on you ROBLOX.

And as always, Happy Holidays.