Retexture Reviews: Galactic Marshal

Where should I start? The truth is, I don't know. I honestly don't. I like the concept, the idea, and the artwork put into it. The only problem is, the mesh doesn't fit it. I say this because if you look closer, the texture doesn't fit the dimension of the mesh. It has flat spots, which should be pulled out, and attached to the mesh. The Galactic Marshal Is an amazing idea, made by the user Blobmista4. This hat idea deserves a better mesh. The texture is amazing, the detail that goes down to the very last glare on the visor is too great for this mesh. The mesh is too simple for the details on the texture. The hat itself is worthy of a Roblox hat. It needs a better mesh, but hey, you're not like SharpTH.

The concept of the hat from what I can tell, is a space-military soldier. You can think of it from an alien perspective, or from a human perspective. Either it's meant for the good, or the bad. If it were a hat on ROBLOX, I would see a package to fit it. It's rather different, and unique when it comes to a retexture. It shows skills that most people might not have, and it states the ability to be creative, and to think outside box. Whether you're fighting for the world, or fighting for the universe, you'd most likely would need a helmet. A helmet that can guide you to the adventures of a soldier. For the few that would put their lives on the line, and the few who survive to tell the tales.

 The world needs a hero. Is that hero you?

 -TREVOR818730

Futility Review: Juststeven's Place

Welcome to my first "Futility Review". When a review is titled a "Futility review", that means the game is going to suck, and I'm going to review it for you so you can spare yourself the unholy indignity of going there yourself. And today, I'm gonna be reviewing Juststeven's Place. The reason I call it "Juststeven's Place" is because he constantly changes the name and thumbnail. I hate people who do that. And the reason I'm reviewing a place today is because Arby wasn't racking in enough web traffic to buy himself a decent meal at Arby's, and he pointed out that I was being absent from my so-called "job". So yeah, here it goes.

LE EPIC MINECRAFT STYO XDDDDDD!!!!

JUSTSTEVEN'S EVER-CHANGING PLACE
So I proceed by entering the place. Wanna know what was inside? Low-quality minecraft decals slapped on "Welcome to ROBLOX building". And swords. SFoTHIV swords. The premise of the game is to build a fortress and sword-fight. I DID manage to get a little fun out of this game, albeit I was with friends and we were destroying raging little kids with the instakill VIP shotguns, but still.

GAMEPLAY: 2/10
Gameplay? I'm not even sure there IS any gameplay in this god-awful place. It's pretty much nonlinear from my point of view. Build a fort and swordfight. Simple as that. Hell, you can have more fun at a blank plate w/ a sword in the StarterPack. This game is repetitive, boring, and once you get the Darkheart (which you never will) and make a giant fortress, there's pretty much nothing left to do. Except get spawnkilled by some smug loser with the Venomshank.

CREATIVITY: 1/10
The creativity involved in this place really IS as futile as it gets. The "Updates" are fake. Wanna know what Juststeven updates? The damn title and thumbnail. And wanna know what they're always related to? MINECRAFT. FREAKIN' MINECRAFT. Because every 10-year old boy loves Minecraft. And every 10-year old boy loves Gangnam Style. See the thumbnail above. This game should be called "Identity Crisis: THE GAME". I'm surprised Juststeven hasn't drowned in Tickets yet (not implying they're even worth anything anymore).

EFFORT: 2/10
The effort put into this game is abysmal. Juststeven just took "Welcome to ROBLOX building", stripped all of its decorations down to a baseplate with smaller baseplates on it, and slapped a bunch of Minecraft-related things in it. It's really up to what the player designs, but I think you'd be better off at WtRB. It saves your stuff and, if people like it, you can get a bronze statue built in your honor. Also, let me point out something; the VIP room is awful.It looks like it's slapped together with 7 big wall pieces and the only things inside are overpowered Weapon Vending Machines and broken givers. Hell, the VIP room is so bad that the only way you can get inside is when the door regenerates. You can slip in for 5 seconds, regardless of whether you have the VIP shirt or not, and then you're stuck in it for 5 minutes until the door regens again.

OVERALL FUTILITY: 9/10
Garbage like this that gets on the front page is one of the only things that makes me want to vomit. Juststeven had the potential, but he soon became a victim of his own success. Don't be a sucker and fall for the colorful Minecraft thumbnails thinking you'll get a half-decent game. Hell, if you KNEW what a half-decent game is, you'd be playing the actual MINECRAFT instead of this urine-stained "fort builder" game. Juststeven, if you're reading this right now, let me just say that I sincerely dislike your game, and I have proved it in the most SFW ways I can think up. This IS an all-ages blog, and I can't have humor equivalent to the humor seen on Cracked.

I'd recommend this place.
And this place, too.

RN Contest: Frozen Retextures Ending Soon!

The Roblox News Contest: Frozen Retextures is ending in less than 2 days. The deadline for entries is Friday 1st February 1:00 AM PST. This gives you enough time to kick start your imagination and design crazy winter themed hats. Helmets, masks, plaid/knitted caps, scarfs and snow boarding helmets are just some viable options to showcase your ability, but most importantly; your creativity!

Before you start on your entry, perhaps take a look at the current entries in this set. They may provide you with some inspiration for your work and also highlight to you what has already been submitted so that you can do something different and stand out from the crowd.

**CONTEST IS NOW OVER**

If you'd like to enter the contest, simply:

1.) Create your retexture on ROBLOX and upload it as a model and give it a suiting title. If you are new retexturing, check out this helpful guide. In the model's description insert the tag: 'Frozen Retextures 2013'.

2.) Private message arbirator on ROBLOX your entry. Title your message 'Frozen Retextures 2013' and include a link to your entry in the main message. You can send up to 3 entries, but all must be sent in the same PM. The entries will then all be added to this set for everyone to view!

3) From there they will be judged by myself (arbirator), and IBarrrageI. The top three entries will receive a model trophy each and will be featured on the blog for thousands to see!

Good luck to all!

The winners will be announced this weekend and will be showcased on the blog for all to see! They will also be presented to admins!

Thanks,

-Arbirator
Editor of Roblox News

Hat Review: Atomic Neon Top Hat

Atomic Neon Top Hat

Mesh: 6/10

The mesh really isn't that inventive. It's pretty much a disfigured top hat mesh with 2 rings around it. I guess the rings are pretty cool, but the mesh really isn't that special.

Texture: 4/10

To me, the texture looks really sloppy. On the bottom rim of the top hat, the 2 shades of purple blend together poorly. There's some weird leaf...spider...I can't honestly tell what that green thing on the bottom of the top hat is. It looks looks poorly put together, like there was no effort. There is one redeeming factor which is the top of the hat which is textured with some kind of galaxy/nebula background which is oddly more detailed than the rest of the hat. 

Pricing: 3/10

They priced and stocked this one pretty badly. The original price was 1,500 robux with 350 stock.Top hats almost always profit, but due to the sloppy work of this one it only raised as high as 1,700 - 2,200 robux losing the original buyers profit.

Overall: 4.3/10

It was overall just a sloppy hat. The texture looks bad, the mesh isn't really anything special, and they overstocked it which made the buyers lose profit. An unfortunate hat for investors and fashion icons alike.

Fake C4 Gear Review

Hello readers, pajke here. Today I'm going to be reviewing something that I don't like. I'm going to be doing a so called "rant", more or less.

The item I'm going to review is the Fake C4. It truly is a dud.

The gears maximum potential.

This item was added to the catalog on the 25th of January in 2013, along with Duck, Gear Supressor 777, and the Ro-Ped.

Abilities: As far as abilities go, this gear is at the bottom of the charts. You just throw it, and after beeping for 20 seconds it conjures up confetti and some that is almost invisible to the human eye. It also makes party sounds. You can't even throw it very far. As the picture above demonstrates, the only thing this gear is good for is causing confusion. On rare occasions it could be used to scare someone away. Well, at least it's not just for decoration. 2/10

Distance before

You can't throw it very far, but here's a little trick to increase the distance you can throw items in gear battles. Now for this trick you're gonna need the Tornado Summoner, which is a great gear and I recommend you get it. Also check out my article on it. Well, anyway let's get down to this little tip.

1. Use the Tornado Summoner to summon up a few tornadoes.
2. Throw anything in the tornadoes, and do it quickly
3. ???
4. Profit

Just look at the difference in the distance thrown. This works with most thrown items, that function similarly to this one (For ex. [1] [2] [3]). Alternatively, you can just put the item on the ground and summon tornadoes on it, but this is more stylish.

Distance after.

  

Appearance: What saved this gear from a 0/10 score, was that it's not just a box that says C4 on it. It's 3x4 boxes, with a calculator wrapped around them. Nah, I'm just kidding, but the texture and mesh makes it seem like they actually worked a bit on it. Looks good on the character if you want to look like you're planning an attack on the ROBLOX HQ. 6/10

Price: 100 r$. Well, it's definitely not overpriced. I mean, it's just a gear for the kicks. It's selling pretty fast, but I don't see anyone really using it. I don't really have complaints, it's a good price. I think it's something a lot of people should own. Kind of like school books. Do you own 'em? Yep. Do you use 'em? Nope. 10/10 



Overall: Well, as you can guess from this article I'm not exactly in love with this gear. You gotta admit, there's better gear you can get.

Overall: 4/10.

If you liked this article, follow me on twitter @ForumerV2

Place Review: Choices

Hey everyone, PeerPants here. I've been off for a week because I've had a few GCSE's and have been really busy revising, but here I am with another place review! Today I am reviewing a game called Choices by GollyGreg, which was featured in the blog, along with an interview of GollyGreg. Choices is a game which uses both 2D and 3D camera views. So how does Choices do? Keep reading to find out!

Place Reviewed: Choices
Place Creator: GollyGreg

Game Last Updated: 3 months ago 

When I entered the game, the screen immediately goes black and there is text which asked if I am a man or a woman. I clicked man and the text changed to say 'No, you are a girl'. I am then given the option if I want to play the tutorial. I clicked 'yes', and it told me I do not deserve it, okay.... Anyway, the GUI cleared and I found myself in a 2D level, with my character in the middle of the screen. As soon as I started moving to the right, text popped up saying 'Good girl!'.

I walked to the left a bit, and found my first obstacle, which was some lava I had to jump over, simple. After I jumped over it, I received the 'Good girl' message again. I then had to jump over a cave-type-area which had spikes inside. After a bit more walking, and jumping, another GUI message appeared saying 'Touch the statue, I will forgive you'. I touched the statue, which was basically a 1x5x1 brick, and a meshed statue appeared, which I suppose is a checkpoint. There were a few more jumps over spikes, then the interesting part, my view changed from 2D to 3D.

Here's what GollyGreg said for the blog...

"It took some programming and scripting to make the camera work that way, I created transition points on different parts of the map, so as you continue walking forward the 3D effect begins to sway. It keeps moving on an axis until eventually you can take full 3D control of the camera."

 So that's how it works. Anyway, after a few minutes, I managed to find my way out of the cave and into another 2D zone. After a few more insults, and a few more obstacles, I reached the second cave. The second cave was a lot harder than the first, but eventually, I did it!

Anyway, as the game progresses, the obstacles get harder and harder, but once you've got over the original thrill of the game, it starts to wear off and seems to get really repetitive. However, I was kept entertained by the messages popping up every once in a while. Anyway, roundup time.

Summary

Gameplay: 7/10

The game was really fun to start off with, and the scripting is amazing, but after the second cave, it seems to wear off and loose it's thrill.

Effort: 9/10

It is obvious that lots of effort has gone into making this game, and this game is one of the first of its kind. The effort would be higher if there were a few more things in the game.

Creativity: 8/10

There are few games like this on ROBLOX, that include both 2D and 3D gameplay to revolutionise the way we see and play games.

Overall: 8/10 

Got any places for me to review? Tweet them to me or message me on ROBLOX!

Crescendo finally sells out!

Three months after it's release in October, Crescendo, the Soul Stealer, has finally sold out! Due to fact that the Crescendo was taking an incredibly long time to sell, the admins recently put a timer on it so it could sell out even though all the copies haven't been sold. (The admins have been adding timers to rare limiteds lately because of the fact that they keep overpricing these rare limiteds.) Crescendo sold 72/100 copies in 3 months, which shows how it barely had demand with the community.

Crescendo was overpriced at 50,000 robux, which was another reason why most people with 50k didn't want it. Crescendo is currently failing investment-wise, as NOBODY has sold it yet, and people are trading it for items less than 50k value. This sword is the second part (first part was Telamonster, the Chaos Edge) of a new sword series Sorcus is making, possibly as a replacement for the SFOTHIV sword series. (read more about it here) There is a good chance that the 3rd sword of the 7 swords in the series is coming soon, and so far both swords in the series have been ultimate failures. Just saying; be careful with spending your money on upcoming rare limiteds. Here's a review of Crescendo.

Mesh: 8/10

I really like how this mesh resembles an extremely deadly blade. The shape of the sword looks good, but it doesn't look sharp at all. The handle part looks pretty good, and I like the 6 claws coming out of it. However, the handle could look a bit better if the claws were a bit bigger, thinner, and sharper.

Texture: 7/10

The blade looks really dark and deadly, and the handle looks well polished. The claw texture though looks a bit clip arty, and the eye looks scratchy. The strange markings on the blade are nice but the blade could use a bit more rough texture.

Price: 1/10

50k is a ridiculous price for anything, especially a sword. Swords can only be brought into a limited amount of games, meaning, you can't bring gear into most games. Plus, even though Crescendo is a one hit kill, it's easy to combat it because there's so much useful cheap gear in the catalog.

Community Enjoyment: 3/10

The only people who would really enjoy this sword are sword fighters, people involved with clans, and those who aren't either but bought the sword. The only legitimate reason someone would want this sword is to be the best at some fighting game, but most people didn't like it because of how long it was taking to sell.

Creativity: 8/10

Crescendo is one of the few rare limiteds lately that isn't copied from a pre-existing item, which means it was made from scratch. I like the idea of a new swords series to replace the finished SFOTHIV sword series, but the whole point of the sword didn't seem super creative to me. Crescendo, if you didn't know, is a one hit kill sword that also heals your health when used. There's already lots of one hit kill gear in the catalog and lots of health replenishing gear in the catalog too, so it's not really anything new. However, it does have a pretty cool soul-blast attack that's original.

Usefulness: 10/10

Crescendo is definitely the gear to have if you want to dominate any gear-allowed fighting game. It's a one hit kill so it's one of the most powerful swords on ROBLOX. Also, the more people you defeat, the more you can get healed, so it's really useful in combat. Plus, with the soul-blast attack, you can deal huge damage to multiple players at the same time. This is definitely one of the best swords ever scripted.

Overall: 7/10

Crescendo is a great sword, but it was just priced badly. Hence why nobody really wanted it.

- NonstopEpic, Catalog Analyst

Gear Review: Duck

Today I decided to do a review on this weekend's gear: THE DUCK! I picked the duck because it looks like the most fun or funny gear, plus it’s cute. This is also the first post I have made with a video in it, so I hope you guys enjoy. Now, let’s start the review.

Abilities: 6/10

This duck can’t do anything really…. It’s a gear designed for entertainment, it doesn't do anything like damage or cause destruction. When you click with the duck gear selected, seven little ducks slowly stalk you for about 30-40 seconds then they disappear. Honestly, this gear is pointless.

Here is a video showing what the ducks do, don’t mind the catalog heaven gear noises in the background:

Appearance: 7/10

Well, all I can say that is good about this appearance is that it has its own original mesh. It's yellow and orange and when you wear it on your avatar it's kind of awkwardly being held by your “hand”. There's nothing particularly bad about the item, but there's nothing that is terribly good about it either.

Pricing/Profit: 9/10

This duck hit the catalog 1/26/2013, It was released for 200 Robux, Limited U. This item made more than 4 times the robux it originally sold for. It is now selling for 800-1000, but honestly this item is nowhere near worth more than 500 robux, enough said.

Opinions:
@ipodnazar - Just an adorable little duck! What can go wrong? :)

NonStopEpic- it's gnarly

@PeerPants- It's a cute gear which earned good profit. Really fun to use in-game!

This gear is decent, so I guess it deserves:

Overall: 8/10

Thanks for reading this review, follow me on twitter for ROBLOX and RN updates @darkfish900

Hat Review: Golden Monstrosity

Golden Monstrosity



Hello readers! Chubbs21 here with another not-so-great hat review. You'll see why this really pointless hat is as bad as I think.I make it out to be.

Mesh: 3/10

"What is this? It looks like a basic hat that a native american would wear back then," is what some might say. The mesh is basically a mask of some kind of golden bird with horns. I don't even understand it myself. Unless you wan't to look like a native american wearing a strange beaked, horned, and golden bird, this hat is pointless.

Texture: 5/10

For this weird hat, the texture is ok. It is just a golden bird thing with interesting horns. The horns seem to be a greyish-blueish color with some golden dots at the bottom that don't make sense. As for the gold, it doesn't even look like a golden color that much. It's too dark of a gold at some parts and too white at others. There is just no perfect shade of gold on this.

Price Value: 7/10

For this dumb hat, 135R$ seems alright. I don't know if the 500 people bought this liked it, or just but it for no reason. To me, I would never buy this. It's just not worth it to me.

Enjoyment: 3/10

Why would one buy this? I have no idea. It can hardly make any hat combos, and I haven't even seen one person actually wear this. The only way I would buy this hat is if I wanted to play some native american role-play. I just don't see what's cool about it.

Overall: 4.5/10

This hat has a really weird mesh, a not-so-golden texture, a rather fair price value, and doesn't seen enjoyable to me. ROBLOX admins should work on more fun hats rather than stuff like this. There is an over-abundance of space, knight, and other mask type hats on ROBLOX.

Casual everyday hats would be a lot better to buy and wear. 

~chubbs21

Hat: http://www.roblox.com/Golden-Monstrosity-item?id=102623484

Roblox News Contest: Frozen Retextures!

Greetings everyone, I hope you're having a great January! Due to the cold and snowy weather the UK has recently been taken hold by; I thought it would be fitting to launch a winter themed retexture contest - Frozen Retextures! This opens up a a selection of retextures ranging from: ice lords, helmets, (abominal) snowmen, the Yeti, winter knitted caps, icy shades or anything winter themed!

**CONTEST IS NOW OVER**

If you'd like to enter the contest, simply:

1.) Create your retexture on ROBLOX and upload it as a model and give it a suiting title. If you are new retexturing, check out this helpful guide. In the model's description insert the tag: 'Frozen Retextures 2013'.

2.) Private message arbirator on ROBLOX your entry. Title your message 'Frozen Retextures 2013' and include a link to your entry in the main message. You can send up to 3 entries, but all must be sent in the same PM. The entries will then all be added to this set for everyone to view!

3) From there they will be judged by myself (arbirator), and IBarrrageI. The top three entries will receive a model trophy each and will be featured on the blog for thousands to see!

The entry deadline is 1st February, 1:00 AM PST.

Good luck to all!

Thanks,

-Arbirator

Editor of Roblox News

New Forum Updates!

If you were active on ROBLOX for the entire year, like I was, you'll agree that 2012 was probably not the best year community wise. (3.0 bodies, not many great limiteds, no contests, barely any holiday event games, etc.) This is probably why the admins are trying to work more with the community this year. The forums are a classic ROBLOX element that has existed since 2007 and has been great for the community to meet one another. However, it's been barely updated. Until now.

Recently ReeseMcBlox and the other admins talked over updates for the forums. Reese recently announced the forum updates, and there's been different views on it. Some believe it's a good change, but some others think it's the "forum-pocalypse." Without further ado, here is the list of updates.

• A new forum will be named called "All Things ROBLOX" (ATR). It'll be a forum for discussing things ROBLOX-related only, and will have more staff interaction.
• The current ROBLOX Talk is filled with too much spam posts because it's the first forum spammers see on the list of forums. However, this means that if ATR is the first forum on the new forum list, it'll likely become a spammer target too. Apparently, it's become too overwhelming for the mods to delete spam in ROBLOX Talk. Thus, RT will become similar to a chat room and move to the Club Houses section of the forum.
• Let's Make a Deal is going to be moved to the Club Houses section as well. The only slight problem with this for RT and LMaD is that since it will be farther down on the forum list, that means that there will be less new forumers for the two forums.
• ROBLOX Mobile will be moved to the ROBLOX section of the forums.
• Off Topic will also be moved to the Club Houses section.
• The "Hi, I'm New" forum will be merged into ATR.
• The Role-Playing forum will be moved to the Entertainment section.
• Rate My Robloxian will also be merged into ATR.
• ROBLOXiwood will be merged into a new forum called "I Made That" (IMT). It'll be a forum themed all about creations.
• Look What I Made is also being merged into IMT.
• Finally, World Wide Chat and Language Center are being merged into "ROBLOX Global" (RG). It'll be a forum to discuss amongst foreign players.

These updates took place on Friday, January 18th, 2012. So far, most have approved the new updates. However, there's also fear of current active forums becoming inactive because of the new update. The admins have said there will be more forum updates soon. 

- NonstopEpic, Catalog Manager

Gear Review: Bluesteel Alterer of Destiny

Bluesteel Alterer of Destiny

Mesh: 10/10

I like that they created an entirely new mesh for this particular sword rather than just retexture an old one. The handle alternates thickness until it reaches the blade, which tapers in at the bottom and gets larger near the top. The middle part[I unfortunately have no idea what it's called] branches out into 4 sharp points.

Texture: 10/10

I think the texture was applied very well. The handle alternates between gold and bluesteel, which I found creative. The middle is stone bordered in gold, and written in gold is some sort of secret language. The handle is pure bluesteel bordered by a small line of silver or steel.

Pricing: 8/10

For the first time in a while they did a good job pricing an item. It was only 250 robux. Quite a cheap price for a sword like this. I wish the stock would have been lower than 2000[1999 after somebody deleted it], it seems too many for a sword this powerful. But despite the stock, the prices shot up to over 2,000 robux, 8x the original price, and I predict it will get even higher at some point.

Usage: 6/10

I was extremely disappointed when I tried out the sword in-game. Despite its awesome looks and high private seller price, it performs quite poorly. It has 3 attacks: A regular attack, a rush attack, and a jump attack. The normal attack is as it sounds, you simply swing your sword. It has 15 slash damage and 20 lunge damage. The rush attack sends you forward quickly, knocking your opponent over. The jump attack sends you high in the air and then crashing down. It's an instant kill if you do it right. This all sounds very cool, but there's one big problem: they're completely at random. There's no activation buttons, no clicking pattern. You just swing the sword and hope it goes with the attack you want, which can get frustrating. You also have to have the cursor on the opponent, because if you click off to the side the rush attack will send you flying away from your opponent. I was going to include a video but it wouldn't let me, sorry about that.

Overall: 8/10
Even though the sword performs poorly in-game, it did excellent as far as profit, and you're lucky if you managed to get it for 1,000 robux or lower.

Croods Event Sneak Peek

Pajke here, with an interesting article.

There has been a lot of hype going on about the new Croods event. Well I've been doing my research, and I've come across a lot of information which I feel like sharing. Now, I will try to keep this as short as possible.

The Grug Package

We first found out about the Croods event, when a bunch of GUI images called "TheCroods_GUI_" were accidentally published to gear on 1/10/2013. They were on the front page of the catalog. This caused confusion, and no one knew what it was about. The GUI assets were later changed to "Future gear item". People figured out that this was most likely a sign to a new event.

As I said, I've been doing my homework. The game will be a survival game, featuring 3 playable characters: Grug, Eep and Guy. There will be four disasters, and they are:

• Macawnivore Attack
• Piranakeet Swarm
• Fire
• Rockslide 

From this GUI, you can kind of get the point of the game. There is also an MVP system. To be the MVP, you have to collect more Food items, and power-ups than the other players. Which is also kind of the point of the game, along with surviving until the end of course. 

A few bonus GUIs: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]
Croodhat textures: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] - It's pretty lame that they're all the same template.

The Macawnivore (Might be put together wrong, lol)

Guide to making a Fan Site

Welcome, I hope this guide will help you in creating a successful fansite for Roblox. If not, at-least get you started! :)

Roblox News, upcoming Milestones: 75 posts away from 1500.
Roblox News milestones achieved: 500K views, 1000 fans on official group and over 1200 followers on Official Twitter.

Table of Contents

• Intro
• Useful Sites
• Important Information
• Web Hosting

Intro

What is a Fan Site? Well it is a site created by fans of a particular product, in this case it would be Roblox. To create a Fan Site you don't need to know any HTML or any coding languages or anything like that, all you need is creativity. Why creativity? Well you need to stay fresh and new, different from what other sites offer. It should have the viewers craving to want more. NEVER try to copy another site, this can cause big arguments and fights. And it is always a good idea to avoid fights.

Table of Contents

Useful Sites

There are many useful sites out there which can help you get started. If you are someone who doesn't have money to buy a domain and pay for a host, use the sites that I am going to tell you about. For beginners Blogger (What Roblox News is using) is very useful, the controls and user interface is very easy to learn. Blogger is simply a blog, where you write articles and publish. If you know HTML and/or Java, you can write codes for your own widgets. Blogger also provides you with some nice features like "Permalink" where you can enter what you want the link to be.
For example: http://www.arbirator-robloxnews.blogspot.com/2013/01/cubeguide.html is the link of this article. "cubeguide" is the custom name I put, so that the link won't be too long (Normally link contains the title of the article) and it is easier if you want to keep track of things. You can also create labels for your posts and set a schedule for when you want it to be posted.

WARNING: Be careful about who you make admin on your Blogger site, once they are admins they can remove you and then takeover the site!

Another nice site is Wordpress I haven't used Wordpress since 2008-2009 but it is a site that has plenty of nice features and a lot of plugin support. It is, I would say a little more complicated than Blogger but still a very reliable site to blog.
The final blogging tool I will tell you about is, Tumblr. Tumblr is more of a personal blogging site, so if you don't want to go solo, tumblr is not very useful. Tumblr has some very beautiful templates and you can write your own in CSS if you wish.
Now if you want something other than a blog, more like a website. You can uses sites like Webs, Yola, Wix and Weebly. These are some of the most useful, easy and popular sites to use other than the three I mentioned earlier.

Table of Contents

IMPORTANT Information to know

• Roblox is an Intellectual Property of Roblox Corp.
If Roblox (employee) ever asks you to take anything down, please comply to their requests. I believe all screenshots and videos you put up of Roblox becomes Roblox property. [If you are a Roblox Employee and finds any false in this, PLEASE tweet me @Flingi2 for rectification]

• Employing
When you "employ" users to your site to do reviews, make sure to have them submit an article on a topic you choose. Look at their writing style, is it serious? is it humorous? is it both? Both is always good because you can get across a message in a humorous way, keeping your reader entertained.

• Protecting your Content
Although we don't do it to our Images, remember to watermark your images in an area where, removal of it distorts the image. The watermark should be in an area where it can hurt the image if removed but it is not the focus.

• Community
Involve your community, involve your fans through events and giving the opportunities to be part of your site.

• Promoting
Promoting a site is the best way to get views, there are many social media outlets in which through you can promote your site for free. If you have an YouTube channel that gets views, make sure to use it as a way to promote your site. The best way to promote is to use Twitter, there are sites which will let you auto-tweet your latest posts so your followers knows whats up. Submit your sites to google, bing and yahoo search engines for free.

• What not to cover
Please don't become like a propaganda site for a particular "war" group or any roblox group for that matter. Unless your site is made just for a particular group and not for the general roblox community.

• Copied Content
We here at Roblox News have had issues with certain users just copying and pasting, images and reviews done by our staff to their own site. PLEASE DO NOT plagiarize, be original and create your own unique content that stick out.

Web Hosting

If you are an expert or very knowledgeable about web designing and have some money consider buying a domain which you can get for very cheap price, which you would 1 year atleast. For example if I bought a domain "www.candypants.com" for $12.95 I own it for 1 year and if I decide to pay for more years I can and own it for however long I paid for. A site I can suggest to you for Web Hosting would be HostGator.

Web Host Coupons

$9.94 OFF your purchase - C994OFFHOSTING
25% OFF your purchase - C25PERCENTOFF

IF you have any questions at all, feel free to tweet me @Flingi2 or @CrypticCube. I hope you found this useful.

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Kingdom Life II Review

Swords, shields, bows, and blood is what you would expect from a game set in the medieval times. Yet, Kingdom Life II does not deliver on the intense combat, instead, it dips into a unique roleplaying experience.

The world which Kingdom Life II creates is filled with guards, elves, dwarfs, dragons, and much more, all of the creatures and races you learned from myths and legends are included for players to play, including variations on each species. Whether you want to be a guard defending the castle walls from invading elves, or a wizard up in a tower crafting a cacophony of potions and poisons, there is always something to do.

Because humans are social animals, the game takes that and makes it the core gameplay. This lets the players in the game decide their own fate and interactions with others, creating endless possibilities of secret pacts and mass collaborative genocide. However, this also means that if you don't like to roleplay and interact with the people around you to create interesting situations, there is little for you to do.

The style and quality of buildings contribute to the atmosphere of the setting and bring out the roleplay better. The buildings in this game are of quality and actually quite pretty. Most also have some sort of "gimmick" to them, such as the castle wall having a tunnel only accessible by dwarfs, or portals in the wizard tower. The attention to details in the builds gave me lots of fun exploring them.

On the flipside, the terrain of the level in Kingdom Life II is really, REALLY flat and boring. There are no trees to look at, no difference in elevation, no boulders, nothing. Although the outsides are lackluster, it will not affect the atmosphere established by the intricate buildings, due to most of the action happening inside structures.

Alchemy is one of the few interesting things to do which does not involve talking. Mix and match different ingredients into a boiling cauldron of hot water and bottle it up to create different potions with varying effects from speed buffs to deadly poisons. With many different combinations, this system will keep you busy for a while while you figure out all the different combinations. While the system is not too complicated – different potion power levels do not exist and combining effects is not allowed – it is still fun to dabble into and is something I would like to see in other games.

There is much to do though if you are willing to socialize with others and roleplay. The detailed models for each one of the classes brings out you inner roleplaying powers just by looking at it. I personally had some great fun while in this game. However, if you don't want to roleplay, you will find your time there quite boring and stale.

Rating:

8/10

The Bottom Line:

Great buildings and character models establish environment well. Although a roleplaying mind is required.

ROBLOX Contests: Making a Comeback!

The ROBLOX staff stated at the beginning of the month that this year they wish to bring about more community involvement and discussion to the site. They said they will listen to users more and will play a significantly larger role on the ROBLOX Forums.

The ROBLOX team now have a growing community team dedicated to discussing ideas and suggestions with users within the ROBLOX Community Staff and Forum Users group. The group is host to a friendly environment in which users and staff can chat casually, but also home to a number of Personal Build Servers built for the community enjoyment. These servers are owned and managed by users within the group and are open to all with building privileges given to member's of the 'forumer' rank or above. 

Visiting one of the many Personal Build Servers 

Now, this an excellent step forward for the ROBLOX corporation. But how will some of the less aware users become more community involved once again? 

The answer to that is simple: contests. 

Back in 2010, ROBLOX unveiled the first official Contest System. It had it's own page, leader-boards  prizes and even sponsors. Contests were hosted regularly, each with a different theme and aim. 

Originally, there was talk of ROBLOX Contests being based around several different areas of the ROBLOX site; Places, Shirts, T-Shirts and models, but this most of these ideals were dropped in favour of the classic building contests. These contests ran until early 2012, then suddenly were abandoned.

Why was it abandoned?

The contest system, while being enjoyable for some users, was heavily exploited by a large majority. This exploitation took shape in the form of the notorious 'Free Model'. If you were to take a peak at the leaders of each contest you would notice a sinister pattern emerging; every single place looked the same. 

You may ask: how? Surely users did not share their work with others and make their creations available to the public domain? And you would be correct. The problem is that early on in after the contest's launch, one user would find an old model that matched the theme of the place. Often this model would be an entire place  uploaded by a user (perhaps stolen). The user would then upload this to their contest entry and voilà; a quality place that would surely win votes that required no effort. 

What made matters worse was the fact that these games were purely voted for based on their aesthetics. A large percentage of contest entries had no gameplay elements, no tools and no objectives. You would simply enter the place and have absolutely nothing to do. Entrants would also use the infamous '+2/3/4/5 voting accuracy' tagline on their game, trying to persuade users to vote for their game.

Both of these habits had a very negative effect on the contest ethic and with each subsequent contest, less and less effort was put into entries. 

ROBLOX Contests 2013

Everything is set to change however as contests are returning. We are only 3 weeks into January and and a ROBLOX Contest has been launched already. The ROBLOX Studio 2.0 Splashscreen contest was launched on the 10th January 2013 and asks users to create a splashcreen (loading graphic) for the new ROBLOX Studio (2.0). For more details on how to enter the contest, click HERE

.

However, the more exciting news is that a revamped Contest System is being developed by the ROBLOX Team. This was confirmed by the two following pieces of evidence:

Tweet from BeckyLee - ReeseMcBlox (Community Manager) stated contests were in the works

Forum post by the VP of Marketing stating that a new contest system was coming

This will likely include a rebuilt voting system, tighter controls on the way contest entries are presented and marketed and perhaps even pre-selected models which they are allowed to do - this could be implemented with a special version of the ROBLOX Studio tailored to contests. 

A new year, with lots to look forward to! I can't wait to start entering contests again!

Thanks for reading!

-Arbirator

Editor of Roblox News

TQBT: Chapter 4 - Forsaken Forest

Hey guys, I have finished chapter 4 after 5 months. I have had no time to do it at all for I am working as well as going to college. I finished it today while I was waiting for my class been here since 8 am and will be till 9 pm. Anyway I hope you enjoy, it might not be as interesting or fun to read. I have lost the excitement I had in the beginning, I have forgotten majority of the story so I had to make up new stories, new place names and characters.

Click here to read Chapter 4
My sincere apologies to anyone who was actually interested in this and was disappointed.

Btw, my new twitter Handle will be @CrypticCube

~ Have questions?

OR Ask me on Twitter

Nytraulics leaves Team Rudimentality

Nytraulics, the developer of Underscore, a top-down-shooter recently featured in the official Roblox blog, has left his development team named Team Rudimentality. At 3:19 PM PST January 13th, Nytraulics posted a shout on Team Rudimentality which read "I'm out." It would appear that soon after, he dropped out of the "Members" rank in the official group.

Team Rudimentality Logo

When pressed futher, the PR at Team Rudimentality, 3DShooter, stated the reason for Nytraulic's leaving was due to "social issues." One could only assume this means there were some communication problems or internal problems between members of the team, although this is not confirmed.

3DShooter also stated that development at Team Rudimentality "will continue as it has been doing for the past couple of weeks," and that it is unknown "at this time whether or not Nytraulics is going to continue with his game." A replacement for Nytraulics is currently confirmed to be not needed.

Nytraulics declined our interview.

-yomamadude6

The Top 10 most Overpowered Catalog Heaven weapons (That nobody ever uses)

Hi, new place reviewer Theovert reporting in to home base. All systems go? Brilliant. Time to settle in with a cup of earl grey and write my first second (almost) place review:

THE TOP 10 MOST OVERPOWERED CATALOG HEAVEN WEAPONS

(that nobody ever uses)

I know, this isn't really a place review, it's more like a strategy guide, but I've had this idea sitting in the deep crevices of my messed up mind for a while and I've been wanting to get it out for a while.

NUMBER 10: THE TORMENTOR'S AXE

Seriously. Look at this thing. LOOK AT THIS THING. It's wicked in every way possible and pretty much an instant kill no matter how the heck you use it. Press E (default) for a forward twirl attack that you can mow people down with, and press Q for a spin attack similar to the Azure Periastron's special attack. This thing is one of the only weapons that can counter noobs who abuse the Ultimate Katana. I hate those kinds of people.

NUMBER 9: THE ROCKET-RIDE TECHNIQUE

I know, this one's a bit too obscene for this blog, but honestly, It looks more like that one scene from Dr. Strangelove where Major Kong rides the Atomic Bomb. This technique is easier to use than the traditional old "Jump and shoot backwards" trick used by many with the old Roman Candles (that actually use real explosions, not those fake ones you see in the Expo Rocket and junk like that). To do it, get Nuclear Arms and an old Roman Candle, equip and unequip Nuclear Arms as fast as you can so your arm glitches like mine, and equip the Roman Candle. I like to tick off Health Glitchers with this one because it can penetrate their unfair, invisible, metaphorical ForceFields they shouldn't even be using in the first place.

NUMBER 8: THE AXE OF UNDOING

One of the only Wal-Mart exclusives that was actually worth it, this tough puppie has the "Burn" effect seen in lots of newer weapons that damages whoever touches the giant battleaxe gradually for a few seconds. Wanna know what happens when you kill a guy with it?  He explodes. It's a great weapon to wield overall and will chop off one too many heads to put above your mantle.


NUMBER 7: RAYVENGE SWORD
It looks like Travis Touchdown's Beam Katana, except orange. No, you don't have to be an assassin to wield this handheld Weapon of Mass Destruction. Your first strike deals 27 points worth of damage, and not only that, it CHOPS YOUR VICTIM'S FREAKING ARMS OFF. Every other swing does a balanced 9 points. Effective against Health Glitchers, as they will be forced to reset once they realize nobody will be able to put them out of their misery. Wanna know what's really cruel? Chopping people's arms off and just leaving them to die. This sword is awesome in every way possible. However, kills with it don't give you KOs on the leaderboard for some strange reason, but it's still a pretty sweet weapon.


NUMBER 6: CANDY CANE LAUNCHER

Your soon to be unfathomable bloodlust.

A traditional christmas treat turned deadly, the Candy Cane Launcher lets you easily mow down unsuspecting chumps from a distance and clear rooms, Gingerbread Man style. It lets you sustain constant firepower on your target, which makes it useful against R Orb-ers and Artemis Bow-ers. Some of its downsides is that each individual shot does low damage, and it takes a few seconds to start up, but put those aside and you'll be exactly like the guy in the picture.



NUMBER 5: UNTIMELY CROSSBOW
At first glance, you're probably thinking "Oh, this is just another stupid halloween gear." That's why you deserve to be taken out with it. This crossbow does a good amount of damage, and wanna know what else it does? It shoots heat-seeking pumpkin arrows. I'm not kidding. Just send 4 of these at a poor sap and he'll be looking like a pincushion in no time. There's also a "Defensive mode" you can access by pressing X. When you use it, it makes about 10 of the arrows form a defensive orbit around your character. So people will naturally stay away from you now because you have deadly pumpkin arrows orbiting around you at 50 mph.

NUMBER 4: PHANTOM FALCHION
Man, the only good weapons seem to be the Wal-Mart exclusives. The Phantom Falchion is a pretty sweet sword that takes out chunk after chunk of enemy health per stab (yes you STAB your enemies with it). It's another "Double click for dash" kind of swords, where it doesn't make you lunge, it makes you fly at your enemies at 24 mph. It has a special sort of "Fire charge" where, if you don't succeed in killing your enemy, it can leave the "burn" effect on them (only if the sword is flaming). If you don't like how it looks, try the Heartbreaker (which is a valentine's day version of this sword). It's a pretty good weapon overall.

NUMBER 3: BRIGHTEYES' SPARKLING SHILLELAGH
On the outside, you'll look like an old man with a limp leg who needs a cane to walk. On the inside, you're a wise old sage who wants to smack whippersnappers with his cane. And now you can! Brighteyes' Sparkling Shillelagh does a good amount of damage, has an insanely fast attack speed, and makes people fly back sometimes when hit. Embrace the inner old man in you and go nuts. People will probably think you're a crazy Irish person wielding a sparkling cane, and when people start thinking that, you know you've done well.

NUMBER 2: FERMION BLADE
This one's been around for a while, and I bet you're thinking "This sword is lame, it looks stupid and doesn't have any cool animations!" Well, shut your yapper, this sword is more than meets the eye. First few slashes, it takes out a good chunk of your enemy's health and envelopes them in a laggy, ugly grey cloud of fire that'll lag the hell out of them if they're in first-person view AND slowly sap their health. And once they're dead, wanna know what happens? they ALSO explode. Just like the Axe of Undoing. However, you might wanna back off once they're dead to avoid blowing your right arm off and being rendered completely useless. Other than that, it's a pretty sweet rainbow sword.

And finally...

NUMBER 1: CRESCENDO: THE SOUL STEALER

Straight outta Dungeons & Dragons.

Forged in the deepest pits of Tartarus, this sucker will rack up the kills and the heads in no time. It has an insanely high base damage stat and its lunge is VERY deadly. When you attack someone with it, they float up in the air and instantly die in a flurry of dismembered parts and demonic red fire. Press Q to equip "Soul fire". Rack up 5 kills with your Soul Fire-blessed sword and you'll be able to unleash a devastating Soul Blast attack by pressing X. It's an extremely lethal and awesome-looking sword that should only be used by trained professionals. Trained professionals, or people who really like to kill other people, but want to look cool while doing it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Adalinda's Alliance: Pretty sweet sword that gets more powerful when charged.
Hammer of Eternal Frost: Saps out health faster than you can say "It's cold!"
Illumina: I'm amazed this isn't used more often.
Darkheart: Likewise.
Telamonster: The Chaos Edge: Again, a sword with so many extra functions.
Skull Cane: I want to get off MR. BONE'S WILD RIDE!
Firey Dragon Axe: Instakill at its finest.

And that wraps up today's review. Goodnight, don't let the Seranoks bite.

Place Review: Pilot Your Cart Through Obstacles

Hey everyone, PeerPants here with my third place review for Roblox News! Today I am writing a place review for a game that has been on-and-off the front page for a while now, and I have heard from a few people that its a good game. Keep reading to find out what I think of the place!

Place Reviewed: PiLoT yOuR cArT tHrOuGh ObStIcAlS!
Place Creator: ScorpianII

Game Last Updated: 3 months ago

The first thing I noticed was that the title has a spelling mistake, and is very annoying to read. The creator, ScorpianII has spelt obstacle wrong, he has spelt it as obstical, which could have easily been avoided if he had taken a few seconds to check the spelling. The genre is Adventure, which is relevant to the game, but the creator has allowed all gear types, and weapons aren't really suitable in this game, as it will just cause people who have won to prevent other players from finishing the game. The VIP doors are a deep blue colour, which doesn't fit in well with the spawn area. I was almost immediately killed by someone who had finished the game and was stood at the start area, waiting to kill people who spawned.

After eventually getting away from the spawn area, I started the journey by going over a small section of track then into some water, which could have been better made because water is transparent, whereas the water which I went through had no transparency at all. After rising from the water I turned a corner and went into a forest. It had the green retexture of this hat, which is commonly used in places, and trees which, as far as I know, uses the mesh that this gear does. I suddenly thought to myself that the game is called Pilot Your Cart Through Obsticals, and I hadn't done any piloting yet, I had just let the track take me where it wanted.

The next area the track passed through was a snow-covered area, with a few headless snowmen and piles of snowballs. I saw a big pile of snow on the track ahead of me, and hoped this would be the first of the obstacles what I had to 'pilot' my way around. However, that was not the case and I saw no alternate track going around the pile of snow. I just went straight through the pile of snow, which is totally unrealistic. After the snow area, there was a beach was hilarious. There were a number of dead people lying down saying really stupid things (see the picture below). However, there had still been no input required from me, so I still hadn't piloted my cart, I had just clicked a button to set it off.

The next thing I passed through was a sewer, which basically consisted of a green substance on the floor with the track going over. There was still nothing I had to do apart from sit in the cart and watch the scenery change around me. There had to be something to do soon, hadn't there? The next corner took me into a cave, which was basically made up of brown slate bricks and rocks which used the same mesh as the trees earlier, the mesh that this gear uses. There had still been nothing which I had to do.

I have no idea what the next scene was supposed to be. As you can see, it was made up of a few red and bright-orange balls on either side of the track, and some inbetween the rails. It was probably the most pointless of all the obstacles. The last scene was a wild-west type area, with a desert and a few skulls on the floor. There was a last section of long track, then I arrived at the VIP area which only had a few weapons and a tiny track to go round. Lame.


Summary:

Gameplay: 1/10

The title was misleading, there were no obstacles and no way to pilot the cart at all, apart from speeding it up / slowing it down.

Creativity: 1/10There are thousands of games like this on ROBLOX, and this blends in with the others, nothing exciting which makes it unique at all.

Effort: 2/10

Every single stage of the track was poorly made, very minimal effort. The creator could definitely have done better if he had actually tried. 

Overall: 1.5/10

Got any places for me to review? Tweet them to me or message me on ROBLOX!