Social Networks vs ROBLOX

Now, ROBLOX is clearly a fun website, as many of you might know. This article will attempt to compare ROBLOX to the typical social networks out there, like "Facebook", "Twitter" and "LinkedIn" which have many similarities and many differences.

With ROBLOX, we are given many luxuries like the ability to make a game from an engine that is free. The way we can chat to our friends and share our wonderful creations. But with being a great site with a huge, bustling community - there are definitely downsides. For instance, some users choose to break the rules and scam others out of their hard earned Robux, you cannot change your username (yet - unless you are in special circumstances), and special luxuries like ROBUX and Builder's Club cost money.

Nevertheless twitter has negative aspects to the site. Bullying on Twitter is much more common and the report button on Twitter is very hard to be found, whereas on ROBLOX the report button is near the message or lies within the game that you enter. The reports on ROBLOX are responded to faster than on Twitter too, keeping in mind that twitter is a very big company and unsurprisingly struggle with the amount of users.

Can these two work in conjunction?

Well, most of us here at Roblox News use them in conjunction, whenever we post we have that automatically tweeted with a link so we can share the wonderful articles my colleagues have written. And we can also share the amazing games the ROBLOX population have created.

Twitter is very good for sharing, twitter gains followers.

Perhaps say I was a programmer on ROBLOX and I started programming games that were for other platforms, people who were following me on twitter from ROBLOX can chat to people who are following me on twitter for the other platforms, and we all form a wonderful alliance that brings us together. It's quite common for a ROBLOX user to now have twitter, that's why whenever anyone wants to talk to me they should tweet me because I'll answer all the time, unless it's negative. Then I will leave you be.

Twitter
ROBLOX

Follow me on twitter.

Follow @RBX_Zakary99

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Place Review: Mansion Sleep Over

This review was supposed to be fun, was I right? I think I wasn't. Because we're about to bust that play button with as much vandalism as we can, because we do not, do not want to enter this "game".

This game is called Mansion Sleep Over, and when I read the title I can tell it is an effortless place, the title clearly states "No guests" which in my books is discrimination. Users that are trying the game shouldn't be told they aren't allowed in a game. The front-cover of the place, however has a rather nice cool pool on the front, which is very appealing to users like me who hardly get the chance to swim in real life due to weather complications.

Wow, just wow. What do you know, I enter the game and...

Why, just why. I get an online dater, which I really don't like in my mist. It's stupidity, and I should hope you do not online date either. And the other problem, do I need to know it's cleaning up? I don't think so, so why is it there, I'd rather have them pixels for my view than a pointless notification.

This game does not only have a notification there, in the middle of my screen I get told something which was so boring I didn't even take notice of, but I screenshot' it for you.

No, I don't need to know that, why do I need text clogging up my screen? Not to mention that I've seen both these scripts in pointless games alike this one. Are they necessary? I don't think so.

And then there's the common ROBLOXaville Morph Magic, run, sit and reset. Which also isn't made by the creator.

I have here, a comparison of two buildings, I think the one on the left is created by the creator, because if the one on the right was created by the creator, then why couldn't the left be the same quality? Free model alert.

The game doesn't lag, but if you actually enter the game, all you see is a mansion, a hat house and grass. There is no special add-ons to the outside-scenery.

Now to the coding, boy, what coding. Other than the free models the game contains that clog up your screen, I don't think I know any other forms of coding in this game, I don't even think you can sleep. I looked in the beds and I couldn't sleep, but I don't know if I was in a broken server or what.

Scripting: 3/10; under average

Building: 5/10; average

Tools: 2/10; below average

Safeness: 0/10; below average

Front Cover: 7/10; above average

Title: 0/10; below average

Overall: 3/10

The game wasn't fun, not at all. It would be a zero without the front cover, because the building may have been nice, or at least some of it. But unfortunately the creator did not create it, therefore I can not give an amazingly accurate judgement.

Thanks for reading.

Follow @RBLXNews
Follow @RBX_Zakary99

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Gear Review: Year of the Snake Lantern

Happy belated Chinese New Year! As many of you know, the Chinese New Year was on Sunday. For those of you who are of Chinese descent, hope you had a pleasant weekend.

Now, without further ado, let’s ring in the year of the Snake!

This gear was added to the Catalog on Friday, 2/8/2013. At a price of 375 robux, it has recieved over 500 sales since then.  Now, for those of you who don’t know, it’s the Year of the Snake according to the Chinese. In honor of it, Roblox recently released the Year of the Snake Lantern.


Abilities: This is one heck of a gear. When equipped, it has multiple snakes, swarming around your character. If you click on an enemy, your snakes will then mercilessly attack that person. It’s as if the snakes suck the health out of you, because the opposing enemy’s health drains very quickly.

Once they are done, they return to your character, orbiting around you, ready to strike again. The damage output is great, but it lacks a variety of abilities. 7/10

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Copyright: Why it's important.

Hello Robloxians,
For the first time ever, this article is not about Roblox, but an ever important issue that needs to be discussed among our readers. That issue is copyright.

Copyright: What is it, and why does it matter?

Copyright is the legal concept, in which the author of original works receives exclusive rights to their work. Copyright means that if I make something, and my content is original (Ie: Writing an article, making a movie, composing music), then I hold exclusive rights to it. The main thing with copyright is the fact that since I created the original content, I have the right to be credited for my work, and elect who can use my content for their own purposes.

Why it matters: When watching a DVD, and you see the copyright warning, what does it mean? It means that since the creator of the film made an original creation, which is his/her property, he can set how he/she wants others to be able to view/use it. If the creator of the movie chooses to do so, he/she can elect to make it so people cannot copy his/her movie, and pass it off as their own.

This applies to any creative works, ie: Books, letters, movies, music, artwork etc.

Example: I copy the new hit movie, "Wreck-It-Ralph", and rename it, "Wreck-It-Felix." Next day, it goes to no. 1 in the box office. I'm bathing in money, while the original creator of the film is getting nothing.

Plagiarism: What is it, and why does it matter?

Plagiarism is where you take someone's work, modify it a bit, and pass it off as your own. Plagiarism is an actual crime, in which real consequences can be applied to the person who passed it off as their own.

Example of plagiarism:

Original work: Roblox News started way back in 2009, when I was still fairly new to the game and it's rich community. In 2011 the site's pageviews skyrocketed when John Shedletsky (Creative Director of ROBLOX) added Roblox News to the ROBLOX Developers Blog (now simply called the ROBLOX Blog) blogroll. This helped introduce a large amount of ROBLOX users to my blog, including future staff members. During that year RN went on to be featured by the staff at the ROBLOX Rally 2011 and reached over 150,000 pageviews. (From about page of our blog.)

Plagiarized work: Official Roblox News started way back in 2009, when I was still fairly new to the game and it's rich community. In 2011 the site's pageviews skyrocketed when John Shedletsky (Creative Director of ROBLOX) added Official Roblox News to the ROBLOX Developers Blog (now simply called the ROBLOX Blog) blogroll. This helped introduce a large amount of ROBLOX users to my blog, including future staff members. During that year ORN went on to be featured by the staff at the ROBLOX Rally 2011 and reached over 150,000 pageviews. (Copied work)

Even though the plagiarized work is different from the original work, it's still using the same wording from the original work. Plagiarism has serious consequences, frequently fines, or lawsuits against the person who copied it.

The reason why I bring this issue up:

Here at Arbirator's Roblox News, we love to see fans create their own fan sites. Each fan site is unique, and they all have different perspectives on what is occurring in the Robloxian community. However, we are noticing more and more cases in which fan sites are copying our creative content from our blog (Mostly articles, images, and passages of text from certain pages.) We do encourage creativity for users who make their own fan sites, but we cannot allow users to blatantly copy the content off of our site. We recently had a case of which a certain user's blog (Who I decline to name) copied our latest article, changed one word of it, and passed it off as his/her own.

The content on Arbirator's Roblox News is original, and never plagiarized. Users who are found to be plagiarizing our content will have serious consequences for their actions. With this user, we filed a DMCA (That's the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown request, and are awaiting action. Google/blogger comply fully with the DMCA, and will take down blogs, and/or ban the owner of the blog.

We encourage creativity, but we cannot condone copying. The reasons are two-fold.
1. Users who copy our content draw traffic away from our Blog, and we lose viewers and traffic to our site.
2. Users who copy/plagiarize content in their early years are destined to copy/plagiarize content in their later years. If you copy an essay paper from a site/another person, try to pass it off as your own while in school, the school will immediately expel you, regardless of your previous offenses/reputation.

All we ask from our readers is simply, please don't copy our content, and please don't copy content from anywhere else. It's much better to write your own creative content than it is to plagiarize the content from others (The consequences far outweigh the benefits.) Besides - you might be the next big blog that is far more popular than Roblox News, or any other fan site. You'll never know unless you try.

This has been a post by zinc707, and I thank you for your time in this serious matter.

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President's Day Hat Review: Bluesteel Crown

Bluesteel Crown

Hello everyone! Chubbs21 here with another review! Today as a part of the President's Day Sale, I'll be reviewing a neat hat created by RN's Co-Editor , IBarrageI!

Mesh: 10/10
The mesh on this crown is defiantly a classic! It's been used in the past for hats like Wanwood Crown, Black Iron Crown of Pwnage and Golden Crown. It's pretty basic, just a circle with castle-like studs on top. But because this mesh is used in many classics, it gets an 10/10.

Texture: 10/10
Again, the texture on this is the simple classic Bluesteel texture. It fit's well with the mesh and makes it certainly look like it's made out of, well, steel. In the old days I don't think there were crowns made out of a blue colored steel but it still looks awesome. (Then again, when was there a wooden or black iron crown worn by kings?)

Money Value: 6/10
Being that this hat was much anticipated, 5,000R$ and non-limited was not what people wanted. Than again, it is a classic and sometimes, classics shouldn't be limited.

Enjoyment: 9/10
This hat can create many good hat combinations and with some shirts, pants, and even packages, it  can make you look like a real Bluesteel king. The blue color goes nice with other hats yet it looks good just the crown alone.

Overall: 8.75/10
This is defiantly a hat to be added to the "classics committee." It has the simple and great looking mesh, a classic texture, a decent money value, and a great satisfaction level. If you have 5k robux laying around, I recommend buying this.

~chubbs21

Hat: http://www.roblox.com/Bluesteel-Crown-item?id=106689991

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ROBLOX President's Day Weekend Sale

Hi guys, Axelthehedgehog here. I was going to wait til' the end of the sale to post an article, but so many awesome things have come out, the catalog is in chaos and I had to post something sooner.

On Day 1, ROBLOX put a ton of hats and gear on sale for 20%-50%, some offsale hats came back onsale, and a few items went limited. I'll do a quick run-through of what happened on Day 1.

Frost Vision Goggles - Discounted 20% to 4,000 robux

Classical Glory - Discounted 30% to 175,000 tickets

W Inc. Designer Sunglasses - Discounted 30% to 6,650 robux

Purple Banded Top Hat - Discounted 40% to 3,000 robux

Pirate Captain's Hat - Discounted 50% to 1,000 robux

Secret Agent Shades - Discounted 50% to 500 robux

8-Ball Headphones - Discounted 50% to 444 robux

DJ Headphones - Discounted 30% to 525 robux

Deluxe Game Headset  - Discounted 40% to 300 robux

Empyrean Reignment - Discounted 20% to 274 robux

Midnight Shades - Discounted 25% to 188 robux

DarkAge Ninja Swordpack - Discounted 50% to 100 robux

Beautiful Hair for Beautiful People - Discounted 50% to 48 robux

Ro-ped  - Discounted 40% to 300 robux

R-Orb - Discounted 30% to 700 robux

Cloak of the Undying - Discounted 25% to 750 robux
Clockwork's Shades - Put back on-sale for 19,358 robux
Sword Pack - Put back on-sale for 200 robux
Biggerhead - Put back on-sale for 550 robux
Sk10r Boi - Put back on-sale for 70 robux
Alien Airbreather - Put back on-sale for 140 robux
NoobTube  - Put back on-sale for 250 robux
Stop Hitting Yourself - Put back on-sale for 650 robux
Well Worn Hat  - Renamed Erik Cassel's Hat, discounted to 20 robux, and timed
Dominus Vespertilio - Made limited
Profit Vision Goggles - Made limited
Dark Realm Soldier - Made limited

2 items that a large majority of the Let's Make a Deal forum voted to go back onsale, W's Top Hat and Spec Beta Biograft Energy sword, did not go onsale which caused quite a lot of rage when they realized they weren't coming back.

Making the Profit Vision Goggles limited was a very, very bad idea for 2 reasons.
1. About 5,000+ Profit Vision Goggles exist, so making them limited inevitably would end up in failure.
2. They look almost completely identical to Night Vision Goggles, making the value of them drop severely.

2 gear items also came out, one of them very noteworthy: the Pegasus.

The Pegasus is an extremely fun gear to use. It's basically a flying horse that allows you to fly around on it for as long as you want. The controls are pretty simple and you can have hours of fun flying Pegasi with your friends. The price, 2,000 robux, is a bit excessive, but it's an awesome gear and when worn on your avatar it looks more like a pet than a gear.



On Day 2, roblox released 2 retextures and 3 limiteds.

The first retexture published, Blizzaria the Frozen by DarkGenex, definitely deserved its publish.

 DarkGenex had been advertising Blizzaria for months and at the time of it being published the original model had over 3,000 takes. It was put onsale, non-limited, for 100,000 tickets like Darkseed. Roblox even made a limited item based on Blizzaria, Blizzaria Warlock.

The 2nd retexture was Bluesteel Crown by IBarrageI.


It was put onsale for 5,000 robux, and a free copy was awarded to IBarrageI for making it.

A new limited item was also made, Scytheface: The Sharpest One.


It was sold for 10,000 robux and had only 75 in stock. Despite being ugly and the price being so high, it sold out in under a minute. It sells for for around 15k-20k robux.

Nothing much happened on Day 3. 2 new hats were released, and one retexture was published: Classic Swordpack Throwback.


A rumor was spread on Let's Make a Deal that it would be called Linked Sword Pack, a parody of the Linked Sword from Sword Fight on the Heights, and given 100 stock, but in the end it ended up being non-limited and 150 robux which I'm sure disappointed a few.

I'm writing this in the morning on Day 4 of the sale, and so far only one thing has happened. Dark Cerulean Crown of Ozymandias went limited. Initially it was given massive offers such as Darkheart + Illumina, or Darkheart + Gaze of Socom1880. But later its value is expected to lower to around 300-400k robux.

4 retextures were leaked on Day 1 of the sale, and the only one yet to be published is G's Top Hat, or Gusmanak's Top Hat.


Similar to W's Top Hat, G's Top Hat is predicted to be limited and sell for 4,500 - 10,000 robux like W's Top Hat or JJ5x5's Top Hat.

There are still 4 days left in the sale, so anything could happen. Keep your eyes open for new limited items and retextures, we're only halfway through.

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[General advisory]: Never give your Roblox login info to anyone, or anything that asks for it.

Hello Robloxians,

I just wanted to give everyone a general heads-up about something that has been occurring lately. Reports have been coming in that a new, "Login GUI" has been found in numerous games, saying that you will be disconnected from Roblox in X no. of seconds if you don't enter your information.

Example of what it looks like: 

What to do when you see it:

Me being a scripter/ex-hacker/exploiter, I know how this gui works. The way the gui works is simple. It gets all the players inside the game, and places a gui inside. The script is run from a master script, which phishes the information and sends to a specific player (The one who inserted the script.)

If you don't insert your information, the script will then 'crash-ban' you by using the trick that crashes a specific player's client. If you do insert your information (Right or wrong), it will flag it as incorrect. All results are logged to the player who is hosting the script.

If you do encounter this GUI, don't panic. You will not be logged out of Roblox, as in-game scripts cannot send HTTP requests to the actual Roblox site. Don't enter any information inside of this GUI, even if you're trying to troll the exploiter. The easiest thing to do is leave the game. Being that it's extremely difficult to tell where the gui originated (And from which script it was created from), contacting info@roblox.com about it will not help with the issue. However, you can contact Briguy9876 (Twitter: @briguy9876) about it if you see this type of hack.

General safety tips for keeping your Roblox account safe.

1. Use a strong password (Ie: a-z,A-Z,0-9,symbols)

2. Don't use dictionary words in your password.

3. Only sites that have the address of www.roblox.com, are ones in which you should enter your login information. If you're not sure, check the identity of the site. (How to check)

4. If someone asks for your password, report them. Roblox staff members never ask for your password.

5. Never, NEVER send someone your .ROBLOSECURITY value. The .ROBLOSECURITY value is your login cookie for roblox.com (The keys to your house in a sense.)

6. Surveys are fake. Roblox will announce legitimate surveys. All other survey links are phishing attempts (Follow rule #3.)

7. Verify your email. Verifying your email makes it easy to recover your password + email in case of account hijacking.

By following those general rules, your account should be safe on Roblox. In the event that you do get 'hacked', contact a moderator about it. They are paid to help users have a great experience on Roblox.

Thanks for reading,

TechTeam911

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Blizzaria: The Next Generation of Darkseed.

Blizzaria: The Frozen, is one of the 4 retextures to be published for the Presidential Sale. And was one of the most anticipated out of all 4 of them.

It sold for 100,000 Tix and has already sold more than 200 copies. The price of it was the same price as the original Darkseed: The Fallen (Which became limited last Halloween). This may suggest that Blizzaria is the new Darkseed.

Though, the texture has tried as hard as possible to be as different as possible from the other pumpkins.

Above are the textures of the Eerie Pumpkin (Left texture) and Blizzaria (Right texture). You can see the difference between them. Blizzaria itself has a wrinkled texture that makes it unique when compared to any other pumpkin.

And not only that, it works well as part of the family of pumpkins

Meet the Pumpkin family, with new arrival; Blizzaria

But of course, Blizzaria wouldn't of existed without it's creator - DarkGenex.

DarkGenex created Blizzaria half a year ago, and recently used only 1 ad in an attempt to gain enough popularity to win the President's Day Sale Survey.

DarkGenex's only ad for his retexture

Not only that, DarkGenex started a cult on the forums called "The Blizzaria Master Race"

This of which fueled most of the popularity of the retexture and helped secure victory for Blizzaria in the Survey.

Below are examples of a propaganda posters for the Blizzaria Master Race which were sprayed into many places with the Spray Paint Gear

     

The Creator of Blizzaria; DarkGenex kindly let me interview him regarding his retexture

IBarrageI: Hi DarkGenex, thanks you for letting us interview you today.

DarkGenex: No problem, thanks for interviewing me today.

IBarrageI: Ok. First question, what gave you the initial idea of Blizzaria?

DarkGenex: I saw Darkseed, and realized that it was going limited very soon, so I wanted to make a pumpkin to replace Darkseed that wasn't only Halloween specific. At this point, I realized that if I could make a pumpkin with ice or frost on it, it could technically be a pumpkin for Halloween and the Winter Holidays.

IBarrageI: Ah. I see. Did you encounter any problems when making Blizzaria?

DarkGenex: Many. The texture map is extremely annoying to work with, as parts of the texture are stretched out and it is almost impossible to make a perfect texture for a pumpkin that isn't a recolor. If you look in my decals, you'll find over 26 unused textures for Blizzaria.

IBarrageI: Blizzaria Master Race. Why do you think forums and the players within it responded so positively to this proposal?

DarkGenex: The term "Blizzaria Master Race" stems off of some of the phrases I use on the Let's Make a Deal forum, some I've created and some I didn't, such as "bananas r fud", "hi u ok", and "do you even lift". On a forum that you're familiar with, if something is said enough times then people will believe it and go along with it. It helps to be someone on the forum with a ton of posts and is somewhat respected in the community.

IBarrageI: Brilliant. What was the motive behind actually putting this proposal into motion?

DarkGenex: There's a place that some LMaDers go to, a chatroom on a different website. Anyway, sometimes I joke around with the user AterAstrum, and in one of our arguments about who lifts more, he stated that Blizzaria was inferior to something I can't remember. In response, I said "Blizzaria Master Race". From there, I realized it was a phrase that could be used by people in LMaD and I just spread it from there.

IBarrageI: The price is set at 100,000 Tickets. And not limited, to many player's dissapointment. What's your feeling towards this?

DarkGenex: As I've said before, I made Blizzaria to replace Darkseed. Darkseed went limited, so now there isn't any 100,000 tix hat in October to save money for. I expected it to be 100,000 tix. People are dissapointed with Blizzaria, and to an extend BSC (Bluesteel Crown) because they're not limited with low in stock. People would be even more dissapointed if they were limited with a high stock. As long as it's at a good price and not many people can get it, I'm fine with that.

IBarrageI: Well. Thank you very much for letting me interview you, an congratulations on getting Blizzaria published!

DarkGenex: Congrats to you for getting your Bluesteel Crown published to!

Thank you for reading. Leave any complements for DarkGenex's creation in the comments below. :)

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Rosy Retextures Contest Winners!

Valentine's day has passed, and lovers have exchanged gifts at candlelit dinners. However, love is still in the air and it is time for the contest winners to be announced. First of all, I'd like to congratulate all the entries on their continued ability to surprise me with their creativity. Each entry represented Valentine's day perfectly. It was extremely difficult to narrow the entries down to just three winners. Nevertheless I did come to an eventual decision with the three retextures that I believe boasted the most skilled artists.


So without further ado, here are the winners of the Valentine's 2013 Rosy Retextures contest. *jazz hands*

1st Place - Valentine's Fedora by DarkGenex

Sporting a detailed pinkish-red background and excellently placed hearts this retexture really is outstanding! The colours are well suited for the theme of the contest and are not too pink. I feel the silver belt really brings out the flare in the entry, causing a contrast of different colours and tones. The silver metallic lining of this belt  is well formulated and looks extremely authentic. All of this comes together to make a truly remarkable hat.

2nd Place - Heart Controller by rebellion666

Judging from looking at the original hat, you can really tell that the creator has put a lot of thought and originality to this hat to make it his own. The way that they took such a simple hat, and effectively placed different textures on the rim and the top, makes it unique, especially with the metal plate at the centre with the shading and the aesthetically brilliant hearts. I feel that even though the colours are quite limited, together, they really help the design to stand out more. I love the fact that he has taken something so simple and made it his own, which is why I given this hat the 2nd place it so truly deserves.

3rd Place - 8-Bit Heart Tie by NonstopEpic 

The 8-Bit Heart Tie makes use of the ever popular retro graphics theme complete with a classic heart image found in many RPGs. The pink squares placed diagonally across the front of the tie add for an effective background gradually getting darker towards the heart. The colours fit the atmosphere of Valentine's Day well and the red is a welcome addition to offset the bright pink. Another great entry made by our very own  fabulous Catalog Manager - NonsstopEpic!

Runners Up!

Cupid's Bowtie - by stickers000

With a rich velvet-like appearance and symbols that represent the theme of the contest, this entry would appeal to any Valentine. It was also published as an official ROBLOX hat, with it being renamed; XOXO Bowtie.

Hearts to one - by rebellion666

Another brilliant cap produced by rebellion. With graffiti style hearts painted on the front and streaked texture in the background, this entry proves itself to have a fantastic design.







I would like to thank each and every one of you who entered this retexturing contest. The quality of the entries was extremely high as per usual and I had to employ a second adjudicator - my other half, in order to make the final decision on the three winners and to help write the post!

Thanks,

Arbirator
-Editor of Roblox News

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Video Place Review: Apartment Tycoon

Potato News
Welcome to this weeks... Potato news!
Today I will be revealing the secret to my absence. Stay tuned, ROBLOXNEWS.1

"I have had absence for around 2 months now, this is because I haven't been so keen on ROBLOX at the moment, now I think I still can write the reviews you hate/love (marmite reviews), but I am more on steam now." says Zakkeh boi.

Review:

This week I visited "Apartments Tycoon" and well, it was annoying. The game could have been fun, but in this video you will see why I didn't enjoy my experience.

 



Got any suggestions?

Hit me up on Twitter, @RBX_Zakary99

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Remembering Erik Cassel, the Co-Founder of ROBLOX

Today is a tragic day for the ROBLOX community. The site lost an amazing individual who left behind a legacy of innovation, creativity, and achievement. Erik Cassel passed away Monday morning (11th February 2012) after losing his three year battle with cancer. His greatest work was of course with ROBLOX where he co-founded along with David Bascuzchi; the largest online sandbox in the world.

Erik held the title of Chief Scientist meaning he did a lot of work with the distributed physics engine and was a learned guru in the arts of Lua - as displayed in this previous blog post. Although much of what Erik did occurred behind the scenes, he was most well known for writing the framework to make ROBLOX scriptable and putting a huge amount of effort into binding the Lua scripting language to all game elements. He believed that doing this well was "critical" to having a good game engine. You can read his full interview conducted by ReeseMcBlox, here.

"Erik was the original author of much of ROBLOX, and he and David Baszucki founded the company together. For all of us at ROBLOX, Erik was not just a founder, he was our friend and a continual inspiration." - Keith Lucas, Vice President, Engineering &Operations. Erik's friend since 1997



While devastating for the ROBLOX staff who had known Erik personally for countless years, it also had a significant impact on the community. Many ROBLOX users had met Erik Cassel in person at the 2011 ROBLOX Rally held in the Exploratorium in San Francsico, CA, and at the 2012 ROBLOX Game Conference held in the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.

"I met him a couple years ago and he was a funny guy and cool, one of my favorite admins" - ttredix1, All Things ROBLOX Forumer

"Erik. We all love your game and we hope you enjoyed your life, you gave so much of us joy by creating the awesome game that is ROBLOX. We hope you rest in peace. May god rest your soul." - zackerih, All Things ROBLOX Forumer

I remember meeting Erik for the first time at RGC 2012. What a cheerful and helpful man, he greeted everyone outside the lobby with a firm handshake and a warm smile. You couldn't even tell he had cancer. He was a true lifter." - DarkGenex, Lets Make A Deal Forumer

"R.I.P Erik Cassel. May his legacy leave him immortalised" - bman7720, RN Fan

"Erik was amazing, ROBLOX wouldn't be where it is now if Erik hadn't been involved. R.I.P Erik Cassel, you will be missed " - Darkfish900, RN Staff

Many users have been adorning Erik Cassel's signature attire in respect for the former Chief Scientist. Which consists of dark blue legs, orange torso, white arms and head, default face, Erik.Cassel t-shirt and the ever popular Well Worn Hat.

User's have also been creating all sorts of tribute content. Here is an Erik Tribute created by SharpTH in which users pay respects to their idol.





Erik's Memorial 

A memorial game was also created by Erik Cassel's children. It features several houses and a golden statue representing Erik.

A gathering of dozens of Erik's. Everyone showing their support

The community loved it, and thousands of viewers have visited and paid their respects. The sheer popularity of the place alone, shows just how well loved Erik was among ROBLOX players. Hundreds of users dressed as Erik and shared memories of him with one another. If you'd like to support Erik, his family and what he brought to ROBLOX, don't hesitate to pay the memorial a visit.



Final words

The Roblox News staff and I offer our sincere condolences to Erik's family, friends, and all that knew him. He still holds a special place in all our hearts, knowing that he helped create the site that we all love today. He was an inspiration to us all and showed to us that anything can be achieved if you are passionate enough.

Thank you for reading.

-Arbirator

Editor of Roblox News.

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The Hunger Games Review

The Hunger Games are a book series that completely swept the nation. If you're not familiar with the story, basically two people from different cities or "districts" are forced to compete in the Hunger Games which are basically a battle to the death between the candidates. It's an interesting book. Too much romance for me personally, but I love how it created a new gameplay idea.

Gameplay 7/10
Each player starts their round on pedestals surrounding a vast mound of items. A timer counts down and you need to scramble to the items and grab as many items as possible before they're all gone. You have a hunger bar, and a thirst bar which you must keep track of. Food and water are scattered throughout the map. This is probably the best part of the game. However, if you die early in the game then you can be standing around doing nothing for around thirty minutes. You can bet on players and sponsor them with food or weapons but those options last hardly any time at all. There is no way to pass the time if you've died early. Your best bet is to leave and hope to join another server that is almost over or just starting. I once went to a server with two survivors in the games. All one of the players did was run. This completely took out the fun in the game since there was no way for either of the players to die and the game lasted a good 15 minutes before the game exploded. (Not really sure what happened, don't ask.)

Effort 10/10
There are tons of maps, tons of little scripts involved. It's very well built.

Creativity 8/10
There are really just tons of these games around now. They really aren't all that different from eachother.

Overall 7.5/10
Suggestions

• Install a time limit so the games don't last forever.
• Find some way to penalize players who just run away all the time.
• Give me all the gamepass items for a better review
• Level 1337 would be nice too.

If you want your place reviewed simply contact Banjobug on twitter or send me a private message on ROBLOX. The next post could be about your place! I'll be glad to give you ideas on your place and help make it better. Also, if you find a place that is absolutely awful and on the front page send me a PM and I might make a RANT about it!

Also, you should follow me on twitter even if you don't have a RANT or review request! Sometimes I invite my followers to go to places with me to help review them.

Place Reviewed: Hunger Games by Ozzypig
Reviewed by: Banjobug

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Gear Review: Pyrox's Flame Staff

      

       Hello, everyone! As you all must have noticed, ROBLOX has released yet another contest sponsored by the creators of the LEGO Hero Factory series. As always, these contests come with free prizes, one of which, Pyrox's Flame Staff, will be the subject of our review today. So, without further ado, let's get down to the review!

Abilities/Effects: Pyrox's Flame Staff doesn't too shabby a job, and I must admit that I do enjoy the effect of the fire dancing around the tip of the flame-shaped blade, so I can't really mark it down there. The overall effect of the staff actually isn't entirely unlike that of the Tormentor's Axe, if you've seen that in action. Both are capable of causing quite a large amount of damage to one's opponent and are fairly decent weapons. I'd give it a 7/10.

Appearance: As with Furno's Flame Sword and Shield, the other prize available through this contest, I've found that I'm not really a fan of the design of the weapon. While it does look amazing with a LEGO Hero package, it just doesn't quite mesh with anything in the ROBLOXian Catalog as of yet. Ah, if only ROBLOX would release a Furno or Pyroz Package... Anyway, as I said earlier, I'm not too fond of the look, as the flame of the blade looks very plastic-y and slightly childish, which is why I've decided to give it a 5/10 in this category.

Pricing: You'll find that this gear item is one of the highest priced you'll ever see to hit the ROBLOXian Catalog. At a whopping 0 ROBUX, this monstrously expensive gear is second only to the second-to-last ROBLOX Tablet. All jokes aside, I appreciate the fact that ROBLOX is creating free gear which is easily available to players without Builder's Club. Great job, guys! 10/10.

Overall: 7.3/10

Thanks for reading, and be sure to follow me on twitter! @Ulquiorra98RBLX

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Gear Review: Cupid's Beloved Blade

Cupid's Beloved Blade

Mesh and Texture: 10/10

The texture and mesh were both very well done. The handle of the sword is gold and red and ends in a pink heart gem. And the handle of the sword is solid red metal with a pink heart crystal inside it. It definitely fits the Valentine's Day theme well and the shine effect on the blade really adds something.

Price: 8/10

The original price of the blade was 1,500 robux, and the stock was 450. When it sold out, the private sellers kept it at 2,500 robux for a while but the next day it shot up to 3,500 making the owners quite a bit of profit. It will likely go up to 4-5,000 robux on Valentine's Day due to it being specifically for the holiday.

Usage: 6/10

The sword is fun to use, but pretty simple and gets a bit boring after a while. The description of the sword talks about special moves, but I tried and nothing happens when I press the keys it tells me to. The sword does 5 damage per hit, which seems really low, but if you hit multiple limbs it can be powerful. Double click and it will send you into a rush attack in the direction you click. And in addition to that, anywhere on your opponent's body the sword touches turns pink. This sword adds insult to injury.

Overall: 8/10

It may not work like it's supposed to, but it still looks awesome, made a good profit, and is an excellent gear to own for Valentine's Day. Good work, roblox.

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Gear Review: Skeletal Sword

It's the start of the month. And that means new gamecard exclusive items! We got some nice looking hats, and some cool gear this month. I'll be writing a review on the Skeletal Sword.

So an interesting thing about this gear, is that it wasn't scripted by any of the devs or official gear makers. If you insert the gear in the studio, and check the scripts, it says "--Made by Luckymaxer". Now when you go on his profile, you can clearly see that he's not a mod.

So, I'm assuming that the devs have been asking users to script gears.

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Roblox News Valentine's Contest: Rosy Retextures!

It is the time of year where couples have romantic candlelight meals and are charged extortionate prices, only to spend more money in the form of exchanging gifts as tokens of love towards one another. On ROBLOX, these presents are of course hats! Yes, I am talking about Christmas Valentine's day.

This is where your retextures come in! Ideas could include some kind of themed cap, bandana, Cupid helmet, crown or tie. They must be linked to Valentine's either by colour scheme, quantity of rose or hearts or even just all out cheesiness. The possibilities are endless!


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: 'Rosy Retextures 2013'.

2.) Private message arbirator on ROBLOX your entry. Title your message 'Rosy Retextures 2013' and include a link to your entry in the main message. You can send up to 3 entries, and can be sent in the same or different PMs.. The romantic 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 the 11th February, 1:00 AM PST.

Good luck to all!

Thanks,

-Arbirator

Editor of Roblox News

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Deadzone Review

Surviving a zombie apocalypse is difficult, especially with other people hunting you down for your hard earned loot. The world becomes a hostile place after society has left it, with everyone scattering to arm themselves and nobody trusting others. You have to have careful aim to pick off those pesky undead, you need to be resourceful and be able to scavenge out of god-forsaken places, and you will need stealth to eliminate potential threats and steal their supplies.

Deadzone, by ZackZak, is a game which will put you into tense standoffs with other players, looting runs, and zombie killing sprees. Whether you like stealthy assassinating other players or gunning down massive zombie hordes with your friends, there is something in Deadzone which will entertain you for hours on end.

Improving on other big zombie survival games, mostly Apocalypse Rising, Deadzone actually contains a legit weapons system. That's right, not more recoil-less guns that feel like BB-guns. Deadzone's weapons all feature an "aim down sights" system and have significant recoil to them. The guns in the game make you feel powerful, even the simplest pistols in the game have a significant punch to them and feel really nice.

Another feature which the game boasts about is the global inventory system. This system allows you to transfer your goods which you have looted to what is essentially a bank. When you inevitably die, your regular inventory is lost, however, your items stored in the global inventory are still safe, allowing you to get a head start on your next adventure. The system adds more of a progression curve to the game; death should not restart your whole game.

The map design is great! The game features an open world map with many towns, cities, and roads. Differing from the map design of Apocalypse Rising, the map in Deadzone ACTUALLY HAS ELEVATION. Surprising right? ZackZak's map looks nice, plays nicely, and most of all, lags less!

Although I must say, even though the animation system is pretty good, ZackZak makes some pretty terrible models. Guns consist of around 10 parts with some improper ratios and generally look terrible. The buildings are also lack luster, often just a rectangle and a triangle put together hastily.

The polish of the progression system is not quite where I want it to be. the safe-zone and global inventory can be accessed from anywhere, and only require a short wait of 10 seconds. In an intense standoff? Warp to safe-zone. Attacked by hordes of zombies? Get in building, warp to safe-zone. The warping non-sense has to go, instead, it needs to be restricted to an area of the map, making cheating by warping impossible.

Other areas also need a little bit of polishing. The camera currently allows you to zoom out really far, allowing you to peek around corners and see really far away. This makes stealth gameplay hard as other players will spot you easily. The walking sounds also need some work. Walking on metal sounds like my feet were turned into jackhammers and the ground is splitting underneath me.

The core gameplay compensates for the lack of polish though. Because, at the end of the day, killing someone with a powerful gun feels good, too good. And I'm sure ZackZak will continue to polish the game more and more, after all, his updates did have to make me change parts of this review (map and camera) to reflect the current features.

Rating:

9.2

The Bottom Line: 

Great zombie survival game with good gun-play. But it does need more polish to reach maximum potential.

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Frozen Retextures Contest Winners!

Yes, it's the moment you've all been waiting for; the announcement of the three winners of the Roblox News Frozen Retextures contest! Before we get started I'd just like to say that all the entries that were sent in had substance and originality to them, and that it was difficult for me as always to narrow it down to just three winners.

I did eventually come to a decision, and I think you'll agree that these are the most deserving entries in the contest:

1st Place - Ice Dragon Helmet By Blobmista4

Blobmista4's entry was the winner of the Frozen Retextures contest! The model make use of excellent colour contrast between the dark purple and light blue. The light blue eyes and plume are excellent highlights to the hat adding to it's appeal signifying the cold hearted nature of the warrior adorning the helm. This paired with the purple armored shell of the helmet, the white ominous glow shining off the rim above the eyes and finally the detailed teeth turn this entry into a great feat. 

2nd Place - The Winter Wizard By NonstopEpic

NonstopEpic's entry was particular creative in fusing snowflake images with a purple frozen texture underneath. They combine to make a very effective result; an entry with impressive aesthetics as well as being original. The snowflakes on the centre of the hat almost make the retexture look as if it is sparkling in a clear, crisp winter's day. 

3rd Place - Blizzard Baseball Cap By DangerousMonkey

DangerousMonkey decided to choose to use a classic mesh in order create his frozen entry, and it certainly delivers. With a clever transition between new and old, the Blizzard Baseball Cap brings a fresh new feel to a familiar design: giving it a new colour scheme and integrating a frozen stitch texture over the top of the original design. Simple, but very effective.

All three winners will be receiving a model trophy for bragging rights, and their entries will be sent to admins to be perhaps turned into real hats!

Once again I'd like to thank everyone who entered the contest. Look out for another retexture contest coming soon. Get your virtual paintbrushes at the ready!

-Arbirator

Editor of Roblox News

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