RuneScape reworks original skills as it reaches 18th anniversary milestone

Monday 7th January 2019, Cambridge, UK – Marking its 18th birthday, RuneScape today introduced a major update to its Mining and Smithing skills, two of the original skills that launched with the game in 2001.

The reworked skills provide players, both newcomers and veterans, with new rewards and gameplay mechanics. Four new tiers of armour and weapons have been introduced, Smithing now becomes the most valuable non-combat skill in the game, as well as the ability to craft the masterwork and trimmed masterwork armour – the best melee armours in RuneScape.

An overhaul of both skills was one of the most wanted updates highlighted by the game’s community in recent player surveys. The development team have worked closely with the community, holding two beta tests during 2018 and using player feedback to further refine the experience.


David Osborne, Lead Designer, RuneScape, said:

“Reaching our 18th anniversary is an incredible milestone and it’s apt two of the original skills that launched way back in 2001 have been given a new lease of life. The Mining & Smithing update has been a thoroughly collaborative effort with the community, with polls and beta tests providing invaluable input as we fine-tuned and polished the new mechanics and armour.”

RuneScape features 27 different skills, trainable abilities that are levelled up during play and shape each player’s in-game character. Mining enables players to extract ore from rocks, and Smithing sees players smelt ore into metal bars and crafting armour and weapons. In addition to ‘away from keyboard’ mining and advances to armour smithing, the skills update also includes four new tiers of ore and metal, and a new ore bank for storage. Full details on the comprehensive rework are available to read on the official RuneScape website.

With over 260 million accounts registered in its 18-year lifetime, RuneScape continues to look to the future with new content in the works for release in 2019, in addition to the living game’s platform expansion to mobile devices.

REVIEW: Clock Simulator - Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis
Of all things you can simulate on a games console, a clock seems to be the last thing you would want to simulate. After all aren't all clocks "Time Simulators"?

In Clock Simulator you have a collection of mini games, each game revolves around the idea of you pressing a button once every second. The closer you get to pressing the button every second the better you do and the higher score you get.

The game has a really cool ambient soundtrack. But other than that I just found the games repetitive and rather boring. Which is kinda the point of the game I guess.

I decided to get some other opinions, so first I gave the game to a 9 year old girl to play. She played it for around 20 minutes and said it was boring.

I then gave the game to a 68 year old woman. She was even less impressed. And then I played it for myself. I found myself going through the mini games one by one, some I had one go on and then went straight onto the next game, a few I had a couple of goes at as I was a bit confused as to what I was supposed to do and I want to make sure I beat any score that the 9 year old had got. After all I am still competitive and I must be the best at everything. And a few games I had no idea the point and stopped after a few seconds. And sadly I think that may end up being the experience of most people.

I even found myself looking at a real clock in the room and following the second hand as it moved to help me get the timing right, I am sure that would be classed as cheating, either way a game where I am not even looking at the screen and I can do better seems strange.

I am sure this game will appeal to some people, perhaps those with OCD, or even children/adults who enjoy counting, and there are many people who fit that bill.

But for me a 40 year old male, and for a 9 year old girl and a 68 year old woman, the game just didn't do it for us.

The positives are it has a great little soundtrack which is relaxing. The graphics are fine for what it is.
The negatives are that the game seems a little lackluster.

The idea for the game is fine, but the execution is a little poor. I think the makers should have tried to make the game have more peril. For example have a mini game where you need to click every 10 seconds, but as that is happening you have sound effects to confuse you or put your off.  A crazy man on screen shouting random numbers at you. I think distraction based mini games would be much more entertaining, and make the game much harder, and inevitably raise the challenge aspect.

As it is though, after getting the opinion of 3 different generations and sexes, and combining those opinions, I can only give the game a 4/10

It has potential and perhaps the creator will release updates and new mini games.
Have a watch of the trailer below, and if you disagree with my review leave a comment.

REVIEW: Mad Catz Rat 4+ Gaming Mouse

The RAT 4+ is 7200 DPI gaming mouse, and I was lucky enough to get my hands on one.
And I was not disappointed. First of all it is a very good looking piece of equipment.

With 9 fully programmable buttons, this mouse is clearly designed for experienced gamers.

This is a wired mouse, connected via USB. Personally I have no problem with using a wired mouse, the worst thing in life (slight over exaggeration) is when the battery goes dead midgame, and the frantic scramble for new batteries ensues.

With the RAT 4+ you can create different profiles for different games, so you can create various complex commands and so on, even different sensitivity to button pressing or movements on screen. It really is very impressive the amount of customization you can do with this mouse.

The very high quality optical sensor means that lag is never a problem, well never one I noticed.

The mouse fit my hand very well, and felt very easy to use. And again I have to say how utterly cool it looks.

My only gripe is that the mouse is very light, and for some that is a good thing, I just personally prefer a heavier unit.

If you are a hardcore gamer then this is the mouse for you. 9/10

Find out more at the official site.
http://www.madcatz.com/index.php?action=proA-rat4

Review: Just Dance 2019 (Nintendo Switch)

Just Dance 2019 is the latest in the dance game franchise.
I purchased this game for my niece (9 years old), so I have spoken to her in depth as well as played the game myself.

The first problem I noticed is that only about 15 songs are available when you first play, the full 40 are unlockable. However the claim on the box is 400, but I soon found out that they were part of an extra subscription. So that is the first complaint. You pay £30 for a game that advertises hundreds of songs, but they are all behind a paywall. And unfortunately they are view-able within the game even though you cant play them, so kids will see them and demand them, since they are more famous and in general better songs.

My niece had the game at Christmas, so today I asked her if she had been playing it. She said no, as she didn't like any of the songs that are available at the start. I pointed out that she had to unlock more songs by playing through the game, she replied "whats the point if I don't like the songs, that is not fun".

It is hard to argue against that logic.

This game is a cash grab, no doubt about it.
$4.00 (£2.50) for 24 hours, $4.99 (£3.29) for a month, $9.99 (£7.99) for 3 months, or $29.99 (£19.99) for a year.

The game itself plays ok, it is a typical dance game. Nothing groundbreaking here. The graphics are decent, and the music quality is also good.

The problem is purely the songs.
If you buy this for a child and they don't like the 15 or so songs that are playable straight away, then they wont like the game. It really is simple as that. And these songs aren't even new releases. So to call this Just Dance 2019 is also a bit misleading.

The subscription model that now seems to be common place is truly destroying games in my opinion.

Just Dance 19 is a cash grab. Find out the play list before you buy, if your child likes those songs then great. But if they don't, and you don't want to pay the subscription fee, then perhaps find another game that doesn't try to squeeze every last penny out of you, even after you have paid for the game itself.

I have to give the game 1/10. I gave it to a child to play, and they don't want to play it.

Review by Jon Donnis.

Buy the game from Amazon here.

Clock Simulator - Nintendo Switch

In Clock Simulator your task is simple, click once a second, every second to the rhythm of a ticking clock. From developer Kool2Play, Clock Simulator is an immersive, minimalistic rhythm game that requires patience, focus, and a penchant for timekeeping. The game supports basic clock simulation as well as a host of arcade modes and challenging twists on the clock gameplay like ‘Pig got the rhythm’, which is a mash-up of the standard Clock Simulator rhythm challenge with a typing game as guide a pig through a series of obstacles.

The core game is played over a soft, ambient soundtrack while warm backgrounds swell across the colour spectrum. Your role is to be the clock: precise, reliable, perfect. And that’s why Clock Simulator is so interesting and challenging, it tasks you to embody these infallible aspects of everyday clocks. It’s as frustrating as it is meditative, and there’s not many games out there that ask so little of you while demanding so much.