Game of Thrones Ascent updated with new Alliance Diplomacy and House Tyrell content

Image via Disruptor Beam

Disruptor Beam has released a large new content update for Game of Thrones Ascent on Facebook, offering more long-term play for users leading up to Season 4 of the Game of Thrones television show on HBO. This new content update includes an Item Enhancements system, Alliance vs. Alliance combat and diplomacy, as well as new character customization options and the addition of a new house: House Tyrell.

Via the game’s new Item Enhancement system, players can add seals to items and Sworn Swords that increase their stats and can be carried over through reincarnation or the creation of a new in-game character. These seals can be purchased in the game’s store, but additional rare seals are earned through player-to-player actions.

Elsewhere, the Alliance Diplomacy system allows users to forge bonds with or declare war against other Alliances. Players can create Alliance camps to prepare before they launch attacks on others, and rare items can be earned in the process. The in-game chat system has been updated with this communication between Alliances in mind, so those working together can now plan attacks on enemy camps, pooling their resources in the process.

Finally, the House Tyrell content sees new quests, characters and items added for those players that aren’t as interested in player-vs-player combat. Users can now reincarnate as members of House Tyrell.

Game of Thrones Ascent has over 200,000 monthly active players, according to our app tracking service AppData. The game is now available to play for free on Facebook.

Mediabistro Course

Turn one vacation into dozens of story ideas, and learn how to pitch your pieces successfully to various travel publications. Join our Travel Writing course, starting October 15th, to learn what travel editors look for and how to create salable pieces that will get you published. Register Today!

View the original article here

AC4's Extra Content Explores the African Side of the Brotherhood

AC4's Extra Content Explores the African Side of the BrotherhoodadSetAdURL("/_uac/adpage.html");adSetOthAT("kvcmsid=bsd:20742239;kvugc=1;"); function runOmni() {s_265.pfxID = "gam";s_265.pageName = "AC4's Extra Content Explores the African Side of the Brotherhood";s_265.server = "";s_265.channel = "us.games";s_265.pageType = "";s_265.prop6 = " ";s_265.prop54 = "blogsmith";s_265.prop1 = "article";s_265.prop2 = "news";s_265.prop18 = "news|video_games";s_265.prop22 = "mike-williams-us-gamer";s_265.prop19 = "ac4|ac4_black_flag|ac4_black_flag_gameplay|ac4_gameplay|ac4_news|ac4_open_world_gameplay|ac4_preview|ac4blackflag|ac4blackflagnews|aciv|aciv_preview|assassins_creed|assassins-creed|assassins-creed-2|assassins-creed-3|assassins-creed-4-black-flag|assassins-creed-brotherhood|assassins-creed-ii|assassins-creed-multiplayer|assassins-creed-revelations|assassinscreed|blackflag|blackflagcreed|dlc|freedomscry|kotaku|liberation|ubisoft";s_265.prop8 = "bss:375";s_265.prop9 = "bsd:20742239";s_265.mmxgo = true;s_265.prop12 = document.location;s_265.t();}var s_account = "aolsvc";(function(d){var s = d.createElement("script");s.src = (location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https://s' : 'http://o') + '.aolcdn.com/omniunih.js';d.getElementsByTagName('head')[0].appendChild(s);})(document); Skip to content Games.com News

Free Online GamesMain NewsReviewsOpinionUNLOCKED: Cheats & Tips ADD ME News Network End of global header What's Hot on Games.comCandy CrushPlants Vs. ZombiesSlot BusterJust Words News, Video Games Comments Tweet AC4's Extra Content Explores the African Side of the Brotherhood by Mike Williams, US Gamer, Posted Oct 10th 2013 12:45PM

While Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag focuses on the adventures of pirate Edward Kenway, Ubisoft is moving in a different direction for the game's additional content. Instead of exploring Kenway's life in a different timeline like Assassin's Creed III's downloadable content, ACIV's DLC will focus on the exploits of his African first mate Adewale. The DLC, entitled Freedom's Cry, will show Adewale fifteen years after the events of ACIV, when he finds himself shipwrecked in Saint-Domingue.

PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 owners can also look forward to an hour's worth of extra content starring Assassin's Creed: Liberation lead Aveline de Grandpre. Aveline's adventure is being re-released sometime in 2014, but PlayStation-bound players will get a chance to see her in HD glory first.

Besides the fact that both sets of content will feature characters of African descent, they'll also share certain supporting cast members. Aveline's mother Jeanne, her mentor Agate, and cult leader Baptiste will all be in Freedom's Cry as child slaves. The Freedom's Cry DLC will also be written by one of the writers of Liberation, Jill Murray.

"This DLC takes place in the 1730s, about fifteen years after Black Flag. We get to see Saint-Domingue as it was in the generation before Liberation's elder cohort- Agate, Baptiste, and Jeanne- were enslaved there," Murray told Kotaku about the DLC and additional PS content. "We see the Maroon Resistance before they became involved in it, and take an open-eyed look at the conditions they would inherit and rebel against in a very different way than Adewale chooses. Adewale's heroism is informed by a life at sea, as a pirate, and then as an Assassin. Agate, Baptiste, and Jeanne are children and their reaction is very different."

"As for Aveline, she was removed from slavery by one generation and the degree of privilege granted by her social status," she added. "In Liberation, slavery was something she chose to engage with, when she could have pretended to ignore it. The events of Liberation give her good reason to question her ties to the Assassins, but never her commitment to the people she helped. The events of the upcoming DLC introduce her to a new ally, who plays a role in helping her resolve her ambitions and her doubts."

I'm glad Aveline and Adewale are getting a greater focus in this content. Aveline's game wasn't perfect, but I enjoyed the exploration of her role in New Orleans as an assassin and as the free daughter of a former slave. I'm pretty hyped for Liberation HD, since it will hopefully introduce Aveline to a new audience, instead of letting her fall into obscurity.

With Adewale, I'm always interested to see Assassin's Creed take on heavier themes like slavery; what's the point of having history as your canvas if you never really explore it? Assassin's Creed III briefly touched upon Connor's reality as a mixed-race Native American, but the game's pacing meant that anytime it became a focus, you were whisked away immediately to the next mission. The fact that slaves were present as America fought for its freedom was merely glanced over in a comment at the end of the game. Adewale will be neck-deep in slavery in Saint-Domingue and being an escaped slave means he'll tackle it head-on.

Freedom's Cry doesn't have a release date or a price yet, but the DLC will be a part of the Assassin's Creed IV Season Pass. For $20, you get a 20 percent discount on any DLC, additional single-player missions, weapons, skins, and collectibles, additional multiplayer characters, and the Kraken Ship Pack to customize your ship. The Season Pass will be available at launch on all platforms, except for Wii U. Ubisoft confirmed to GameReactor that all ACIV DLC will be skipping Wii U.

Tags: ac4, ac4 black flag, ac4 black flag gameplay, ac4 gameplay, AC4 news, AC4 open world gameplay, AC4 preview, ac4blackflag, ac4blackflagnews, ACIV, ACIV preview, assassins creed, Assassins-Creed, assassins-creed-2, assassins-creed-3, assassins-creed-4-black-flag, assassins-creed-brotherhood, Assassins-Creed-ii, assassins-creed-multiplayer, assassins-creed-revelations, AssassinsCreed, BlackFlag, blackflagcreed, DLC, FreedomsCry, kotaku, liberation, Ubisoft

More Games News, Tips and Cheats Check out AC IV: Black Flag's Multiplayer... Interview reveals new Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag details... Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Infamous Pirates Trailer... Assassin's Creed IV Explores the Beauty of Next-Gen... blog comments powered by DisqusAdvertisementFollow UsNewsletterFacebookTwitterRSS most popular now Escape The Titanic - Cheats and walkthroughs Escape The Titanic is the latest hidden object/puzzle ...

Despicable Me: Minion Rush - Walkthroughs Following a very successful opening week at the box ...

Games.com Summer of Giveaways And now introducing...the Games.com Summer of Giveaways! ...

Must Play Next Gen Games Here's the most promising games for the next gen consoles

PlayStation Network ID exchange Need more friends on PSN? You've come to the right place.

Xbox 360 gamertag exhange A few friends short for a Halo skirmish? Find friends here.

Nintendo Network friend exchange Find friends to play your favorite Nintendo games online with right here!

Madden 25 Team Breakdowns Get the inside scoop on your favorite (or least favorite) NFL teams for the upcoming Madden 25 game

Emoji Pop answers and solutions Get all the answers here!

Candy Crush Saga cheats and tips Get help and chat with the community!

The Buzz related storiesCheck out AC IV: Black Flag's MultiplayerInterview reveals new Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag detailsAssassin's Creed IV Black Flag - Infamous Pirates Trailer Games.com News Terms of Service Privacy Policy Trademarks About Our Ads FAQ Sitemap © 2012 AOL Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View the original article here

Facebook career postings: engineers, account managers, content specialist, localization PM and more

Facebook added 15 job listings to its careers page this week, including one for a merchant operations analyst that included mention of a new “Facebook Gifts” product to be launched.

The company removed that job description after we inquired about Facebook Gifts.

Most new listings were for engineers and account managers. The full list is below.

Merchant Operations Analyst (Menlo Park) – Removed Developer Support Engineer – Mandarin (Menlo Park)Software Engineer, Site Integrity (Menlo Park)Manager, Global Marketing Business Operations (Menlo Park)Localization Project Manager (Menlo Park)Entity Quality Rater – Contract (Menlo Park)Critical Facility Engineer (Prineville)Designer, Product Marketing (Menlo Park)Strategic Partner Development, Gaming (Menlo Park)Content Specialist, User Operations (Menlo Park)Account Manager, Global Marketing Solutions (Austin)Account Manager, Global Marketing Solutions (Menlo Park)Account Manager, Benelux (Dublin)Account Manager, Swedish (Dublin)Client Partner, Dutch (Dublin)

Who else is hiring? The Inside Network Job Board presents a survey of current openings at leading companies in the industry.

View the original article here

Facebook Notifies Admins That Content but Not Members of Most Old Groups Will Be Migrated

Facebook has begun notifying admins of old groups that much of the content of these community discussion spaces will be archived — in other words migrated to the new Groups feature. However, group members won’t be ported unless the Page is eligible to upgrade instead of archive. Facebook is recommending admins save their old group content before the upgrade or archive, though it doesn’t specify how.

When Facebook launched the new Groups feature in October, it stated that old groups could not be upgraded to new Groups, and that no additional old groups could be created. It soon began the deprecation process for old groups, burying their bookmarks and navigation interface. However, last week alongside the launch of the Send button, it announced some relatively small, active old groups would receive the option to be upgraded into new Groups and keep their members.

Now when admins visit their old groups that don’t qualify for an upgrade, they’ll see a prompt at the top of the screen explaining the archiving process. Old groups will have their photos, wall posts, discussion threads (which will become wall posts), and group descriptions migrated, but not their “recent news”, group officer titles, info box, group network, or members.

Admins of archived old groups will have to re-add their current members, so therefore they should manually copy down the names of their members to facilitate the invite process if they want to reactive the group.

A Help Center article linked to in the notice explains the different migration process for those admins who receive the option to upgrade their old groups. They’ll see an “Upgrade This Group” prompt at the top of the old group, and members will also be able ask the admin to carry out the upgrade. All the same content will be ported over as is with old group archiving, except group members will automatically be added to the new Group.

There is no way for old group admins or members to request the upgrade option instead of the archive option. Facebook may have already decided which old groups will receive which option, so it may be futile to try to ramp up activity in an old group in hopes of attaining the upgrade option.

Overall, Facebook has done a good job of giving advance notice of the deprecation process for old groups and clearly explaining how it will be completed. It could better explain that “saving” old group content really means writing it down or copy and pasting it, though.

With key content being preserved to avoid a backlash, the only thing users have to gripe about is not having their members ported. And since new Group content can trigger notifications and appear in the news feed, it makes sense for Facebook not create an opportunity for spammers by forcibly adding users to the new version of a group that hasn’t been active in years.

[Thanks to Jim Hanas, Director of Social Media at Sonnet Media for the tip]

View the original article here

Reppler Scans Your Facebook Profile for Objectionable Content and Security Risks

Reppler is a new online reputation management tool that scans a user’s Facebook profile for objectionable content, privacy leaks, and security threats. The free tool can help users, especially young adults in the job market, ensure that their Facebook profiles don’t jeopardize their future prospects.

This first iteration of Reppler has some deficiencies, most notably that it only analyzes a user’s 100 latest posts. However, more comprehensive scanning may be available in later releases, and a premium tier of the service that is currently in development could offer historical analysis, custom flagging and more.

Other online reputation management services such as Reputation.com (formerly Reputation Defender) and LifeLock provide more professional and enterprise level identity and business intelligence theft prevention. Reppler is aimed more squarely towards younger users who may exhibit more risky behavior but aren’t willing to pay up to hundreds of dollars a year for protection. SafeToBe.Me, the 4-person Palo Alto-based startup that developed Reppler, has taken a small seed round of funding led by Norwest Venture partners

SafeToBe.Me’s founder and CEO Vlad Gorelik cites a Microsoft-backed study indicating that seven out of ten recruiters performed some kind of online background check of job candidates, including checking their Facebook profile. He says these checks aren’t likely to dig deeper than a user’s latest 100 posts, but that Reppler plans to provide more historical data once the service matures. The service could also prove useful for parents who want to keep their kids safe without monitoring every single thing they share.

When users visit the Reppler site, they’re asked for long list of extended permissions. Once granted users must wait a few minutes for their data to be analyzed before seeing the results in four different sections: My Impression, My Inappropriate Content, My Information, and My Privacy and Security Risks. They can also connect their YouTube, Flickr and Picasa account for scanning.

My Impression gives a sentiment analysis of a user’s wall, showing whether the general tone was positive or negative. Users can drill down to see the most frequently used words, posting trends by weekday or hour, a pie chart breaking down the sources of wall posts, and a bar graph showing in what categories users have the most Likes.

My Inappropriate Content flags posts with mentions of strong, derogatory, alcohol, drug, or adult language. Users can click the “Fix This” button to visit a flagged post on Facebook where they can choose to delete it. My Information scans the info tab of a user’s profile and shows links to recently tagged and uploaded photos and videos. My Privacy and Security Risks alerts users to malicious links that could result in their account being hacked.

Users can manage their notification settings through a set of sliders to choose whether they’ll be notified of risks immediately, by email summary, through the Reppler site, or not at all.

For being a free tool, Reppler offers a wide breadth of information about a user’s Facebook profile. Gorelik tells us that the next steps in its product roadmap include offering support for other social networks such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

While Reppler can’t provide total assurance for one’s reputation yet, it can offer users a reality check of their safety, security and the impression their profile can give. By capturing younger users with a free tool now, Reppler may be able to turn them into paying customers as they grow up and more of our lives are shared online.

View the original article here