Blizzard gets bonked, Rift gets Rift-ier, TF2 gets TF2-ier, and we talk with our fearless leader from a galaxy far far away. All that and more coming up right now. THIS is the A-I-E Podcast...

AIE NEWS

Blizzard has been hacked! It's not a major hack, but they are strongly suggesting that you change your password and update your phone's authenticator software as soon as you can. Passwords and emails seem to be part of the compromised data, Blizzard has said our billing info is safe, as are physical authenticators. More information can be found in their statement to players.

Pondera is open! AIE world of warcraft's 11th co guild is open for business! Thanks to our wonderful members and the projected influx of pandas, AIE warcraft needed another guild, bringing our total up to 11!

The great purging will begin soon! Come the end of August, if you haven't logged into your AIE warcraft toons in 5 months or more, they will be getting removed from the guild! To stay in all you have to do is log into your toons! Doesn't have to be long, but it resets the ‘last time logged in' counter.

There's a new TF2 mode, Mann vs. Machines! The war between Red and Blue has been suspended to take on an even greater enemy! This update includes new maps, modes, and of course the machines and their all new classes! These will invariably be added to the rotation on TFTuesdays and TFThursdays!

As part of the new Stormlegion expansion, Trion has revealed the new mage soul! (A soul is kind of like a ‘spec' in other games)! The Harbinger has been announced! This is a single target melee-range soul for all the mage-y folks out there. There is a lot more info (including a great short story) over on the Rift website.

Buy a year of RIFT, get the upcoming expansion, a new mount, titles, and all unearned veteran rewards for free! A year of Rift only costs $120 when you buy it through this special offer. Please note it is not a subscription, but is a one time purchase. For more details please check out the Rift stormlegion website.

For all you that live in Indiana, or will be traveling there for the GenCon Indianapolis convention this week, AIE member Healertrek, who sometimes goes by the nickname Dave Fitzgerald, will be presenting a seminar on game design on Saturday Aug 18th at 5pm, with an AIE meetup to follow immediately afterwards for drinks and game playing. To RSVP for the meetup, see his post on our AIE Meetup.com page.

As always, see our show notes for links to more information on all of the above. And with that, let's head into SWTOR news with our guest, Emperor Pelell!

SWTOR NEWS from Pelell:

Intro chit chat~ Running EC story mode with LoL version 2.0. New Ops leader Machia is super hardcore, instituting Turntable nights for our runs. Sunday night we ran to soundtracks and showtunes. On this coming Wednesday, it's one hit wonders. It seems to provide motivation, as well as offer a zone of comfort and humor that is definitely needed whilst wiping, learning the new fights. Still trying to get matching black/blue sabers, as well as getting geared up. Curse Apolas and his Canadian luck!

SWTOR AIE news:

New In-Game Event Started Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8x1NELWJh0k