MMO Updates |
- Eden Eternal opens second closed beta server
- Guild Wars ups the ante for PvP
- Show your gamer colors: Win a Split Reason gift certificate from Massively!
- Former Atari VP moves to Trion Worlds
- The Daily Grind: Is free-for-all PvP a dealbreaker?
- The MMO Report: Casey says frak edition
- EA to be the sole source for SWTOR downloads [updated]
- Global Agenda celebrates F2P success with jetpack use in Dome City
- Information posted on Update 10 for Dungeons and Dragons Online
- Vindictus gets a European launch window at long last
- Witness Ra's al Ghul's revenge in the new DCUO trailer
- EVE Spotlight: An interview with Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm
- The Guild Counsel: Surviving the summer doldrums
- Behind the Mask: Perfect World and the future
- World of Tanks coming to real-world Tankfest event
- One Shots: Definitely not for display only
- Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before?
- The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons
- Ask Massively: The best part is where attractive hipsters have fun outside edition
- Hellgate closed beta heats up tomorrow
- Jagex reveals Transformers Universe, gears up for BotCon
- Need for Speed World laps five million registered users
| Eden Eternal opens second closed beta server Posted: 03 Jun 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play  From mass healing missions to boosted loot hours, there's always something going on. Eden Eternal allows players to freely swap between 15 classes, build sprawling player towns (and charge visitors for town services), and tackle a variety of solo, 3-man, and 5-man dungeons. Head to the game's official website for more detailed info, and if you'd like to check it out pick up a beta key from our giveaway.
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| Guild Wars ups the ante for PvP Posted: 03 Jun 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Patches, PvP, Dev Diaries  Hence the impetus behind Guild Wars' June update, which contains a number of new incentives to entice players into the PvP arenas. Some of the biggest changes include the ability to trade Z-coins, new PvP quests, and additional formats that award Zaishen Strongboxes. Another significant change to Guild Wars is that Alliance PvP formats now award Imperial faction. Imperial faction can be converted to one of three types, depending on the player's need: Luxon, Kurzick or Balthazar. This way a player can fight for one side but earn points toward the other, which should go a long way to increasing the frequency of matches. ArenaNet hopes that these changes will encourage players to branch out into different types of PvP instead of sticking to one format that's tied to specific rewards. There are plenty of other tweaks in this update, so be sure to read the full dev diary to learn about changes to titles, the Codex Arena, GvG emotes and more!
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| Show your gamer colors: Win a Split Reason gift certificate from Massively! Posted: 03 Jun 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Contests, Humor, Giveaways, Miscellaneous  If you think that image would look cool on a t-shirt, your smile is going to get even bigger when you hear what we've got to pass along to you! Splitreason.com, the home of "gear for geeks and gamers," has given us two $25 gift certificates to give away to our readers. All you have to do to enter is tell us what you'd spend your gift certificate on, so take a look at Split Reason, then hit the comment button below and let us know what you simply can't live without. Check our contest rules, get your comment in before the deadline of noon EDT this Friday, June 3rd, and we'll draw two winners shortly after the deadline. Good luck! 
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| Former Atari VP moves to Trion Worlds Posted: 03 Jun 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, News items, RIFT, Miscellaneous  Trion's David Reid feels that Burns is a major catch for the company: "John joins Trion with almost two decades of gaming experience with him, and will be essential in our continued success throughout Europe. With the launch of RIFT earlier this year, we began laying the groundwork for a strong presence in Europe, which will grow as we bring premium, connected games to gamers around the world." Burns has a lengthy track record in the industry, boasting over 20 years of experience at various companies. Prior to Atari, John Burns worked at Electronic Arts, Bandai, Acclaim and Sega.
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| The Daily Grind: Is free-for-all PvP a dealbreaker? Posted: 03 Jun 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, PvP, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Obviously, some players embrace the possibility as part of the charm of an open-world game. But it's possible to have a game with broad player options without the constant threat of cruelty, and there's a reason a lot of Ultima Online players happily opted out of being hunted by other players. Is open PvP the sort of thing that makes you write off a game no matter what other features it might have?  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
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| The MMO Report: Casey says frak edition Posted: 02 Jun 2011 08:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Age of Conan, Free-to-play, The MMO Report, Battlestar Galactica Online, Miscellaneous  The Mail Bag this week is all about love, love, and memes. Fans share their love for each other, love for Casey, and love for Morgan Webb. Yes, she's been gone for two weeks, but apparently Casey's manly smell has not ousted the memory of the time Morgan hosted the MMO Report. One fan has not forgotten; he was so inspired that he created a meme about it just to show how much he cared. Jump past the break if you are interested in catching a glimpse of Casey Schreiner's ego. We have the full video ready to go. Maybe you will catch the news that we missed while staring at Casey's incredible beard. Continue reading The MMO Report: Casey says frak edition
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| EA to be the sole source for SWTOR downloads [updated] Posted: 02 Jun 2011 07:45 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Origin is to act as a social network hub as well as a place to track all your EA game purchases, explained Riccitiello to the Wall Street Journal. This functionality will be available to all users even if they did not purchase the game directly from Origin. However, Riccitiello clarified that Star Wars: The Old Republic will still be purchasable in box form via retailers; only the digital download itself will be exclusive to Origin. Presumably, other all-digital services such as Direct2Drive and Steam will not carry the game. The full article from the Wall Street Journal is available with a subscription to the newspaper's website. [Update: Stephen Reid posted to the official SWTOR forums: "However, even though you'll only be able to buy and download The Old Republic digitally via Origin, you will still be able to buy a retail, boxed copy of the game from your favorite retailer (and that includes online retailers who'll ship the box to you). BioWare and EA know the value many gamers place on a cool boxed product... and we're producing a cool boxed product. (Or maybe I should say 'boxed products'.)"]
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| Global Agenda celebrates F2P success with jetpack use in Dome City Posted: 02 Jun 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Global Agenda  After a substantial wait and numerous requests from the community, Hi-Rez Studios has finally granted one of the most-wanted wishes of Global Agenda players: the ability to use their jetpacks in Dome City. The addition, the studio says, comes as a token of celebration for the recent success of Global Agenda's switch to a free-to-play model as well as a nod of appreciation for the players who have helped support the game with the purchase of booster packs (which grant double XP, credits, tokens, additional loot drops, and a daily allowance of 2000 tokens). What does this mean for the players who purchase the booster packs required to unlock jetpack use within the city? Well, honestly not much except for slightly more expeditious travel around Dome City, which operates as the game's social hub between bouts of players ruthlessly murdering one another. Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris does note, however, that now that aerial travel is possible in Dome City, the studio plans to release "some penthouse level content in future updates." The upcoming patch 1.43 goes live tomorrow and also includes some general bug fixes and improvements. Full details on the new feature and complete patch notes for 1.43 can be found on the official site.
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| Information posted on Update 10 for Dungeons and Dragons Online Posted: 02 Jun 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Game mechanics, Patches, Previews, News items, Free-to-play  Following on the heels of Update 9's story, the newest patch continues to challenge sanity as players are forced to invade Stormreach's insane asylum to rescue some sane inmates in danger of rather horrible treatments. Players will also be tasked with taking part in the feud between the Lord of Stone and the Lord of Eyes, culminating in a plot beneath the Tower of the Twelve that should challenge seasoned warriors. Dungeons and Dragons Online players intrigued by the update list should take the opportunity to preview the content on the test server now.
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| Vindictus gets a European launch window at long last Posted: 02 Jun 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, News items, Free-to-play, Vindictus  While no reasons are cited for the delay, Sun Jin Kim, CEO of Nexon EU, apologized for the delay and promised to have the game localized in at least one additional language by the time of its release. More details are said to be forthcoming at E3 and GamesCom in the near future. European Vindictus fans are doubtlessly a little bit suspicious about finally hearing word after such a long silence, but if all goes well, the hacking and slashing should soon commence for the region.
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| Witness Ra's al Ghul's revenge in the new DCUO trailer Posted: 02 Jun 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Trailers, Video, Patches, DC Universe Online  This 4-man alert is just part of the new additions to DC Universe Online in Update 3. Get the whole scoop from Krystalle Voecks, who recently sat down with the developers to discuss the patch, then check out the video after the break. Continue reading Witness Ra's al Ghul's revenge in the new DCUO trailer
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| EVE Spotlight: An interview with Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm Posted: 02 Jun 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Culture, Interviews, Lore, Machinima  EVE Online is well-known for its community's awesome cinematic productions, and no film is more renowned than the incredible machinima Clear Skies. Directed by Ian Chisholm, Clear Skies seamlessly merges in-game EVE footage with scenes composed using Valve's Source development kit. The films follow the adventures of captain John Rourke and his crew aboard the Minmatar Tempest class battleship Clear Skies. With more luck than sense, the Clear Skies crew continually finds itself in sticky situations but manages to come out on top. The first Clear Skies film won the award for best long-format film at the 2008 annual Machinima Filmfest, and a second film solidified the series' huge cult following. Clear Skies has even inspired other players like Kyoko Sakoda to produce their own cinematic masterpieces set in the EVE Online universe. The third and probably final film in the Clear Skies series was released earlier this week, absolutely shattering all expectations. In this massive edition of EVE Spotlight, I interview Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm to find out all about the production of Clear Skies III. Continue reading EVE Spotlight: An interview with Clear Skies creator Ian Chisholm
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| The Guild Counsel: Surviving the summer doldrums Posted: 02 Jun 2011 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous  Summer is always a difficult time for MMOs, and for guilds in particular. Expansions tend to arrive in the fall and winter, meaning that content begins to grow stale by summer. Members aren't on as often; instead, they are busy with children out of school, summer trips, and shockingly, a desire to soak up some sun and nice weather. For a guild leader, this is one of the most difficult times of the year, and many guilds fail to make it through the summer. But there are some ways to get through the doldrums, and the experience can even be a great opportunity to strengthen your guild in the long run. Read on for some helpful summertime tips in this week's Guild Counsel! Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Surviving the summer doldrums
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| Behind the Mask: Perfect World and the future Posted: 02 Jun 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Behind the Mask  CO is a fairly "pay-to-win" game in that Gold members have a lot of gameplay advantages over their non-subscribing counterparts. A lot of players are suggesting that the C-Store might become inundated with paid features and that we might possibly see the removal of certain free features (like global-purchased respecs). I am cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. Perfect World Entertainment holds controlling shares in Runic Games, and if the recent Mac and console ports of Torchlight are any indication of PWE's approach to management, I'd be more than happy to welcome our new alien overlords. Continue reading Behind the Mask: Perfect World and the future
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| World of Tanks coming to real-world Tankfest event Posted: 02 Jun 2011 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Historical, Real life, Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, War, Free-to-play, World of Tanks  Tankfest takes place at the Bovington Tank Museum in Britain on June 25th and 26th, and Wargaming.net will be on hand to demonstrate "one of the largest virtual examples of WWII-era steel armor." World of Tanks officially launched on April 12th after an extensive beta period, and the game recently released new maps and the meta Ultimate Conquest mode.
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| One Shots: Definitely not for display only Posted: 02 Jun 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Free-to-play, One Shots, All Points Bulletin, Crime  My mount isn't an animal, but it is the perfect one for me since I didn't just get to choose it in a list of dozens of amazing ones but actually had the opportunity to design it as I wanted. Is there any mount more awesome than the one you get to design yourself? There isn't.It sounds like Kaul has thrown down the gauntlet! Is there another mount more awesome? If you think there is, prove it by sending a screenshot to oneshots@massively.com along with your name and the name of the game, then tell us a little about what your awesome ride is and how you came by it. We'll show it off here on One Shots for everyone to admire! Finally, don't forget to get the jump on next week's One Shots theme: unusual foes. Send us the funniest, most strangely designed, or scariest enemy you've taken on in an MMO and we'll share it here on One Shots!
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| Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before? Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Rumors, Captain's Log  Hello, computer (and players)! Isn't it amazing how the MMO gaming world works? One week you might be ecstatic about the planned updates for your favorite game, and the next week you are wondering if that same game is even going to last another day. Like many other Star Trek Online players, I was in this boat just last week. When Atari announced that it was going to be divesting interest in Cryptic, many players initially went into panic mode. But as I stated in my entry last week, I strongly felt that things were going to turn out just fine, possibly for the better -- and they definitely have. Earlier this week, Perfect World Entertainment announced that it would acquire a 100% equity stake from Atari, with Cryptic Studios remaining as the sole shareholder. Made famous for its free-to-play games, including Perfect World International, Pocketpet Journey West, and Forsaken World, Perfect World has the potential to help STO continue to grow. While the new owners are very excited at the opportunity to utilize the engine Cryptic is famous for, they are also excited at the fact that Champions Online uses the free-to-play business model. Oh dear -- here we go again. Ensign, warp 10! Everything is going to be OK and here's why... Continue reading Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before?
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| The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons Posted: 02 Jun 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Aion, City of Heroes, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Fallen Earth, Guild Wars, Lord of the Rings Online, Warhammer Online, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous  Deadly? Yes. Fashionable? Not so much. I mean, really. A two-handed sword is so 1299. Now, a deep dish Chicago-style pizza with the works flung into an enemy's gullet -- that's progressive thinking! Because I'm deeply bored with the usual suspects in most MMO armories, I wanted to spend a day praising devs who said, "Screw it. We're going weird, and we're not going to regret it, even when our bosses call us into their offices demanding why such lunacy ended up in a professional game." So forget everything you think you know about weapons because your pitiful armament has yet to scratch the surface of the wild, wild universe of things that can be used to kill you in game. This Perfect Ten column is sponsored by Grizzly Bear Rocket Launchers, Ltd. after the jump. Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Unusual MMO weapons
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| Ask Massively: The best part is where attractive hipsters have fun outside edition Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous  In a Python-esque segue, it's time for something completely different: Ask Massively. This week's edition features a question about EVE Online and the fate of Cryptic Studios, albeit not in the same question, as that would be a bit of conceptual whiplash. As always, if you'd like to have your question answered in a future edition, send a message along to ask@massively.com or leave your question in the comment field. Continue reading Ask Massively: The best part is where attractive hipsters have fun outside edition
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| Hellgate closed beta heats up tomorrow Posted: 02 Jun 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Horror, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Hellgate: London, Free-to-play  The new and improved Hellgate boasts additional content from the previous iteration of the game, and players who have snagged beta keys can check out either the multiplayer aspects or the single-player campaign (as well as elements of the older Hellgate: Tokyo expansion that are now included in the new version). Head to the official Hellgate website for more info on the game and the beta.
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| Jagex reveals Transformers Universe, gears up for BotCon Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Browser  Transformers Universe will be a browser-based free-to-play MMO, and the scuttlebutt surrounding the project seems to indicate a planned launch sometime in 2012. Jagex, maker of the long-running RuneScape browser game, has just pushed out a press release featuring the name reveal as well as some info relating to BotCon (the official Transformers fan convention). Jagex will be of course be pimping its new ride at the con (which runs from June 3rd to June 5th in Pasadena, California) and promises that visitors "will be the first to see the graphical style and direction for the game."
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| Need for Speed World laps five million registered users Posted: 02 Jun 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Real life, Sports, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Need for Speed World, Miscellaneous  Gamasutra has the details on the latest milestone and also notes that NFSW is offering motorsport fans a chance to check out virtual versions of actual automobiles from Audi, including the new A1 ClubSport Quattro that was unveiled yesterday. Need for Speed World is the 15th iteration of EA's venerable racing franchise and the first to feature MMORPG stylings. You can read all about it and download the free client at the game's official web destination.
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