MMO Updates |
- LotRO rides through the Gap of Rohan and into Orthanc with new screenies
- Age of Wulin videos reveal interesting skills, non-combat gameplay
- M-O-U-S-Eeeeeden Eternal releases new Zumi trailer
- How fat are your tubes? Pando Networks studies average US net speeds
- The Daily Grind: What little thing kept you away from an otherwise great MMO?
- Final Fantasy XI brings out another Mumor event for the summer
- Double experience weekend postponed for City of Heroes
- EA proclaims SWTOR preorder breaks records
- The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Imperator Online
- MMObility: is mobile at risk?
- One Shots: That name rings a bell...
- Hyperspace Beacon: Nuna bites
- CCP cancels EVE's Quarterly Economic Newsletters
- Indulge your phantasies with new Phantasy Star Online 2 info, screenshots, and videos
- The Soapbox: Level the playing field
- University deploys ninja tactics to research our MMO gameplay
- Dragon Nest announces open beta events
| LotRO rides through the Gap of Rohan and into Orthanc with new screenies Posted: 27 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-play  The Gap of Rohan shots primarily show off the various types of camps in the zone, whether they be friend or foe, whereas the Orthanc pictures demonstrate the twisted grandeur of the white wizard. These pictures come hot on the heels of another trio of screenshots showing off the expansion's third zone, Dunland. Rise of Isengard is slated for a September 27th release, but the closed beta begins today!
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| Age of Wulin videos reveal interesting skills, non-combat gameplay Posted: 27 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play  The most obvious is a progression system that lacks traditional levels, but according to a preview at MMO Culture, that's not Age of Wulin's most interesting feature. The title reportedly makes use of a life skills system which includes gathering, fortune-telling, crafting, fishing, and begging (as well as 12 other skills that have yet to be revealed). Yes, we said begging, and the mechanic apparently involves a degree of anonymity when dealing with fellow players. Age of Wulin also features epic quests tied in to something called the miracle system, as well what looks to be a fairly deep guild and territory control minigame. Click past the cut to view a few gameplay videos including footage of combat, training, miracle, begging, and guild systems, and keep an eye out for players involved in unusual MMO activities including drawing and Chinese chess. Continue reading Age of Wulin videos reveal interesting skills, non-combat gameplay
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| M-O-U-S-Eeeeeden Eternal releases new Zumi trailer Posted: 27 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, News items, Free-to-play, Races  A while back we covered Aeria Games' announcement that some devilishly cute little rodent-people known known as Zumi would soon be making their way to the land of Eden Eternal. Now, we've got a new trailer that shows off the mice in action. Don't be fooled by their precious ears and buckteeth, though; The Zumi are masters of the scientific, and they create all variety of gadgets and gizmos to help make the world a better place. Well, either that, or to make a quick buck. To see the Zumi in all of their animated glory, head on past the cut for the new trailer. Continue reading M-O-U-S-Eeeeeden Eternal releases new Zumi trailer
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| How fat are your tubes? Pando Networks studies average US net speeds Posted: 27 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: News items, Miscellaneous  Pando Networks, a content delivery provider for a variety of free-to-play MMOs such as Lord of the Rings Online and MapleStory, has released a study on the average download speeds across the United States. To do this, the company tracked the download speeds of 4 million gamers' games and patches from January to June 2011. So what were the findings? Well, the fastest state in the US was Rhode Island, with an average of 894 KBps. The slowest state, with a download speed nearly a third of Rhode Island's, was Idaho, which came in with a rather paltry average of 318KBps. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the study also found that download speed averages tended to be highest in "fairly affluent, metropolitan suburbs," such as the prosperous Andover suburb of Boston. On the other end of the spectrum there are cities such as Yuma, AZ, Mission, TX, and Pocatello, ID, where speeds don't break 290 KBps. The study also got a look at the average speeds of major ISPs, with Comcast at the top spot with an average speed of 890KBps, and with Verizon (788KBps) and Cox (757KBps) coming in close behind. Roadrunner is the caboose of the group with a download speed average of 673KBps. Curious about how fat the interweb tubes are in your city or state? Jump past the cut for some spiffy interactive maps courtesy of Pando. Continue reading How fat are your tubes? Pando Networks studies average US net speeds
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| The Daily Grind: What little thing kept you away from an otherwise great MMO? Posted: 27 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  While we learned the MMO biographies of each of our members, one guy had a few strong words for Lord of the Rings Online. "Great game, no doubt -- but I just couldn't play it," he said. "The follow camera drove me nuts and made me nauseous. So that's that." It made me think: While we may assume that players eschew games for big reasons, that's not always the case. Sometimes the reasons are small, almost petty -- but nevertheless "deal-breakers," each and every one. So has a little thing kept you away from what you recognize as being a great MMO?  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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| Final Fantasy XI brings out another Mumor event for the summer Posted: 26 Jul 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Events, in-game, Previews, News items, Consoles  But that's not the biggest draw for most players -- that would be the variety of cosmetic rewards and seasonal minigames that the event brings with it. This year is no exception, with players able to take part in the stage show to help ensure Mumor and Uka emerge victorious against demonic forces. Successful participants will earn a new yukata to show off participation, as well as unlocking new levels of challenge in the goldfish scooping minigame. And really, if you're a fan of FFXI, isn't the promise of taking part in the yearly magical girl event reward enough?
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| Double experience weekend postponed for City of Heroes Posted: 26 Jul 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Events, in-game, News items  It's not all doom and gloom, of course -- to test the new build and ameliorate the bad news, the development team will be hosting a series of task force runs on the test server this Wednesday. Still, it's a shame to see one of the most popular recurring events in the game delayed due to technical issues. Here's hoping that the next set of dates go off without a hitch.
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| EA proclaims SWTOR preorder breaks records Posted: 26 Jul 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, New titles, Star Wars: The Old Republic  As for the release date that everyone seems to be waiting for, CEO John Riccitiello explained during the call that although they have set a wide margin for the release date, they are confident in the projected release of holiday 2011. It is not uncommon according to Riccitiello for an MMO to withhold an exact release date until four to six weeks prior to launch. That said, Gibeau did say, "In September, we will be in a position to call the ball and give you a hard ship date" following the major beta testing push.
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| The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Imperator Online Posted: 26 Jul 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, The Game Archaeologist  While I'd love nothing more than to continue this series, I also feel that it's time to return to our normal format starting next week. So today marks the last "what if?" for now, and I've picked a mind-boggler of a game, one that not only frustrates us with its potential but one that asks a "what if?" question of its own. I'm talking about Imperator Online, the MMO from Mythic Entertainment that dared to ask "What if the Roman Empire never fell, but instead continued on to become a really radical futuristic online role-playing game setting?" Continue reading The Game Archaeologist and the What Ifs: Imperator Online
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| Posted: 26 Jul 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Screenshots, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Casual, Humor, MMObility  I suppose it should be no surprise that we do this with our video games as well. In fact, I would go so far as to say that most of the games I find borrow very heavily from each other, sometimes to the point that I wonder if the developers didn't literally just cover their game with a new title and skin and ship it out to players. This is a time in which the same-old same-old is shrugged off because developers "didn't promise anything revolutionary." That's right, we players have gone on to provide an excuse for shoddy development, so many developers don't even have to. It happened with "social" gaming...everyone and their Aunt Tilly jumped into making a Farmville ripoff. The few fantastic titles were covered up by a sea of copycats. Now, is it going to happen in the mobile market? Can such a new market already be seeing it? Click past the cut and let's talk about it. Continue reading MMObility: is mobile at risk?
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| One Shots: That name rings a bell... Posted: 26 Jul 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Screenshots, Fallen Earth, One Shots, Post-Apocalyptic  I was going through some of my favorite wallpapers when I stumbled upon a screenshot of my old guild from Fallen Earth. It was none other than The Rolling Clones! A guild whose leader, Gator Boudreaux, was writing an article about the MMO for Massively, way back. My toon was/is Darkheart Ebonsoul. We had some good times.We're enjoying free-for-all week here on One Shots, and we'd love to have you participate. Pick you favorite screenshot, be it funny, attractive, scary, or any brand of epic, and send it to us at oneshots@massively.com. Include your name, the name of the game, and a little description of the image, and we'll feature it here on Massively!
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| Posted: 26 Jul 2011 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, New titles, Opinion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon  Besides the panel in Comic-Con proper, BioWare developers hosted three separate question and answer sessions focusing on Star Wars: The Old Republic. As with most Q&As, the majority of questions asked have been answered already in the past. If you were hanging out in Darth Hater's Ventrilo server like I was during the live broadcasts, then you heard a lot of "We knew that already." That being said, there were some pieces of juicy meat tossed to the crowd that we had not heard before. I will call them nuna bites, and you can find your slice after the break. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Nuna bites
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| CCP cancels EVE's Quarterly Economic Newsletters Posted: 26 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Economy, MMO industry, News items  In a new devblog yesterday, CCP Recurve posted the four main price indices normally contained in the QEN along with a graph of their development since October 2003. In response to player questions in the comments thread, Dr Eyjo revealed that the QENs for 2011 would not be published as usual. Instead, players will be getting monthly price index devblogs and the economic reports will likely be released once per year. This comes as bad news for players who were looking forward to finding out the economic impact of April's controversial nullsec anomaly changes. It may also mean that details like subscription numbers, population distributions and ISK generation will only be made public a maximum of once every year and that a current snapshot of those metrics may never be released.
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| Indulge your phantasies with new Phantasy Star Online 2 info, screenshots, and videos Posted: 26 Jul 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Video, Previews, News items, PvE  Anyone with fond memories of jumping into Phantasy Star Online back on the Dreamcast (may it rest in peace) will surely be excited to hear that a bevy of new information, screenshots, and videos have been released for Phantasy Star Online 2. In PSO2, the player is part of a planetary investigation team known as the Arks. It would seem that the Arks are tasked with flying about the galaxy to strange new planets, meeting the inhabitants of said planets and killing them. Sounds fun, right? Right. Right now, there are four confirmed weapons: swords and wired lances for Hunters, assault rifles for Rangers, and the gunblade-esque gun slash for all classes. Battlefields are randomly generated for each mission, keeping the gameplay fresh and exciting, and can include a variety of random events that are sure to keep players on their toes. PSO2 also introduces multi-party areas, which -- as the name would imply -- allow multiple parties to venture forth for fun and profit. Players are allowed a main class and a subclass, and instead of having overall character levels, the game utilizes class levels for each class the player has taken. There's much more information where this came from, so we recommend any players who are looking forward to PSO2 (or who are just feeling a bit nostalgic about the original) go check out the full posts. And lastly, for your convenience, all of the new screenshots have been collected in the gallery below, and the new videos are just past the cut.
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| The Soapbox: Level the playing field Posted: 26 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous  Levels exist in every single MMORPG on the market today. There are games that eschew the class-level format popularized from EverQuest onward, but even those games still feature levels of one variety or another -- your character in EVE Online might not be a Level Seven Warship Pilot, but she still has certain skill levels at the right levels to make her effective. Levels are a great way of marking character progress, of showing a character growing in power and competence over time. They're also a great way to cause all sorts of problems, from PvP to PvE, from disparities in high-end play to the infinite frustration of having to gain twenty levels just so you can play with your friends. And unfortunately, the obvious solution of just removing the blasted numbers doesn't actually fix things. Levels are a great advantage to MMOs, even as they're also a big hindrance. Continue reading The Soapbox: Level the playing field
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| University deploys ninja tactics to research our MMO gameplay Posted: 26 Jul 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  Welcome to 1984, MMO players! Researchers at the University of Minnesota have decided to launch Ninja Metrics, which is a software startup focusing on the analysis of data with the goal of "[identifying] key traits upon massive multiplayer online gaming communities." According to the researchers, this data will allow game developers to "identify each player's psycho-social motivations, and take action to help ensure enhanced user experience." Jaideep Srivastava, co-inventor and cofounder of the startup company, claims that Ninja Metrics will be able to use the data it gathers in order to "identify user trends, target key players, and predict when a player may cancel their account." That's right, Ninja Metrics may know when you'll get burnt out on a game before you do! The key to this new analytical technique, according to Srivastava, is identifying the social influences of consumer communities and determining their effects on said communities. Should the startup prove successful, game developers may have another tool at their disposal with which to ensure their players are getting the best gaming experience possible. Just remember, Big Brother is watching!
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| Dragon Nest announces open beta events Posted: 26 Jul 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play, Dragon Nest  Take up your arms, adventurers, because Nexon's Dragon Nest begins open beta today! The cartoonishly adorable, combo-based action MMO has finally opened its doors, and Nexon is staging a series of open beta events to commemorate the occasion. The first event is the Open Beta Legion, which runs from today, July 26th, to August 9th, and requires players to band together in parties for bonus XP, and which also gives 10 guilds the opportunity to win special prizes. The second event, The Dragon's Hoard, encourages players to log in to the game daily in order to reap a reward of Scales (the in-game item shop currency). The first weekend of the open beta will see the Charge! event, which grants players an additional 300 daily Empowerment Points for the duration of the weekend. These events, and a few more that just can't be crammed into a meager news post, await Dragon Nest players. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and remember this simple mantra: If it moves, kill it.
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