MMO Updates |
- New Origins of Malu video highlights story-based sandbox design
- The Secret World designers talk progression, hand-holding, and more
- Bigpoint's €1000 space drone sale clarified
- MV Guide: November 28 - December 4, 2011
- The Daily Grind: What's the worst thing an MMO dev's ever said?
- MMO Week in Review: They've got a secret
- EVE Evolved: Player-owned structures
- The Galactic Overlord Corps wants YOU: Star Supremacy puts it all on the line with new arena
- DUST 514 community manager CCP Shadow steps down
- EVE development video features engineering team interviews
| New Origins of Malu video highlights story-based sandbox design Posted: 28 Nov 2011 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Sandbox  Electric Playground has what amounts to the first official Origins trailer, and the clip features a good bit of in-game alpha footage as well as brief interview clips and commentary from lead designer Michael Dunham. During the course of the video, you'll get a taste of the world and its backstory, and Dunham describes Malu as a "gigantic network of portals around the universe [that are] linked through inter-dimensions." Dunham also explains a bit about the mechanical philosophy behind Origins, stating that "we wanted to build a story-based sandbox game where the user is able to do what they want to do from the beginning [...] it can't be just a complete free-for-all, but at the same time we don't want railroad tracks," he says. Journey past the cut for the full video. Continue reading New Origins of Malu video highlights story-based sandbox design
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| The Secret World designers talk progression, hand-holding, and more Posted: 28 Nov 2011 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Secret World  Those of you wondering how the game's classless skill-based advancement system is going to work will definitely want to read through the piece, as there is a lot of information in terms of both how the The Secret World feels and how it directs players in comparison to more traditional themepark titles. "I believe World of Warcraft uses a very heavy hand to guide players. It says, 'pick up this stuff here, go and do these missions in this place here, do all the quests then go to this place here and do the quests there,'" Bylos explains. "In our game, we try not to be as heavy handed. It's much more of a light touch and comes through in the places you visit and the people you meet."
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| Bigpoint's €1000 space drone sale clarified Posted: 28 Nov 2011 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Browser  Last week we told you about Bigpoint's eyebrow-raising sale of a €1,000 virtual space drone. Gamesbrief recently updated its news posting after its readers chimed in with a healthy dose of skepticism regarding the numbers involved in the supposed windfall.As it turns out, said numbers are likely still impressive, but rather less impressive than than the €2 million ($2.7 million) initially surmised. Gamesbrief's correction post states that the drone cannot be bought for real cash, and instead must be purchased with DarkOrbit's Uridium currency, which is available for real money or earned in game. Bigpoint has in fact sold 2,000 of the drones, but not at a direct cost of €1,000 each. "I no longer think that you can multiply 2,000 10th Drones sold times €1,000 to work out how much revenue Bigpoint made from this single item," Gamesbrief's Nicholas Lovell writes.
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| MV Guide: November 28 - December 4, 2011 Posted: 28 Nov 2011 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Livestream, Miscellaneous, MV Guide  Every week, the Massively staff logs in to play various MMOs live and in person, and we'd love for you to drop by the channel and visit. We have a combination of regular weekly games and new surprises, so you'll find a variety of titles to take a look at. During our streamed events, you can participate in the live chat, ask questions to learn about the game, and simply spend some time with Massively staff and readers. (Of course, streaming is subject to the whims of outside forces like server-side gremlins once in a while.) Follow along after the jump to see what's on this week's schedule! Continue reading MV Guide: November 28 - December 4, 2011
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| The Daily Grind: What's the worst thing an MMO dev's ever said? Posted: 28 Nov 2011 05:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  For my part, one of the most awful dev quotes surfaced during the bygone days of EverQuest, when a dev named Milo Cooper famously posted to a player, "Shut up and give me my ten bucks per month, little man. My Porsche needs some performance upgrades." (Hey, remember back when games were $10 a month?) Comments like that one just fueled anger among the playerbase, whose members already felt they were paying too much for too little in return from a studio that took them entirely for granted. So what's the worst thing you've ever seen an MMO dev say or do?  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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| MMO Week in Review: They've got a secret Posted: 27 Nov 2011 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous  This week, readers clamored for our hands-on with Funcom's The Secret World straight from Montreal. Meanwhile, the final beta weekend for Star Wars: The Old Republic has occupied gamers who aren't otherwise debating the merits of spending a thousand buckaroos on a single item in an MMO transaction shop. And here we thought monoclegate was insanity! Join us past the break for a peek at this week's other top MMO stories! Continue reading MMO Week in Review: They've got a secret
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| EVE Evolved: Player-owned structures Posted: 27 Nov 2011 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Culture, Expansions, Game mechanics, Lore, MMO industry, PvP, News items, EVE Evolved, DUST 514, Sandbox  Eventually, player-built outposts arrived on the scene, and starbases were adopted to fill a military role in system defense. Whichever side in a fight could control the most starbases in a system would win the outpost, and fearsome dreadnoughts were introduced to make starbase sieges possible. Today, starbases take a back seat to wars over infrastructure hubs, territorial claim units and sovereignty blockade units. The war will eventually extend to planets, but until now planetary interaction has been an entirely industrial affair without the slightest hint of EVE's typical conflict. With the coming Crucible expansion, the starbase and customs office systems are due to be overhauled in a way that should lead to more conflict and lay the ground work for DUST 514. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the history of starbases, the impact of the coming starbase revamp, and the possibility of additional conflict brought in by the new customs offices. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Player-owned structures
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| The Galactic Overlord Corps wants YOU: Star Supremacy puts it all on the line with new arena Posted: 27 Nov 2011 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Patches, PvP, Free-to-play, Browser, MMORTS  The first feature in the upcoming update is a PvP arena titled Galaxy Overlord. In it, players will compete to rise up in the ranks and earn honor points for glory (and more importantly, rewards). Also arriving with the update is something called Defender's Battle Control, which apparently allows the titular defenders to jump right into defensive skirmishes and attempt to affect the outcome. According to Barbily's PR Manager Thomas Watson, these features come straight from players' wishlists: "We do a lot of research and players aren't aware how much we put in to make sure we want to provide a game that they want to play. We read feedback about our game and see what players like and don't like. Players within the community and outside the community expect a lot and we want to meet expectations on a high level. The battle system and PvP arena update are just the beginning."
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| DUST 514 community manager CCP Shadow steps down Posted: 27 Nov 2011 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Sandbox  In the forum thread, James remembers the good times he's had over the years thanks to the EVE Online community, both as a writer for Massively and as a community representative for CCP. While he wasn't part of the recent 20% staff layoffs, he relates that many of his friends were. While James will no longer be present under the name CCP Shadow, he will still be playing EVE Online on his normal character with the goal of killing everyone in sight. Everyone here at Massively would like him the best of luck in whatever career he decides to pursue.
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| EVE development video features engineering team interviews Posted: 27 Nov 2011 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Sandbox  In terms of content, we don't get a lot of new information, and much of the dialogue centers on fairly mundane design items like UI scaling, improvements to the game's bookmarking functionality, and the like. That said, it's an interesting peek behind the curtain, and it's always nice to put a face with an oft-quoted developer name. Check out the full clip after the break. Continue reading EVE development video features engineering team interviews
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