MMO Updates |
- WRUP: And now, a final close-up edition
- The Daily Grind: Do you read MMO novels?
- EverQuest to hackers: You've been served
- Runes of Magic to receive Turkish and Latin American localization from Aeria Games
- Betawatch: November 26 - December 2, 2011
- A Tale in the Desert VI begins tomorrow
- Storyboard: Family legacy
- Star Trek Online offering perks to subscribers before the business shift
- Darkfall devblog addresses Darkfall 2.0 progress, lack of communication
- LotRO's Devs of the Roundtable sally forth on Update 5's instance cluster
- Star Wars: The Old Republic pits the Jedi Consular against the Imperial Agent
- City of Heroes producer letter details Freedom transition, Fall Player Summit
- EVE dev diary crunches the numbers on New Eden violence
- War of the Immortals celebrates open beta with new trailer
- MMObility: Tiny Speck explains Glitch's big unlaunching
- Super Hero Squad Online reaches the one-million-player mark
- Nexon's Min Kim on the 'Free2pocalypse'
- DCUO Lightning Strikes update to feature superhero origins content
| WRUP: And now, a final close-up edition Posted: 03 Dec 2011 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  Orcas live on mountains, right? Anyway, let's get down to brass tacks and talk about what the Massively staff will be playing over the weekend. And as our usual bonus, we've also included our feelings on whether or not the weather really matters... in-game, of course. So click on past the break to see our plans, and let us know what you'll be up to in the comments! Continue reading WRUP: And now, a final close-up edition
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| The Daily Grind: Do you read MMO novels? Posted: 03 Dec 2011 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, Lore, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Miscellaneous  So do you read game-related novels? Do you think they help you immerse yourself in the game, or do you just read them for fun?  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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| EverQuest to hackers: You've been served Posted: 02 Dec 2011 07:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Culture, News items  In a suitably ominous speech on the EverQuest forums, Sony Online Entertainment's Piestro delivered a word of warning to the cheaters, hackers, and exploiters of Norrath: "Stop now." Piestro goes on to reveal that the team has been quietly performing some clandestine work that helps "[detect] cheaters quickly and accurately." This should be good news for fans of the old-school title who enjoy playing the game on a level field. Hackers, however, should back down at once, because -- as Piestro warns -- "there will be no second chances." Also, because cheating makes you a jerk.
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| Runes of Magic to receive Turkish and Latin American localization from Aeria Games Posted: 02 Dec 2011 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Runes of Magic  No details have been disclosed about the timeframe for the launch of these new localizations. According to Len Hoang, CEO of Aeria Games, the release is part of the company's overall ongoing strategy -- "We believe emerging markets will continue to rise in importance for Aeria Games as we commit to growing our global community of power players." Keep your eyes peeled for more news about the release. [Source: Aeria Games press release]
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| Betawatch: November 26 - December 2, 2011 Posted: 02 Dec 2011 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Massively Meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  Are you looking for a new beta to tinker with? We distributed beta keys for three titles over the week: Archlord X: The Chronicles' closed beta; Mythos Global, whose current round of closed beta runs through Monday; and Rosh Online's closed beta, which we announced last week. That should keep you busy if you weren't one of the lucky few to be invited to this weekend's Star Wars: The Old Republic beta round. The full Betawatch roundup is just beyond the cut! Continue reading Betawatch: November 26 - December 2, 2011
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| A Tale in the Desert VI begins tomorrow Posted: 02 Dec 2011 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Historical, A Tale in the Desert, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Sandbox  A Tale in the Desert V is coming to a close, and of course that means that A Tale in the Desert VI is just over the horizon. For the uninitiated, this means that the current arc of events will be coming to an end and players will be starting from scratch. However, that doesn't mean that all was for naught. Though the players themselves have to start anew, the achievements of Tale 5 remain in place. Players succeeded in building four new monuments, which will lead to four new Tests designed by the team's Oracles for Tale 6. The new Tale goes live at noon EST tomorrow, December 3rd, so you have one more night to prepare yourselves before another unique Tale begins. To get in on the action yourself, just head on over to the game's official site.
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| Posted: 02 Dec 2011 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Game mechanics, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  For those of you who haven't yet heard about the system, please let us know how you're getting the site in 1980s Siberia. But I'll gloss over anyway: The core element of the system is that when you hit a certain point with a character, you pick a surname to unlock as your "Legacy" for all characters on that server. As you advance with more characters, you gain more benefits from the Legacy and so on and so forth. What we're really concerned with is the surname part because that's the part that matters to roleplayers. Being able to make a character's overall tree a tangible thing is a powerful element. It allows you to actually play a family, or at the very least, a linked coalition of characters. Unfortunately, while the idea works well, the problem is that surnames are so important that I almost wish that the system had a different way of tying the elements together. Continue reading Storyboard: Family legacy
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| Star Trek Online offering perks to subscribers before the business shift Posted: 02 Dec 2011 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, News items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Promotions  Subscription deals are also being offered through December 19th for players who subscribe for longer than one month. Picking up a three-month subscription will come out to around $36, and a six-month subscription will run about $66, both cheaper than the regular pricing. You can also pick up a lifetime subscription as well, if you're willing to drop $200 up front. While some players will doubtlessly be taking advantage of the shift to stop subscribing and keep playing, there's certainly no shortage of deals being offered to keep subscriptions after the switch.
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| Darkfall devblog addresses Darkfall 2.0 progress, lack of communication Posted: 02 Dec 2011 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, News items, Dev Diaries, Sandbox  Darkfall fans, rejoice! More news about Darkfall 2.0 is upon us. Tasos Flambouras stopped by the game's blog today to mention that the team does "notice the anxiety on the forums concerning development progress, timing of Darkfall's re-launch, speculation about a wipe between Darkfall and the re-launch, and our spotty communication as of late." He then set out to make amends for these transgressions by giving fans an update on Darkfall 2.0's development progress. Flambouras noted that "the remaining work is broken down... and supported with a clear timeframe... so at this point we know exactly when we're done with the development." More details on Darkfall 2.0 will be revealed in upcoming updates. But Darkfall 2.0 isn't the only thing on the Aventurine head-honcho's agenda. He also takes some time to talk about whether or not there will be a full wipe when 2.0 launches (the team hasn't decided yet), business deals (the studio is in "final stages of cooperation with several partners"), and the studio's lack of communication (the studio says it's sorry and promises to do better). For the full, unabridged dev blog update, just head on over to the game's official site.
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| LotRO's Devs of the Roundtable sally forth on Update 5's instance cluster Posted: 02 Dec 2011 02:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Previews, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  Update 5's five instances -- including an epic raid confrontation with Saruman -- presented unique challenges and exciting opportunities for the team. Worldbuilder Dan Ouellette says that Turbine didn't want to limit itself to merely Orthanc: "After looking at all our ideas we knew we didn't want to have them all in the tower, because that would be a very boring cluster. It's a very small space and in general... just really long." Instead, the team branched out to focus on the surroundings, inner workings, and underneath of Orthanc for the five instances. The different types of instances -- three-, six-, and 12-person -- allowed the team to try out different tricks as well. "It's an exciting and difficult demand when working on a three-man," Content Designer Bob Hess says. "The types of challenges you present to people have to be a little more outside-the-box." It's a smörgåsbord of delectable information, so if you're craving good group content in LotRO, you'll definitely want to scoop this up.
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| Star Wars: The Old Republic pits the Jedi Consular against the Imperial Agent Posted: 02 Dec 2011 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Classes, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Ladies and gentlemen, this match is scheduled for one fall! In the blue corner, weighing in at 200 pounds of pure Force, we have the Jedi Consular. In the red corner, we have the conniving Imperial Agent. Who will come out on top? Well, that's for you to decide, but the folks at BioWare want to make sure everyone is making informed decisions. In light of that, the studio has released a new Star Wars: The Old Republic video in which a number of devs (verbally) duke it out in hopes of proving that their class is the best class. So jump past the cut and check it out, then decide for yourself who comes out on top (protip: it's the Agent). Oh, and while you're at it, don't forget that you can now preorder The Old Republic peripherals, so if you're in the market for a new mouse, keyboard, or headset, you can declare your allegiance for the Empire or Republic with a new gadget. For the full details, hit the SWTOR official site. Continue reading Star Wars: The Old Republic pits the Jedi Consular against the Imperial Agent
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| City of Heroes producer letter details Freedom transition, Fall Player Summit Posted: 02 Dec 2011 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, News items, Free-to-play  City of Heroes Freedom has been going strong for some time now, and Paragon Studios seems understandably pleased with the game's F2P transition. In the latest producer's letter on the official City of Heroes site, executive producer Brian Clayton states that "the Freedom initiative and Issue 21: Convergence have significantly increased our active player base and our revenues, and have invigorated our game with amazing new content including monthly Signature Stories, weekly items in the Paragon Market, Paragon Rewards, a kickin' Halloween event, and plenty more!" Clayton also speaks about the Fall Player Summit the studio held on November 19th. During the gathering, the team took the time to listen to players about what they liked and disliked about Freedom so far. In addition, artist extraordinaire David Nakayama hosted a Create a Costume Set panel, in which he worked collaboratively with players to create the Retro Sci-Fi costume set, which will be introduced to the game sometime next year. For the full letter, just click on over to the City of Heroes official site.
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| EVE dev diary crunches the numbers on New Eden violence Posted: 02 Dec 2011 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, PvP, News items, Sandbox  Sure you can become a captain of industry, a respected (feared?) trader, or a profit-seeking miner, but at the end of the day, many EVE fans care little for the gameplay that exists outside of spaceship on spaceship violence. CCP's latest dev blog reflects this obsession, and CCP Diagoras presents a load of statistics culled from the end of 2007 to the present. Among the interesting (if esoteric) factoids: Something blows up in New Eden once every six seconds. Head to the game's official website for more numbers.
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| War of the Immortals celebrates open beta with new trailer Posted: 02 Dec 2011 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, News items, Free-to-play  Perfect World Entertainment's War of the Immortals (not to be confused with the company's other title, Battle of the Immortals) has entered open beta. Two new servers -- Gaia and Midgard -- have been brought up in order to accommodate the influx of new players sure to arrive with the open testing. War of the Immortals puts players in the role of one of eight classes, then sends them on an epic journey during which they must battle fierce monsters, solve diabolical puzzles, and generally be heroic. To top it all off, PWE is giving away 2500 USD in prizes to War of the Immortals beta testers, so head on over to the official site for the full details, and click past the cut for the game's open beta trailer. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release] Continue reading War of the Immortals celebrates open beta with new trailer
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| MMObility: Tiny Speck explains Glitch's big unlaunching Posted: 02 Dec 2011 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Business models, Interviews, News items, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, MMObility  Even after speaking to him, though, I am still a bit confused about the announcement. Is my confusion due to the fact that many developers would never do such a thing as going back to beta, or is it the offer for full credit and subscription refunds that boggles me? Either way, players have to find their comfort zone with the announcement and decide what they want to do. Click past the cut for my thoughts on the interview and feel free to leave your own in the comments section! Continue reading MMObility: Tiny Speck explains Glitch's big unlaunching
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| Super Hero Squad Online reaches the one-million-player mark Posted: 02 Dec 2011 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play, Kids, Super Hero Squad Online  SHSO, which launched just back in April, has been a big hit with the younger crowd (and presumably with parents) by offering up free and easily accessible gameplay as well as a focus on a kid-friendly environment. Jay Minn, vice president of Gazillion's Amazing Society, is predictably happy with the number and promises to keep the updates coming: "We'll keep adding new content and characters all the time, it's truly wonderful to see the game alive with over a million registered players having fun brawling, battling, exploring and making super heroic friends!" [Source: Gazillion press release]
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| Nexon's Min Kim on the 'Free2pocalypse' Posted: 02 Dec 2011 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Business models, Economy, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  He also talks a bit about Nexon's new Live Games division, which consolidates the company's operations, marketing, and communications groups into a single entity under his direction. Finally, Kim explains the logic behind the decision to remove Nexon's name from its uber-successful retail store game cards. In a nutshell, the benefits of unifying the virtual item currencies across a diverse selection of games outweighed the name recognition afforded by the Nexon banner.
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| DCUO Lightning Strikes update to feature superhero origins content Posted: 02 Dec 2011 09:30 AM PST Filed under: Super-hero, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, DC Universe Online  In addition to a new Central City map and a new set of electricity-based superpowers, DCUO is adding some origin content designed to titillate DC Comics fans and introduce newbs to the canon's long and storied history. Sony Online Entertainment creative director Jens Andersen told PC Gamer that the Flash's Cosmic Treadmill is the first of several origins-type devices slated to appear in the superhero MMO, and SOE plans to let players revisit "the origin stories of DC's biggest villains and heroes." The initial origin story occurs in one of DCUO's duo instances, where you and a friend will be whisked back in time to the night that Barry Allen rode the lightning and became The Flash. Head to the PC Gamer for the full article text, and check out the Lightning Strikes teaser video after the break. Continue reading DCUO Lightning Strikes update to feature superhero origins content
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