MMO Updates |
- MMObility: Let's make a mobile game, part two
- Celebrate Valentine's Day with Perfect World Entertainment
- Diablo III sort of confirmed for Q2 2012
- Some Assembly Required: Salem dev talks permadeath, griefing, and skill-based gameplay
- The Daily Grind: Where does gaming fall on your priority list?
- This Week in MMO: CCP has gone crazy edition
- The MMO Report: Elvis invented rock 'n' roll edition
- The Guild Counsel: Why is it so hard to say congratulations?
- Ask Massively: We do not play games for a living edition
- TERA brings more pre-order customers into the beta process
- LotRO struts the runway for Fashion Week
- WoW loses another 100,000 subscribers
- EVE Online's time dilation keeping game in sync
- The Perfect Ten: MMO prisons
- You (yes, you) can expand Firefall's gameworld
- Funcom reveals The Secret World skill deck templates
- The Summoner's Guidebook: A community guide to League of Legends
| MMObility: Let's make a mobile game, part two Posted: 10 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Real life, Business models, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Casual, Humor, Miscellaneous, MMObility  Ironically, my first column on the subject was received rather coolly when I consider my normal column response, but last week's responses taught me a valuable lesson about design: Players often want to talk about what is not possible rather than what is. Dave told me how his players often told him what they wished his games would achieve, without ever considering just how difficult it is to make a game. Still, there were several great ideas in the comments section. I'm going to use those ideas to break down this week's update. Continue reading MMObility: Let's make a mobile game, part two
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| Celebrate Valentine's Day with Perfect World Entertainment Posted: 10 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Perfect World International, Events, in-game, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  Jade Dynasty features a wedding event and items for marriage-minded avatars, while Perfect World International GMs will be interacting with players and giving out a rare mount. Rusty Hearts is putting on an art contest, and the prize is Roselle Vegerius (the game's latest premium character). Forsaken World players will receive a Valentine's Day card and random items, while War of the Immortals fans can collect chocolate and trade it for additional XP. Finally, Ether Saga Odyssey players can enter a screenshot contest to win XP and bonus items, as well as bid for rare pets and send custom broadcast messages. [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release]
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| Diablo III sort of confirmed for Q2 2012 Posted: 10 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items  The site reports on Blizzard's recent investors call, during which Mike Morhaime stated the obvious before alluding to the launch window. "Given the popularity of the action RPG genre, and the keen interest in Diablo III, we expect this launch to be a big opportunity for Blizzard. We can also confirm that we are targeting a Q2 launch for Diablo III. We expect to announce more details about the release schedule in the coming weeks," he said. But hey, at least he didn't say "when it's ready." [Source: Activision investor call]
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| Some Assembly Required: Salem dev talks permadeath, griefing, and skill-based gameplay Posted: 10 Feb 2012 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, Free-to-play, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox, Crafting  Salem is being advertised by publisher Paradox as "the crafting MMO," but it's also rife with throw-back mechanics including a huge amount of player freedom and a permadeath/punishment system similar to the one in Johannessen's Haven & Hearth.
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| The Daily Grind: Where does gaming fall on your priority list? Posted: 10 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  This might sound odd coming from a guy who has made gaming his career, but I respect balance and moderation. I could go on and on about how so many people are losing their perspective on having fun by being "hardcore," but I'll save that for a Soapbox article one day. In the meantime, I want to know how you feel about gaming on your priority list. Is it numero uno, towards the end, or somewhere in between?  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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| This Week in MMO: CCP has gone crazy edition Posted: 09 Feb 2012 07:00 PM PST Filed under: Video, Culture, News items, Opinion, Miscellaneous  Aside from that, there's talk about Star Wars: The Old Republic's subscriber numbers and what those numbers mean in the long run as well as the latest trailer for TERA. If you'd like to get some roundtable discussion about the past week's biggest MMO stories, you don't need to go far. Just skip on past the break to watch the newest installment of This Week in MMO, which is quite possibly the best roundtable discussion about MMO news with a six-letter nickname in existence. Continue reading This Week in MMO: CCP has gone crazy edition
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| The MMO Report: Elvis invented rock 'n' roll edition Posted: 09 Feb 2012 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Video, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Humor, The MMO Report, Miscellaneous  Casey reports on Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online's financial woes, RIFT's new infinite trial, Star Wars: The Old Republic's impressive sales numbers, and TERA's beta plans. Then he dips into Uncle Casey's Mailbag to discuss -- what else -- hot dorf-on-dorf action. All this and more in the HD MMO Report tucked behind the cut! Continue reading The MMO Report: Elvis invented rock 'n' roll edition
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| The Guild Counsel: Why is it so hard to say congratulations? Posted: 09 Feb 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Guilds, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous  There is plenty of competition in MMOs, but you rarely see much sportsmanship from players. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at why it's so hard to say "congrats" and why that has an effect on guilds as well as on the communities overall. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: Why is it so hard to say congratulations?
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| Ask Massively: We do not play games for a living edition Posted: 09 Feb 2012 04:30 PM PST Filed under: City of Heroes, City of Villains, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Ask Massively, Miscellaneous  Now that we've gotten that out of the way, it's time for another installment of Ask Massively, this time featuring questions about gambling and the latest City of Heroes cash shop offering. If you've got a question you'd like to see in a future installment of the column, mail it to ask@massively.com or leave it in the comments below. Questions may be edited for brevity and/or clarity. Continue reading Ask Massively: We do not play games for a living edition
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| TERA brings more pre-order customers into the beta process Posted: 09 Feb 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New titles, News items, TERA  Any players who preordered from Amazon or Best Buy and still haven't received a code are asked to send in a letter to the customer service staff before 9:00 a.m. PST on February 10th. Players are all warned that the game's download is currently clocking in at 17 GB, which means that you'll need plenty of time to get the client installed on your computer. A lengthy download is preferable to ambiguity as to whether or not you'll even get your beta access, though.
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| LotRO struts the runway for Fashion Week Posted: 09 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Contests, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Free-to-play  LotRO's cosmetic system allows players to assemble their own outfit looks independent of slotted gear and has become a popular feature in the game ever since its inception. Through Fashion Week, Turbine will call on the best-dressed to strut their stuff in the hopes that in-game CMs will see them and award special titles. Also included in the week will be fashion-themed lotteries and a screenshot contest in which the best entries will be voted upon by the community. To give players inspiration, Turbine links to three game outfit blogs -- Lotro Fashion, Lotro Stylist, and Cosmetic Lotro -- and has given each of the blogs special codes to hand out for free in-game dyes.
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| WoW loses another 100,000 subscribers Posted: 09 Feb 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles  Blizzard also confirmed plans to launch at least two titles this year, including Diablo III in Q2. Mists of Pandaria, WoW's much-maligned upcoming expansion, might be the other, though Titan, Blizzard DOTA, and a new StarCraft II campaign are also in the works. The company's expected revenue for 2012 is $4.5 billion US.
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| EVE Online's time dilation keeping game in sync Posted: 09 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Dev Diaries  So far, it's working great, according to CCP Veritas. In a new blog post, he shows off graphs and recounts recent events that show how "TiDi" (as he calls it) is successfully slowing down in-game time to keep player commands and on-screen action in sync. "In all cases, it has kicked in appropriately when the server node has become overloaded, keeping things running responsively and sanely," he writes. "In both huge fights [shown on the graphs], the module response time was kept under one second for the vast majority of the action, which is a tremendously large improvement over the 20, 40, 600 seconds we'd sometimes see in fights of this scale." EVE Online has also made a few quality of life improvements to EVE Gate, including a better login system, a navigation menu tied in with the rest of the site, and a way to quickly zip to dev posts on the forums.
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| Posted: 09 Feb 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, City of Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Fallen Earth, Opinion, Ultima Online, Humor, Champions Online, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous  Prison: The only fun thing about it is the slang that people have come up to describe it. And while you may never actually want to spend any time in the crowbar hotel in real life, chances are you've already done so in MMOs. Jails are an ever-popular locale in online gaming, and they almost always deal with an epidemic of escaped -- yet still milling around casually -- prisoners. So in today's Perfect Ten, we talked to the warden and got you a special glimpse into pixelated pokeys, if only to scare you straight. No more exploits and bots for you, young man or woman! Continue reading The Perfect Ten: MMO prisons
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| You (yes, you) can expand Firefall's gameworld Posted: 09 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS  If you're not familiar with the game, this clip is a great place to start. Kern explains how Firefall is really two titles in one, with the first game being a ginormous open world featuring loads of PvE content. The second game is centered around Firefall's e-sport components, which include ranked leaderboard matches ranging from 5-on-5 to 15-on-15. Kern also mentions the game's unique take on beta and launch. In basic terms, Red 5 implements feature sets, collects beta feedback, and iterates on down the line (as opposed to presenting a finished product for mass beta testing). This staged approach will also apply to the game's launch, and Kern says the game will be rolled out "organically" much like Google's Gmail service. Finally, content expansion in Firefall will be player-driven. Cross-server cooperation will be necessary to craft MRU units that will expand the playable area from 10 square miles to an entire globe. Kern also touches on the trendy games-as-a-service mandate, and he says that as long as players are around to support Firefall, Red 5 will be around to generate new content. Watch the full video after the break. Continue reading You (yes, you) can expand Firefall's gameworld
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| Funcom reveals The Secret World skill deck templates Posted: 09 Feb 2012 10:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Secret World, Dev Diaries  What's a skill deck? It's The Secret World's answer to the how-do-you-make-a-level-free-MMORPG question, and it allows players to select from 500 abilities to create "exactly the type of character they want." Funcom thinks the system will seem daunting to players used to simpler class-based mechanics in competing MMOs, and as such the firm is adding a few deck templates to offer players a helping hand. Three of these are profiled in the new diary, including one from each of the game's factions. The Witch Hunter focuses on big damage spikes and represents the Templars, the Warlord is your basic swordfighter from the Dragon faction, and the Thaumaturgist is the Illuminati's answer to the gunmage archetype. [Thanks to fallwind for the tip!]
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: A community guide to League of Legends Posted: 09 Feb 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Free-to-play, Guides, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook  I was a new player once, and I remember being extremely daunted by the number of things I needed to learn to be competitive in LoL. Although the journey from newbie to expert was long and difficult, I learned a lot about common mistakes and how to reduce them. If you're looking to step up your game or if you're just getting into the League, the Summoner's Guidebook is the place for you to learn without being treated like you're a noob. This week, we're going to cover the community resources available to you. There are a lot of websites dedicated to League of Legends, and it would be foolish to assume that this column is the only place to get advice on the game. If there's something I haven't covered yet or there's a topic I'm unfamiliar with, you can be sure that one of these places will have the info you're looking for. This article can't possibly cover all the League fansites on the internet (there are probably hundreds), but I can focus on the ones with the best information. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: A community guide to League of Legends
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