MMO Updates |
- EVE Online invading Japan March 28th
- NCsoft reveals two trailers for Aion Europe's F2P launch
- F2P publisher gamigo's account services offline after hack
- TERA website updates with Elin lore, video
- Final Fantasy XIV pushes patch 1.21 back to March 9th
- The Daily Grind: What do you hope to hear from GDC 2012?
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: City of Heroes 2
- WildStar Wednesday examines redundancies in quest text
- Drew Karpyshyn set to pen another Star Wars: The Old Republic novel
- Embrace the darkness with City of Heroes' Issue 22
- EverQuest Online Adventures sunsetting March 29th
- Anarchy Online's new graphics engine wows Funcom
- Enter at Your Own Rift: Looking back at RIFT's first year
- Vindictus EU update brings new character, terrible foe
- Blizzard announces layoffs of 600 employees worldwide
- Black Prophecy developer Reakktor Media on its last legs
| EVE Online invading Japan March 28th Posted: 01 Mar 2012 08:50 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Sandbox  Beginning March 28th, Japanese players will experience New Eden in their native language. True to form, however, is CCP's decision to dump all of its worldwide playerbase into the melting pot that is the Tranquility server. The firm is also partnering with Korean free-to-play giant Nexon to make the deal happen, with the latter handling billing services as well as marketing and PR duties while CCP focuses on development. [Source: CCP press release]
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| NCsoft reveals two trailers for Aion Europe's F2P launch Posted: 01 Mar 2012 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Aion, Business models, Lore, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  The game's Elyos and Asmodian factions get their own video clips, though the footage is largely the same excepting a brief intro and the appropriate voiceovers. There are a lot of battle shots, some glimpses of the high-level Dredgion instance, and a taste of each faction's lore (specifically, how each group blames the other for starting the endless war for the soul of Atreia). Check out both clips after the break, and keep up with the latest Aion happenings via our weekly Wings Over Atreia column. Continue reading NCsoft reveals two trailers for Aion Europe's F2P launch
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| F2P publisher gamigo's account services offline after hack Posted: 01 Mar 2012 07:30 AM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous  The hack resulted in a temporary cessation of registration, account management, and payment services. The company says that while the game servers are still up and running, "the gAS services might be down for a while." gamigo also says that it encrypts passwords and that "no access to account names and other data is confirmed." [Thanks for the tip, Tim!]
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| TERA website updates with Elin lore, video Posted: 01 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Lore, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Races, TERA  Despite their child-like appearance, the Elin are actually quite dour and mysterious. "Their speech is often dark, forthright, and otherworldly, and their sense of humor can border on vicious," the site explains. The goddess Elinu originally created the Elins in the image of Arun's daughter (Arun is one of two titans who created the world of Arborea, if you're not up to speed on TERA's backstory). The Elins generally have one goal, and En Masse says that "they repair, protect, and preserve the world they live in and love above all else." Head past the cut to view the video. Continue reading TERA website updates with Elin lore, video
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| Final Fantasy XIV pushes patch 1.21 back to March 9th Posted: 01 Mar 2012 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, Final Fantasy XIV, Dev Diaries  If someone is to blame, it's Producer Naoki Yoshida, who admits that "the sheer volume" of his suggestions prompted the delay. But it will be worth it, he promises. In a new producer's letter, Yoshida hypes the patch and in particular its changes to magic casting. These changes will be "almost identical" to what the game will see when it hits 2.0. He's extremely excited to announce that adjustments to alchemy and culinary professions -- the medicines and food, specifically -- are almost complete. Finally, he reports that the team is deep into testing the two new instanced raids that are coming with the patch. Yoshida also thanked the community for its feedback over the upcoming server merges.
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| The Daily Grind: What do you hope to hear from GDC 2012? Posted: 01 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind  Well it's almost time for game convention silly season. First up is the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco next week, followed by PAX East in April and E3 in June. A gaggle of Massively scribes are heading west in a few days to bring you the best (and the most grammatically correct) coverage of all the happenings at GDC. From preview sessions with The Secret World, DUST 514, and PlanetSide 2, to interviews with dev luminaries and glimpses of all that's new and shiny in the world of MMOs, there looks to be a lot of industry news coming your way next week. Today's Daily Grind is an easy one. Are you looking forward to GDC, and is there anything in particular that you hope to learn from this year's conference?  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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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: City of Heroes 2 Posted: 29 Feb 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Culture, New titles, Opinion, Free-to-play, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  Let's assume, for the purpose of this article, that Paragon Studios is knee-deep in development of City of Heroes 2 and simply isn't telling anyone. What sort of things would the game need? What would be the best possible route for the game to take? How could it satisfy fans of City of Heroes while drawing in new players? I don't have the absolute answers... but it sure does make for some interesting speculation, based on the things the team has been doing over the past several years. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: City of Heroes 2
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| WildStar Wednesday examines redundancies in quest text Posted: 29 Feb 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, News items, WildStar  Senior narrative designer Cory Herndon explains by example that a lot of quest text winds up repeating unnecessary facts or stating something that should be immediately clear. Herndon starts with a longer example of quest text and steadily pares it down to the most important bits of information, keeping all of the flavor while posting each bit of communication in quick and comprehensible bursts. Combined with the discussion of adding further bits of quest dialogue after important objectives are completed, the diary shows just how you can get a lot of flavor into the quests without quite as many fancy words.
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| Drew Karpyshyn set to pen another Star Wars: The Old Republic novel Posted: 29 Feb 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Lore, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Titled Annihilation, the novel will focus on agent Theron Shan and his companion Teff'ith as they investigate an Imperial counterattack spearheaded by an apprentice of Darth Malgus. The posting goes on to confirm that the novel is currently on target for release on November 13th of this year. So if you can't get enough of your story in the game, it looks like it won't be too much longer until you can get even more story out of game as well.
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| Embrace the darkness with City of Heroes' Issue 22 Posted: 29 Feb 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, Previews, News items, Free-to-play  City of Heroes players better prepare themselves for another descent into the realm of Dark Astoria because in the upcoming Issue 22, Paragon Studios is sending them right back to the twisted realm. Of course, there's a catch: Dark Astoria is being twisted and transformed "into a Level 50 Incarnate co-op zone, with missions that can unlock Incarnate abilities for both Heroes and Villains." But high-level Incarnate players aren't the only ones getting goodies in Issue 22; a new low-level trial -- morbidly titled Drowning in Blood -- is also being introduced in the update. And who could forget the new powersets? Not us! Controllers and Dominators are being given access to the Darkness Control main powerset as well as the Darkness Affinity and Dark Assault secondary sets (for Controllers and Dominators, respectively). For the full preview of City of Heroes' Issue 22, just click on through the link below to the game's official site.
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| EverQuest Online Adventures sunsetting March 29th Posted: 29 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, EverQuest II, MMO industry, Everquest Online Adventures, Consoles  No specific reason was given for the move, but a farewell letter posted on the site attempts to soften the blow: "This is not an easy decision, but there comes a time when it's best for our developers to move on to the next adventure, and that day has come." In the closure FAQ, SOE also promises a celebration at the end of the game's run. To appease its remaining EQOA customers, SOE is offering three months of gold membership in both EverQuest and EverQuest II for current subscribers. This consolation prize will become effective on March 16th. SOE will also not be charging current players during March. EQOA has always been the smallest member of the EverQuest franchise since its release in 2003 on the PlayStation 2. We covered it in our Game Archaeologist column late last year and were impressed by the passion and memories that the game's fans shared. [Thanks to Omali for the tip!]
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| Anarchy Online's new graphics engine wows Funcom Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Anarchy Online, Patches, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  Tjernberg stresses that the entire team works just on Anarchy Online and nothing else and has put a wrap on the first video showing off the new graphics engine. According to her, Funcom's marketers got so excited after seeing it that the studio decided to flex some additional muscle to promote it in the near future. "The artists are more confident working with the settings and materials," she writes, "and they learned what they can do to really make a difference in quality." Other areas that the letter covered include an AO-specific world-building tool that the team's constructed, work on the new beginner experience that will tie in with the upcoming engine, the re-evaluation of professions to emphasize roles, and the details behind the upcoming server transfers. All players will be moved onto a new server that will, according to her, "keep [Anarchy Online] running smoothly for another ten years." Tjernberg also teases the next game update by saying that preliminary patch notes could arrive by the end of March.
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| Enter at Your Own Rift: Looking back at RIFT's first year Posted: 29 Feb 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Endgame, Opinion, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift, Dungeons  In just one year, RIFT has seen seven game updates, a handful of world events, and all sorts of new additions and improvements to the world of Telara. Rather than being a straight-up retrospective, this week's Enter at Your Own Rift is looking back on the first year with a Justin-style list of highlights and even a glimpse of what's coming in 1.8. Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Looking back at RIFT's first year
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| Vindictus EU update brings new character, terrible foe Posted: 29 Feb 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Vindictus  European Vindictus fans, rejoice: Your favorite pillar-swinging brute is now playable. Karok, the newest addition to Vindictus' spread of characters, is a big man with a penchant for beating people up with a huge chunk of architecture that he just happens to carry around. Although he's a slow-moving character, Karok seems built to take some punches, as he's easily the largest playable character seen yet. That huge size and pet pillar come in handy for some new skills like War Slam, Earth Quake, and Pillar Charge. The update doesn't stop there; a new foe is being thrown into the mix in the form of Thor, a giant thunder-lizard, and players will be richly rewarded for taking him down. Additionally, the Mercenary Surprise Update will bring in new Legendary Weapons. So go! Create yourself as the huge walking force of nature that you've always wished you were, grapple with a multi-mawed lightning-lizard, and drink deeply the rewards of your awesomeness. [Source: Nexon EU press release]
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| Blizzard announces layoffs of 600 employees worldwide Posted: 29 Feb 2012 10:15 AM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Economy, MMO industry, News items  Blizzard Entertainment, creator of the perennially popular World of Warcraft, announced today that it would be laying off 600 of its employees worldwide. While Blizzard takes care to note that WoW's development won't be impacted by the layoffs, we find it a bit difficult to take solace in that fact when hundreds of people are losing their jobs. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime commented on the layoffs, stating that "Constant evaluation of teams and processes is necessary for the long-term health of any business. Over the last several years, we've grown our organization tremendously and made large investments in our infrastructure in order to better serve our global community. However, as Blizzard and the industry have evolved we've also had to make some difficult decisions in order to address the changing needs of our company." Understandable, perhaps, considering the fluctuating nature of the industry, but we still wish those Blizzard employees hit by the layoffs the very best in their future endeavors. Good luck, folks.
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| Black Prophecy developer Reakktor Media on its last legs Posted: 29 Feb 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, Economy, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  The future is looking a bit hazy for Black Prophecy developer Reakktor Media, as reports indicate that the studio "has begun the insolvency process" and is scrambling for work in order to keep itself afloat. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Reakktor Media's managing director Kirk Lenke stated that "[the studio is] in a position to accomplish basically anything [that] is played right now, even if we were focused in the recent times on multiplayer mobile gaming," which may indicate an interest in developing games outside of the MMO genre. Lenke also notes that the studio currently has a Diablo-esque sci-fi title in the early development stages. At any rate, we wish the best of luck to the folks at Reakktor Media. Even if things are looking pretty grim, here's to hoping that there's a silver lining in store for the studio.
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