MMO Updates

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• WRUP: Going ape edition
• The Daily Grind: How do you like to move it move it?
• Betawatch: February 25 - March 2, 2012
• Some Assembly Required: Six must-haves for creative expression
• Storyboard: An event with a touch of plot
• MMObility: The 16 MMOs in my pocket
• Aeria Games unveils Aeria Mobile, inaugural titles
• Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development
• Derek Smart on Line of Defense (and its competition)
• Funcom launches official German and French websites for The Secret World
• Lime Odyssey shutting down in Korea [Updated]

WRUP: Going ape edition Posted: 03 Mar 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous I hate when I know a major game release is just around the corner. Mass Effect 3 comes out next week, and I've got it quietly pre-loading on my machine right now. That's bad enough by itself, but I count four other games I'm enraptured by at the moment, leaving me to just completely wig out in trying to play everything at once. I could probably bring my desktop downstairs and play on the PlayStation 3 at the same time, but that still leaves me with a need to be playing three other games at once. I know. First-world problems. At any rate, it's time for this week's installment of WRUP, in which the entire Massively crew is all frenetic about playing many, many games. Well, some of us are, anyway. And we're all sharing our personal definition of a sandbox game, so that should be fun. So let us know what you're going to be up to in the comments, but only after you've passed through the wall of text beneath the cut! Continue reading WRUP: Going ape edition WRUP: Going ape edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Mar 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: How do you like to move it move it? Posted: 03 Mar 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Humor, Miscellaneous Zentia, Guild Wars, and a sampling of other MMOs offer what seems to me a bizarre movement option: click-to-move. I suppose I'm a first-person or chase-cam kinda girl, but I can't imagine using click-to-move in any sort of competitive 3-D gaming environment. There's always a better use for those mouse-clicks. Granted, I can understand why it's the only option in a strategy-sandbox like the freshly launched Wakfu, and I did have a go at making click-to-move work in Guild Wars on a touchscreen, but even that was iffy at best. So today I'm wondering, when exactly is click-to-move the best option? And how do you like to move it move it in MMOs? 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! The Daily Grind: How do you like to move it move it? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Betawatch: February 25 - March 2, 2012 Posted: 02 Mar 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, News items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Betawatch makes its final farewells to Wakfu this week; the strategy-sandbox launched on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Rise of Dragonian Era aims to launch March 9th, RaiderZ plans to open its alpha test on March 14th, and Spirit Tales will begin closed beta on March 15th. There's a bit of sad news for fans of Stellar Dawn and Dawntide; the development of both titles has been paused as their respective studios regroup. Finally, we scored some hands-on time with pseudo-MMOs End of Nations and Blacklight: Retribution. Enjoy the rest of this week's Betawatch roundup beyond the cut! Continue reading Betawatch: February 25 - March 2, 2012 Betawatch: February 25 - March 2, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Some Assembly Required: Six must-haves for creative expression Posted: 02 Mar 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, Free-to-play, Roleplaying, Virtual worlds, Xsyon, Post-Apocalyptic, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox Creativity. It is expressed in so many ways in so many mediums. Art, literature, architecture, music, performance... I love it all, conventional and unconventional. Heck, I revel in it! Why do you think my work and recreation include gaming? Wait, gaming?! You betcha! Beyond the artistry of the developers, MMORPGs offer outlets for player creativity in a variety of ways. I am not ashamed to admit that the primary reason I delve into MMORPGs is not for the gameplay but to explore and experience the creative expression of others (and to express some of my own as well). In fact, finding and sharing that very creativity by championing and highlighting player-generated content is precisely what Some Assembly Required is about. Between (or in lieu of) the hacking, the slashing, and the plundering, players seize proffered tools in myriad virtual realms to build works of art, pen masterpieces, construct edifices, compose melodies, and take the stage, all within the pixeled confines of a virtual world. Unfortunately, not all games have adequate tools for such creative expression. While inspired players can make do if they must, having supporting features exponentially enhances a game (and positively affects retention). Thankfully, some games provide a few standard-setting features that -- in my opinion -- should be included in every game on the market. Here are six of those must-have features. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Six must-haves for creative expression Some Assembly Required: Six must-haves for creative expression originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Storyboard: An event with a touch of plot Posted: 02 Mar 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous In tabletop games, the GM is sometimes referred to as the player who doesn't get to play. Running a plot-heavy event in an MMORPG is fairly similar -- you're still technically there in the form of a character, but the focus is on an adventure that you're presenting for your fellow players. That means a whole lot of extra work on your part because you suddenly lack the advantage of letting the game handle most of that pesky worldbuilding work. You probably don't need to be told that this can all go bad. No, what you really want to know is how to avoid going bad. And while some of the stuff that I've posted in the past about running in-game events is still entirely applicable, there are also some unique issues that you're going to have to deal with when your event is meant to be tightly scripted. Plan it right, and the whole thing can go off without a hitch. Plan it wrong, and... well, do I need to do another column on drama already? Continue reading Storyboard: An event with a touch of plot Storyboard: An event with a touch of plot originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMObility: The 16 MMOs in my pocket Posted: 02 Mar 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, Mobile, Hands-on, Casual, MMORTS, Miscellaneous, MMObility I have a smartphone that is pretty much filled to the brim with actual, functional, persistent MMORPGs. Some of them are three-dimensional romps through massive worlds filled with dungeons and dragons; others are representational browser-based games that work through the phone's native browser; and the rest are hardly nothing more than a few dots on the screen and impressionistic gameplay. Still, they are MMOs. I love having access to them, and over the last year I have actually grown to love simple, clever design and basic artwork over almost anything else. Forget Guild Wars 2; we'll hear enough about that to make us choke. Sure, it might be a fun game, but I'm a tech guy from the Bizarro universe. I prefer to see how little tech I need to game with. I want to push the limits even lower. Anyway, it's springtime here in Texas, so it's time to clean out all sorts of crap from my life. I organize all of my hundreds of songs, films, movies and art pieces and get my digital life in order as well. This process includes tweaking my current line-up of basic technology and downloading any updates for the games that exist on those devices. It's time to cull the weak and glorify the wonderful. Continue reading MMObility: The 16 MMOs in my pocket MMObility: The 16 MMOs in my pocket originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Aeria Games unveils Aeria Mobile, inaugural titles Posted: 02 Mar 2012 12:30 PM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Mobile Aeria Games, publisher of popular free-to-play titles such as Eden Eternal, announced in a press release today that it has established Aeria Mobile in order to deliver quality games to "the underserved mobile core gaming arena." The division is coming into the world with three inaugural mobile games. The first of these is Eden Eternal: Monster Arena. The game is (obviously) set in the world of Eden Eternal and "brings the beloved anime-style gameplay of the popular franchise to an innovative accelerometer-based shooter RPG." Next up on the list is Tuff Tanks, a "turn-based artillery shooter set in a colorful world of monsters and tanks." The turn-based title will be familiar to fans of the Worms series, and it will allow players to face off against computer opponents or against one another. The third and final release title for Aeria Mobile is known as Armygeddon, "a turn-based military strategy game set in a near-future setting that features episodic single-player content and asynchronous multiplayer combat." So if you need to get your gaming fix on the go, Aeria Games has you covered. To check out the library and find out how to get your hands on the games for yourselves, just click on through the link below to the official Aeria Mobile site. [Source: Aeria Games press release] Aeria Games unveils Aeria Mobile, inaugural titles originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development Posted: 02 Mar 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Stellar Dawn Word to the wise: Don't put "dawn" into any part of your MMO's name, or else it will get hit by the curse of breaking dawn. Just ask Dawntide, DAWN, and now, Stellar Dawn. Yes, unfortunately it's true. Jagex announced that it's suspending development on Stellar Dawn to make sure the company is in the best position possible by concentrating on Transformers Universe and RuneScape. While the studio was able to shuffle most of Stellar Dawn's team around to new positions, the decision still resulted in the loss of 12 jobs. In a prepared statement, CEO Mark Gerhard was highly complimentary of Stellar Dawn's team and progress. "Jagex has always been committed to developing the highest quality games and services. This is not a decision we have taken lightly; the Stellar Dawn team has achieved a great deal developing the game and should rightly be proud of their achievements so far." Stellar Dawn fans might find hope in the language being used by the team in the forum announcement, as the title's development is described as being "paused" and a "temporary move" instead of being outright cancelled. Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Develop, Stellar Dawn forum Via: Eurogamer

Derek Smart on Line of Defense (and its competition) Posted: 02 Mar 2012 11:30 AM PST Filed under: EVE Online, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, MMOFPS, DUST 514 Dr. Derek Smart is hard at work on the MMO interview circuit lately, and his sit-down with Massively a couple of weeks ago was only the beginning. The head honcho of Quest Online and 3000AD recently checked in with Rock, Paper, Shotgun to talk up the merits of his Line of Defense MMOFPS. He also had a few choice words for genre competitors like CCP's upcoming EVE Online sidequel. "DUST 514, that's just going to fail," Smart opines. "There's no ifs, maybes or buts about it. The proper way I think that would have been done would have been to do an EVE sequel and bolt DUST 514 into it." He doesn't stop there, though, and he goes on to say that folks who call EVE a space combat game "need to be taken out back and shot." It's a lengthy read, and Smart drops a few Line of Defense gameplay-related nuggets here or there, so head to RPS for all the details. Derek Smart on Line of Defense (and its competition) originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: RPS

Funcom launches official German and French websites for The Secret World Posted: 02 Mar 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Horror, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Secret World Word of mouth is everything in today's crowded MMO market, and when it comes to AAA titles like The Secret World, localized fan support systems and information dissemination channels are high on the list of priorities for an international release. As such, Funcom has just announced the creation of two new websites for its French- and German-speaking fan communities. Both portals will be managed by dedicated community teams, and the new sites can be accessed at the direct links above or via the language selector on the main Secret World website. Funcom's horror-conspiracy MMO is scheduled to launch on June 19th. [Source: Funcom press release] Funcom launches official German and French websites for The Secret World originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Lime Odyssey shutting down in Korea [Updated] Posted: 02 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play We've brought you a lot of intriguing Lime Odyssey news over the past year, but today we've received word about the impending closure of the game in its native Korea. MMO Culture has the details, and while the blurb makes no mention of what will happen to the North American version of the game that is currently in beta, the Korean client is going dark as of March 30th. MMO Culture says that Sirius Entertainment, the game's original developer, "deemed that various ongoing critical bugs and server instability could not be solved." The site also reports that all players who purchased cash shop items will receive refunds. We've reached out to Aeria Games (Lime Odyssey's North American publisher) for a comment on the status of the North American version. [Update: The official word from Aeria Games is this: "Aeria Games confirms that the Korean beta version of Lime Odyssey: The Chronicles of Orta is shutting down. The company also confirms that this will not affect the development or rollout of Aeria's English language version. Lime Odyssey is currently in an expanded Alpha play test and will be published in North America by Aeria Games in 2012. Sirius, the developer behind Lime Odyssey, continues to develop and support the North America version."] Lime Odyssey shutting down in Korea [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MMO Culture

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