MMO Updates |
- Celebrate Lord of the Rings Online's 5th Anniversary with free stuff from Massively!
- Test drive a new BMW in Auto Club Revolution
- EVE's Escalation patch brings new status bar, missile effects, and more
- RIFT kicks off service in Korea
- BioWare strikes back at SWTOR declining sub reports
- World of Darkness creative director talks design and the MMO mainstream
- Drakensang Online compares itself to Diablo III and Torchlight II
- New Blade & Soul videos show Summoner gameplay, qinggong abilities
- Xsyon hosts 10-day welcome back promotion
- The Daily Grind: Do you grind for fluff items?
- Not So Massively: Diablo III open beta weekend edition
- Captain's Log: Interview with Star Trek Online lead writer Christine Thompson, part one
- ChangYou plans to bring Shadowbane back in China
- Guild Wars 2 gets all social before the beta weekend [Updated]
- MapleStory proclaims Alliance Eternal this week
- Take a behind-the-scenes tour of ArenaNet's (totally awesome) offices
- Wings Over Atreia: The skinny on housing from NCsoft
- Spirit Tales open beta delayed until May 10th
- Sony eyeing ways to get MMO players out of the house
| Celebrate Lord of the Rings Online's 5th Anniversary with free stuff from Massively! Posted: 24 Apr 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Contests, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, Giveaways, Anniversary  To help celebrate this success after five years, Turbine has teamed up with Massively to offer special prizes for three lucky winners: 5,000 Turbine Points, 10,000 Turbine Points, and a Lifetime account! To be eligible, you must reside in North America (these are for NA accounts) and be over 18 years of age. If that checks out, just head on over to our contest post in our forums and leave a reply to the thread letting us know what your favorite moment was from the last five years of LotRO. Be sure to get your responses in before 8 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 27th. We'll then randomly select the first-, second-, and third-place winners and notify them by the end of the day Friday. Also be sure to check out the 5th anniversary video just after the cut below. Best of luck to everyone!  
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| Test drive a new BMW in Auto Club Revolution Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Real life, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play  ACR is a free-to-play racing title that delivers a "console-quality racing experience" according to Eutechnyx. Gamers can collect, customize, and race models from over 50 real-world manufacturers. Visit the game's official website and sign up to access the challenges needed to unlock your new BMW. [Source: Eutechnyx press release]
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| EVE's Escalation patch brings new status bar, missile effects, and more Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:15 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Sandbox  Lead designer CCP Soundwave is today's talking head. He takes us through the changes to the drone regions, which CCP hopes will revitalize EVE Online's mining trade. "Mining will actually be done through mining rather than shooting NPCs," Soundwave deadpans. Incursion spawns and payouts are also being tweaked, though Soundwave doesn't spend much time on that particular detail in this video. He does show off EVE's new effect bar, though. Prior to the patch, pilots needed to hunt down aggressors via the game's overview, but now there's a little status bar above the hull/armor/shield readout that gives you pertinent combat info at a glance. Finally, CCP has been hard at work revamping EVE's missile effects. The tweaks follow on from last year's turret upgrades to bring even more visual ooohs and ahhhs to EVE's combat. More details are available in the clip after the cut. Continue reading EVE's Escalation patch brings new status bar, missile effects, and more
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| RIFT kicks off service in Korea Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, MMO industry, News items, RIFT  The game is also launching with several of the usual launch events such as promotional giveaways, although they're of limited utility if you don't read or speak Korean. It's an unusual export, but with several Korean games making major promotional pushes in the US (such as Aion and TERA), it might be the time to see if cross-cultural appeal works in the other direction. And if you're familiar with the language and want to see how the game plays when adapted, now's the time.
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| BioWare strikes back at SWTOR declining sub reports Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:45 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic  "Nothing is off the table when it comes to making sure our communities are strong and active on each server," Erickson said. He told PC Gamer that BioWare is doing "anything and everything" to help its numbers. Creutz said that SWTOR subcribers reached a peak of 1.7 million in February, and he estimated that populations would drop to 1.25 million by March of 2013.
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| World of Darkness creative director talks design and the MMO mainstream Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, World of Darkness, Sandbox  Despite the concessions to mainstream accessibility, EVE's influence on World of Darkness will be more than superficial. "The live-action roleplayers of the Vampire the Masquerade tabletop game play this way," Hardarson explains. "It's really about politics and power plays." Why don't more MMO developers try their hand at sandbox mechanics? Hardarson says designing for emergent play is difficult because you can't test it. It's worth it, though, because MMOs that hand-hold and limit players to a linear path miss the point. "I'm not a five-year-old. If I want to go in the cave and I want to die, that's my problem," Hardarson says.
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| Drakensang Online compares itself to Diablo III and Torchlight II Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Free-to-play, Humor  According to the comparison chart, Drakensang takes the lead by offering all that its competition has plus more. When you've got a game that was developed in less than two years, is free-to-play, and is a full-fledged MMO, why would you ever want to sample the fruits of Blizzard's and Runic Game's trees? Will Drakensang nip hard enough at Diablo III's heels to hobble the mighty demon as it releases next month? Time will tell, but you can check out our impressions of Drakensang when Mike plays it for you live on Massively TV this Wednesday evening! [Source: Bigpoint Games press release]
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| New Blade & Soul videos show Summoner gameplay, qinggong abilities Posted: 24 Apr 2012 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Classes, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Blade & Soul  NCsoft has also released a new one-minute qinggong trailer. The clip shows several Blade & Soul avatars in all their wall-running, high-flying, gravity-defying glory (and this time it's a high-quality embed). Check out both videos after the break. [Thanks to Tym for the tip!] Continue reading New Blade & Soul videos show Summoner gameplay, qinggong abilities
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| Xsyon hosts 10-day welcome back promotion Posted: 24 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Xsyon, Promotions, Sandbox  Any former subscriber to Xsyon will receive a 10-day pass to the game sometime after May 18th. This time will be used over the course of five weeks. Eligible players will be notified by email when their 10-day slot is scheduled. Xsyon recently celebrated its first anniversary, and since launch has seen explosive growth of both player-created structures and the wildlife population. Other improvements that Notorious Games is proud of include a better crafting system, an overhauled UI, and tweaked visuals.
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| The Daily Grind: Do you grind for fluff items? Posted: 24 Apr 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind, Anniversary  I say "grind" here pretty loosely, as the horse-races, fireworks displays, and dwarven beer-brawling are highly enjoyable even though I've done them dozens of times each at this point. What about you, dear readers? What's your tolerance when it comes to grinding for fluff items? Do you do it, and what's the best (or worst) such grind you've ever experienced?  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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| Not So Massively: Diablo III open beta weekend edition Posted: 23 Apr 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Trailers, Video, Game mechanics, New titles, Patches, PvP, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, Not So Massively, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III  Rise of Immortals rolled out a new guild system in this week's patch and released its new area-effect tank immortal, Shard. Dota 2 added classic hero Brewmaster to the beta roster, and Bloodline Champions began preparing patch 2.4 with its new healer bloodline, Dryad. Wrath of Heroes released a hero spotlight video on melee fighter Bax Dreadtoof, and League of Legends highlighted some awesome fan-made art. Continue reading Not So Massively: Diablo III open beta weekend edition
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| Captain's Log: Interview with Star Trek Online lead writer Christine Thompson, part one Posted: 23 Apr 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Interviews, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Captain's Log  I began the discussion by asking Thompson about her background as a writer and journalist before she began working for Cryptic. She stated that she had held positions as a reporter, editor, page designer, and wire editor for 13 years, after which she found herself in a position of "either having to move up into management or having to find something else to do." Yet she spent a lot of her personal time playing MMOs, reading comic books and fantasy novels, and watching Star Trek. Since she had to find a new career anyway, she thought, "Why not find a career I actually enjoy?" That's when she began to look for writing positions in the gaming industry.
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| ChangYou plans to bring Shadowbane back in China Posted: 23 Apr 2012 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Shadowbane  There are no firm details on what the new game will look like, although it appears to have been in development for roughly a year at this time. Preliminarily titled World of Shadowbane, the game is still too far in the future for any sort of launch information, much less discussion of whether or not the game will see an American release. Still, it's closer to a chance at revival than the game has had in the past three years, and that's something.
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| Guild Wars 2 gets all social before the beta weekend [Updated] Posted: 23 Apr 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Culture, News items, Guild Wars 2  Not your cup of tea? That's all right, as the team has also set up a Pinterest page to show off the best game-related fan projects. There are also boards set up on the same page where you can show off screenshots of each race, whether you're opting for the diminutive Asura or the towering Norn. It's a good chance for everyone to get involved in the Guild Wars 2 community before the weekend gets underway, even if it won't make the test start any faster. [Updated with clarification regarding the picture forums.]
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| MapleStory proclaims Alliance Eternal this week Posted: 23 Apr 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, MapleStory, Events, in-game, Patches, Free-to-play, Anniversary  Alliance Eternal has a few other fun surprises for players. Level 120 characters can hop through a Dimensional Schism and take on the sinister-sounding Arkarium, while Cygnus Knights level 110 or above have new quest chains to investigate. Nexon's also looking forward to the coming months. MapleStory will hit its seven-year anniversary in May, and players should expect a big bash when that happens. The devs also teased a "big summer content release" on the horizon with two new characters including the Phantom hero.
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| Take a behind-the-scenes tour of ArenaNet's (totally awesome) offices Posted: 23 Apr 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, News items, Guild Wars 2  Guild Wars 2 fans are surely champing at the bit to get their hands on the game next week in the game's first public beta weekend, but you know what's cooler than taking part in GW2's beta weekends? Doing so at ArenaNet's offices in Seattle, which is exactly what the folks at Eurogamer got to do just recently. Not only did they get the opportunity to sit down and play the Guild Wars 2 beta with the team, but they also got the chance to chat with many of the key figures behind it all. Virtually every department of development is represented in the lengthy article, which includes interviews with head honcho Mike O'Brien, QA manager Mike Zadorojny, art director Daniel Dociu, lead content designer Colin Johanson, and many, many more. So if you're interested in a behind-the-scenes look at the studio behind what could be this year's biggest MMO, just head on over and check out the full piece.
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| Wings Over Atreia: The skinny on housing from NCsoft Posted: 23 Apr 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Aion, Opinion, Free-to-play, Wings Over Atreia  Don't look so surprised! Is it really so far-fetched to think that developers care about and want to keep an eye on the thoughts and reactions of their playerbase? Well, other than to just laugh at us of course. *wink* I kid, I kid. In all seriousness, though, when I shared my first impressions of the long anticipated Aion: Ascension, I noted some letdowns amid the greater aspects. My opinions were formed from what information could be gleaned from actual in-game play during those first days after release. Of course, not all of Aion's new features could really be explored and enjoyed in that short span of time, so that, coupled with a lack of published information (shocking!), meant I wasn't even close to a comprehensive understanding. But my disappointments in the temporary aspects of some housing and other items as well as the high cost of housing struck a chord with others as well. To our benefit, NCsoft was listening. Producer Adam Christensen and Associate Producer Sean Orlikowski quickly addressed some of the concerns noted, sending us more information to share. Along with clarification, we received an exclusive look at the housing release schedule for both the Asmodian and Elyos factions. If you know which real estate you want, check the schedule below to see when your spot hits the market. (And don't forget to save your kinah!) Continue reading Wings Over Atreia: The skinny on housing from NCsoft
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| Spirit Tales open beta delayed until May 10th Posted: 23 Apr 2012 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, News items, Free-to-play  At the beginning of the month, KoramGame announced that its upcoming saccharine-sweet free-to-play title, Spirit Tales, would be entering open beta this Wednesday, April 25th. Alas, that is no longer the case. Fans of the mind-numbingly adorable title will have to wait another couple of weeks to get their hands-on time, as KoramGame announced today that the open beta has been delayed until May 10th. So what's the deal with the delay? According to General Manager Yann Wang, "problems have occurred that have made it difficult to incorporate certain features that are vital to the release of the game." As a result, the game "will not be ready on the date [...] originally promised." He goes on to add, however, that "the Spirit Tales team... [is] optimistic that this short-but-necessary delay will ensure that [it produces] a much more complete and polished game." Here's to hoping that's the case, but we'll just have to wait until May 10th to find out for sure. [Source: KoramGame press release]
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| Sony eyeing ways to get MMO players out of the house Posted: 23 Apr 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous  The firm has even filed a patent for some sort of meet-up software. Speculation has it that it will incentivize real-life get-togethers, though how (or why) is anyone's guess at this point. Is this another personal information-harvesting ploy like Blizzard's RealID failboat, or is it something new? Time will tell, and we'll keep an eye on it for you.
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