Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates |
- The Elder Scrolls Online
- Dark Blood
- Battle of Destiny MMORPG Review
- How Kickstarter Could Revitalise A Dead Genre
- The Current State of Ace Attorney
- Datura Review: A Strange Trip Through a Motion Control Wonderland
- What Happens When Microsoft Opts Not to Focus on Core Games at E3 Again?
- Phantasy Star Online 2: New Planet, Enemies Revealed
- Company of Heroes 2 confirmed
- NHN staff arrested for fraud
| Posted: 08 May 2012 03:26 AM PDT
For the full video interview (19 minutes), head over to Game Informer (link), which seems to have the exclusive first-hand news on the game. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/elder-scrolls-online-first-interview.html |
| Posted: 08 May 2012 03:25 AM PDT
“Closed beta is coming and Dark Blood fans will want to know all the killer moves for the epic fight nights we have planned at launch,” said Philip Yun, CEO, Outspark. “We’re thrilled that developer JCR Soft and licensor GameHi have produced such an extensive library of highly engaging skill videos, and it’s our great pleasure to present them exclusively to the Dark Blood community.” Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/dark-blood-closed-beta-on-horizon.html |
| Battle of Destiny MMORPG Review Posted: 07 May 2012 11:57 PM PDT Battle of Destiny (BoD for short) is a 2D, fantasy-themed, side-scrolling action-MMORPG published by Cubizone. In both graphics and gameplay, BoD is a lot like the old-school side-scrolling fighting games commonly found in arcades.
Publisher: Cubizone Website: http://bod.cubizone.com/ Pros: +Fun, fast-paced gameplay. +Equipment enchantment system. +Joypad / controller compatibility. +Many quests. Cons: -Terrible English translations. -Very limited character customization. -Very linear 'stage' based progression.
Battle of Destiny is a side-scrolling action-MMORPG that both looks and plays a lot like Nexon's incredibly popular Dungeon Fighter Online. One thing worth mentioning right away is that the official Battle of Destiny servers are located in Malaysia, so Western players with slower internet connections may experience some latency issues. Anyone that's a fan of side-scrolling action-MMORPGs should certainly find something to like in Battle of Destiny. If you've already played Dungen Fighter, Battle of Destiny may be worth skipping, as the two games are remarkably similar. The game's classes are: Swordsman – Swordsman are the generic 'tank' like class in Battle of Destiny. They have the highest hit points and armor in the game, and make formidable opponents in melee range. Fighter – Fighters are extremely similar to Swordsmen, in that they have high defense and are a melee-oriented class with one exception – they have a greater emphasis on dealing damage. Fighters are proficient with powerful fist weapons. Archer - Archers are deadly with the bow. They are fast and agile, which allows them to deal damage rather quickly from a distance, but are vulnerable in melee combat. They tend to wear lighter armor than fighters and swordsmen, but heavier than what a Mage can wear. Mage – Like in most games, the Mage in BoD is an offensive spell-casting class that is capable of dealing enormous amounts of damage from a distance. They have access to both devastating direct damage and area of effect spells.
Battle of Destiny System RequirementsMinimum Requirements: Recommended Specifications: |
| How Kickstarter Could Revitalise A Dead Genre Posted: 07 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT
Miss those classic RPGs of old? Well, Kickstarter could well be the key to getting your fix. By now you've probably got an opinion on Kickstarter. While websites like ourselves seem to witter on every day about some "exciting" new Kickstarter project that's being made by a guy who once cleaned Sid Meier's mugs, you're probably bashing your head against a keyboard. Yes, Kickstarter is this excellent new fad that no one really cares about. So, kind of the opposite of a fad. But hear us out. There's a deeper opportunity here far beyond warming our cockles over the thought of a malnourished game developer finally being able to make that 2D action RPG inspired by some obscure space 4X game. No, Kickstarter has the power – if you let it – to revive lost genres and classic franchises. It's an argument that ties into the age-old 'PC gaming is dead' adage that gets recycle every time some 'must-have' console exclusive manages to sell a handful of copies. Yes, more developers are chasing the easy console-cash (Crytek with Crysis, for example, or BioWare with Dragon Age). Not to sound elitist, but they're catering to the lowest common denominator – getting a taste of every pie rather than stuffing themselves on the calorie induced chocolate meringue of PC gaming.
The Banner Saga brings with it a slice of 'Tactics' gameplay that hasn't been seen on PC for a while.What this means is tons of FPS games, the odd racing game and very few RPGs. And when we mean RPGs, we don't mean Diablo. Yes, the click-click-clicky of Diablo 3 will no doubt be something of a flagship for PC gamers, a herald where we can proclaim just how fantastic PC gaming is – but let's not be so naive as to believe that this is going to be anything like the RPGs of yesteryear. We're talking classic RPGs. We're talking the type where not only did you have the time to think about your next move, it was practically mandatory. A genre that, in the race to get the most explosions into the Next Big Shooter, has fallen by the wayside. Either gamers don't want to think any more or, more likely, publishers would much rather chow down on the fatty beefburger of action gaming.
If you want more games like Wasteland 2, then you need to pay attention to Kickstarter. It won't happen otherwise.But since Kickstarter's sudden explosion to fame we've had Wasteland 2, The Banner Saga and Shadowrun Returns as just some of the big names that are now being made. Two classic franchises reborn and a long-dead genre getting a kick right where it's needed to remind gamers of a simpler time. Then there's the little known projects that few mention, the likes of Grim Dawn, Legends Of Eisenwald or The Legend Of The Time Star – games that you'd probably want to see made but, without the media backing, is likely to remain unseen. Kickstarter gives these developers a little more security in making games that just aren't being made any more. We're going to step down from our high horse now: Kickstarter is not the be-all and end-all. There are issues, as proven when a recent project was created solely to scam money out of people, but it has the opportunity to provide a back door into the industry for so many uncertain developers. Those types of indies who have excellent ideas, but no funding to properly see them to fruition. So if you've ever enjoyed a few hours of Baldur's Gate, lost countless hours to X-COM or fondly recall the pacifist runthrough of Fallout you tried, then consider Kickstarter a little more. You may well see more of these classic games getting reproduced, if only you'd look. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/rants/how-kickstarter-could-revitalise-a-dead-genre/ |
| The Current State of Ace Attorney Posted: 07 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT Several moons ago, we at 1UP compiled a list of suggestions to improve the reliable-but-predictable course of Mario Kart, even if the series’ continuing colossal sales would likely have our advice fall on deaf ears. That’s okay, though; as Marty Sliva pointed out in his preview of Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, Mario might not hold the kart racing crown for long. While Nintendo’s made a habit of sticking with their successful tried-and-true formula, former competitors have shown that kart racing can still surprise us — like Crash Team Racing and Diddy Kong Racing, to name a few. While these games didn’t create a 20-year legacy, they managed to nip at the heels of their Mario Kart corollaries by taking a refreshingly different approach to the cartoonish motorsport. United Front Games’ upcoming LittleBigPlanet Karting doesn’t divorce itself entirely from Mario Karting; the game still features drifting, boosting, and a collection of weapons remarkably similar to those wielded by members of The Mushroom Kingdom. But in applying the crowdsourced creativity of LittleBigPlanet to the karting genre, United Front Games might be able to defy expectations with a racer that promises to surprise, despite its very familiar trappings. Though Sony didn’t show enough of the game for me to for a definitive opinion, I can at least reach back five months into the past to determine if LBP: Karting will fulfill our karting-based desires. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/previews?cId=3187084 |
| Datura Review: A Strange Trip Through a Motion Control Wonderland Posted: 07 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT At one point in time, the concept of a zombie apocalypse stood as a genuinely terrifying idea. But, over the years, zombies have begun to serve a different role altogether; for the most part, they’ve become meat pinatas, assisting us in acting out our creative ultraviolent fantasies. Dead Rising and Dead Island may give us the chance to take out thousands of zombies with patently ridiculous weapons, but the badass protagonists of these particular games barely bat an eye at the moldering hordes trying to get a taste of their sweet innards. When compared to these exaggerated experiences, Telltale’s The Walking Dead feels much more like a documentary than Dead Alive; each and every undead encounter is meaningful (and horrible), and taking down a single zombie amounts to much more effort than tearing your way through wet tissue paper. This grounded approach meshes well with the typical slower pace of the traditional adventure formula, and also makes for one of the more atypical and interesting zombie games seen in quite some time. After Telltale’s dreadful Jurassic Park, the company looked to be headed in a dangerous direction; JP’s QTE-based gameplay might have been highly approachable, but it removed most of what we’ve come to expect (and love) from their brand. The Walking Dead doesn’t return completely to the mechanics seen in the later Sam and Max seasons and Tales of Monkey Island, but it gives the player back some much-needed agency, rather than forcing them to undergo neverending series of button prompts. Make no mistake: the interface can’t get any simpler. The ways you can interact with objects and people have been reduced to their absolute basics, and old-school adventure game fans may be disappointed to find that the main character doesn’t have a pithy comment for every piece of background scenery. You can definitely feel Telltale’s hand guiding you throughout, though the developer has provided just the right amount of wiggle room to allow their story to be told effectively. Horror relies entirely on tension, which can easily be broken if players are allowed to meander for minutes, poking at puzzles and exhausting their character’s knowledge of everything in his pockets. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/reviews?cId=3187082 Incoming search terms:
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| What Happens When Microsoft Opts Not to Focus on Core Games at E3 Again? Posted: 07 May 2012 09:24 PM PDT E3 is now less than a month away, and Microsoft is scheduled to kick things off with its annual press conference on the morning of Monday, June 4. With E3 being a gaming-focused event and Microsoft having already made it clear there will be no talk of a new platform during it, one might expect there to be a big focus on games for the Xbox 360. As the company has shown previously — last year especially — it’s more than happy to spend its time in the spotlight talking up the kinds of games and features hardcore gamers do not want to hear about at the expensive of core games. Unfortunately for those people, this year’s show is not looking like it will be much different. The big news during last year’s media briefing was the announcement of Halo 4 and, by extension, a new Halo trilogy. Other gaming highlights included Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary, Minecraft as a 360 exclusive, Kinect voice controls for Mass Effect 3, and Kinect Disneyland Adventures. We also got a look at the new Call of Duty (which would be having its DLC come to 360 first, though this was nothing new), Tomb Raider, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (and its Kinect functionality, along with a promise of Kinect support in all future Tom Clancy games), and a few other things. What it came down to was that if you were not a fan of Halo or Kinect, there was not a lot to be excited about in terms of exclusive games for Xbox 360. Kinect was heavily touted throughout and it was clear even then that Kinect Star Wars wasn’t going to become the dream come true many hoped it would. New dashboard and multimedia features were also pushed hard; the ability to watch live television, UFC, and YouTube videos from the console were announced as a part of (another) ‘New Xbox Experience’ which would introduce voice search with Bing and voice control of the dashboard. Overall, it was a lot of stuff meant for audiences that are not traditionally thought of as being closely associated with the Xbox brand. The newest episode of Bonus Round features a discussion on what to expect from next month’s press conference, and the consensus was largely that it will be very familiar to those who saw last year’s — a few big games, and a lot of dashboard and multimedia stuff. Ahead of the show, we know of only a small handful of core games likely to be shown, namely Halo 4, the next Forza, and Fable: The Journey. There may be a surprise of some sort and there are sure to be Kinect and casual games (with plenty of overlap), but it’s expected to be more new dashboard features and multimedia options that Microsoft wants to show most. That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. The rumored Microsoft Store offer of a $99 system with a two-year contract has proven to be real, and it’s not your typical gamer Microsoft is targeting with that. It’s often said the system has been a Trojan Horse for the company to get into people’s living room, and at that price it’s attempting to do so while competing with the likes of Apple TV and Google TV. Come next generation, Microsoft is not going back to selling a box that only plays games and DVDs. “Step back from E3 for a second and just think about what Microsoft wants to do with the next console,” said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. “And Adam [Sessler] is exactly right: They want to own the living room, not just for gaming, but for everything. I actually think that’s what all the announcements are going to be, is all about multimedia capability, changes to the dashboard, access to new services. And I think they can start getting people excited about the potential of the next box without talking about it.” He went on to talk about visiting Microsoft soon to get a preview of what’s to come, saying, “They told me, ‘Don’t expect a lot of game stuff; expect a lot of dashboard, interface, multimedia.’” If and when this represents a significant portion of Microsoft’s E3 presentation, there will be the inevitable backlash where hardcore gamers complain about being catered to too little. As someone who wants to see as many great games as possible come out, I can understand the sentiment, though I can’t blame Microsoft for this direction it’s going in. There is an argument to be made that Microsoft is shooting itself in the foot with how little it’s focusing on its hardcore gamer base in the last years of the 360′s position as the company’s primary gaming system. If it turns out Microsoft has little more than Halo 4 and some Kinect games — which, let’s face it, core gamers by and large are uninterested in — for exclusives, that may leave a sour taste in the mouths of gamers leading up to the launch of the 360′s successor in late 2013 or early 2014. (Pachter said he expects it in spring 2014.) Given these are the people who were among the early adopters of the 360 that helped it establish a lead against the PlayStation 3 in the United States, that’s a risky gamble to make, especially if the PlayStation 4 is available months in advance of the so-called Xbox 720. It’s a much different situation, but think back to the way Sega lost all of its momentum with the Saturn well in advance of the Dreamcast’s release. With Saturn being all but dead in 1998 and Dreamcast not being released until 1999, the transition was not smooth and it cost the company dearly. The 360 won’t be discontinued in advance of its successor’s release (and in fact could be transformed into a cheap set top box/casual gaming system after the new system comes along). Hardcore interest in it outside of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto could, however, be fizzling before then. Halo is not for everyone, nor are the Kinect games Microsoft seems to believe hardcore gamers want to play. On the other hand, the Xbox 360 has, at least in the U.S., managed to continue outselling the PlayStation 3 despite having fewer exclusive titles aimed at a hardcore demographic. A big part of that is because Call of Duty has been almost established as a first-party game for Microsoft’s platform that also happens to be available on other systems. The company’s $50 million exclusive on Grand Theft Auto IV DLC may not have been worth it, though it would seem its arrangement with Activision has turned out to be a brilliant decision. The deal may come to an end at some point, but as long as Microsoft is willing to pay and Activision is still able to sell DLC to PS3 and PC gamers (and Elite subscriptions to the former group) at a later time, there’s no reason to believe it will in the near future. It’s not as if Microsoft’s emphasis on multimedia as of late has served it poorly. As a gamer, I don’t care for the way the dashboard almost tucks away its games, yet those of us who use the system for gaming are now in the minority, at least in terms of sheer hours of usage. People are buying the system purely for use as a non-gaming device, a scenario the company would love to find itself in once again with its next platform because of how much larger that potential audience is — and ideally it will do that much earlier in its life, perhaps with a model similar to the $99 360 offer. There may be some concern it will erode the brand loyalty established over the past ten years, although I think what’s considered to be a “disappointing” E3 showing by hardcore gamer standards is not of major concern to Microsoft. As long as it maintains its exclusivity deal with Call of Duty (and supplements that with Halo, Gears of War, and so on), the casual audience that only picks up a few games a year will presumably continue to stick with Xbox. Gamers may decide to flock to Sony’s console next generation if Microsoft alone decides to say, restrict the use of secondhand games, but unless games are ignored to a much larger extent in the meantime it’s improbable the number of 360 announcements that wow gamers next month will have much of an effect on how things turn out next generation. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/microsoft-not-focus-core-games-e3-effects Incoming search terms:
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| Phantasy Star Online 2: New Planet, Enemies Revealed Posted: 07 May 2012 03:28 PM PDT New details emerge around Sega's popular MMO. Little is known about Phantasy Star Online 2. We know it's for the PC and PlayStation Vita and will have cross-compatibility of some kind. We know it's expected this year at some point. And that's pretty much it. But now we know there's going to be a desert planet, according to the game's producter Satoshi Sakai. The planet, named Liliipa, resembles Tatooine in style – a lot of sand, a lot of dust and a lot of sand creatures. But there's a little twist here: as always with Phantasy Star Online, robots are a major enemy of the area that come in various shapes and sizes. A new boss of the desert landscape was revealed too, Gwanada. This large Darker conceals himself in the sand, waiting for the perfect time to strike and using his clawed tentacles to attack. Pretty menacing, as far as PSO2 goes. Sakai also discussed some of the features of the closed beta testing, and which parts will be carried over into the open beta later in the year. No dates were confirmed for the beta, unfortunately, but at least we know they're getting ready for it. Sakai mentioned that, when the open beta does go live, the level cap will be 30. Those at or above level 20, however, will have access to hard mission variants with tougher opponents and better loot drops. Head over to Bumped.org for the full low-down, or check out the gallery of screenshots below. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/uncategorized/phantasy-star-online-2-new-planet-enemies-revealed/ |
| Posted: 07 May 2012 03:28 PM PDT
THQ has today announced that a sequel to 2006′s classic strategy game, Company of Heroes. According to THQ, Company of Heroes 2 will be a true sequel, though will move the action away from the Western Front of World War 2 and refocuses on some of history's most brutal conflicts on the Eastern Front. Players will take control of the iconic Red Army in an effort to see off Nazi invaders from Moscow. "Company of Heroes 2 is a true successor, introducing a new front, new protagonists and new technology while retaining the unique mix of strategic gameplay and competitive multiplayer that made the original Company of Heroes such a success," says Greg Wilson, Producer at Relic Entertainment. The game promises to utilise Relic Entertainment's state of the art Essence 3.0 Engine to offer 'Dynamic Battle Tactics', more detailed graphical effects and environmental destruction. Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President of Core Games said: "We are excited to announce a sequel to one of THQ's best loved properties. Company of Heroes 2 will deliver an amazing strategy experience along with a strong post-launch digital content plan that enhances and expands the product's lifecycle." Company of Heroes 2 is due to be released in early 2013 and more information should become available soon via companyofheroes.com. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/latest-pc-news/company-of-heroes-2-confirmed/ |
| Posted: 07 May 2012 03:28 PM PDT
This case took place over an unknown period, and NHN only found enough evidence to report him early this year. Investigations are currently still ongoing, with NHN unwilling to provide more information. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/nhn-staff-arrested-for-fraud.html |
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