Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates |
- Dark Blood Online (KR)
- Blade & Soul (CN)
- Review: Guardian Heroes Storms Back From the Dead
- Path of Exile
- Wolfenstein 3D Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary in Style
- The Old Republic Still Going Strong, Even With a 400k Subscriber Drop
- Wolfenstein 3D celebrates its 20th anniversary in style
- Two Possible Reasons for BioShock Infinite’s 2013 Delay
- Re-Examining the Role of Digital Death
- Why Donkey Kong Country is a Better Platformer Than Super Mario Bros.
| Posted: 10 May 2012 09:29 AM PDT
Judging from the trailers, the Outsider seems to be more specialized in area control and traps while Assassin is all about damage. Whatever the case, both are looking awesome additions to the roster. I actually played a little bit on the Taiwan server, but since I knew the English server was coming out, I only took videos of each class’ tutorial in order not to spoil the fun. The other classes can be viewed here (link). Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/dark-blood-online-kr-new-class-added.html |
| Posted: 10 May 2012 09:29 AM PDT
A: Blade Soul’s storyline will hit a new climax in this new map. Players will also requite to exhibit more control skills to survive. Starting from this map, more PvP elements will be introduced compared to the previous more PvE friendly areas. This can be seen as the start of a new beginning and challenge as well. A: The Closed Beta 3 areas will be that of the Open Beta’s as well. We will be doing some tweaking and adjustments after the test phase ends. I would say it is around 80% complete for release. A: At the start, the Force Master class is supposed to be the easiest one to control and pick up. But subsequently the class began to stray away from that. This is why we need to introduce an easier class for gamers. Our gamers are primarily male as well, so we thought of attracting the female gamers as well. Of course. the Summoner class is not just for the females, anyone who loves cute characters can play it as well. A: Unlike other classes, the summoned cat will target enemies for the player. This will remove extra controls and commands needed for the other classes. A: From Closed Beta 3′s new map onwards, there will be more PvP elements introduced. Of course, we will add in more large scale PvP features in the future. We will be actively be balancing the classes as well. A: This is where the open world PvE roulette plays a part. Whenever a player deals damage to an open world boss, the roulette will reward players according to the amount of damage done. For instances, there is a cross-channel queue, so players need not worry about finding a party. A: In order to prevent “kill stealing” for open world bosses, this system is introduced. Any players who deal damage to the boss will get a reward, although players who first hit, last hit and dealt the most damage will gain additional rewards. A: This stamina system is to shorten the gap between the hardcore and casual players. When it is green, it will be the most optimal period for players to train and gain experience points. This will provide a better leveling environment and not leave players behind. A: They can be obtained from quests, open world boss drops and dungeon boss drops. Players can match different pieces to create unique looks. A: We are still optimizing the game for lower end systems. The lowest requirements now for graphics card is either a Nvidia 8600GT or ATI 4600. Of course, we are still looking to lower the requirements. A: For now, the limit will remain at 4 players. We have plans to increase the limit in future updates, up to 8 and 16 for future dungeons. We have not scheduled a time to implement this system yet. A: Some classes already have this system, including the Force Master who can cast the Ice Palm skill while using qinggong. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/blade-soul-cn-community-q-with-producer.html |
| Review: Guardian Heroes Storms Back From the Dead Posted: 09 May 2012 11:57 PM PDT Rage didn’t start out the way I thought it would. My idea of it was mostly based on its initial reveal some years ago: depicting a barren wasteland where people live, drive, and dress in whatever they can find. Just another Mad Max pastiche, right? So imagine my surprise when the game begins inside a cold, angled underground capsule (an “Ark”) from a forgotten time in the far-flung future. I guess post-apocalyptic worlds have to start somewhere. It’s a harsh beginning, but Rage doesn’t let up from there. After emerging on the surface of the largely-destroyed Earth, you’re saved from certain death by a kind-hearted wasteland homesteader named Dan Hagar (voiced by John Goodman, who also played a “Dan” on Roseanne, which was more than enough to keep me from taking this character seriously). Hagar wastes no time in employing your “services” to wipe out a nearby influx of mutants, and perform a few odd jobs around his settlement and the neighbors’. You get the hang of shootin’, drivin’, and survivin’, and eventually learn more about your past as an enhanced human candidate of the “Eden” project, initiated by the oppressive powers of the Authority, who try to keep this crazy world in check… for their own gains, of course. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/reviews?cId=3185957 |
| Posted: 09 May 2012 09:32 PM PDT
The Shadow is a hybrid dexterity and intelligence class, a professional
Grinding Gear Games' producer Chris Wilson says the Shadow is one of the
As an indie game developed by a team of hardcore action RPG fans, Path of Exile has several unique takes on the genre. It features a unique Similar Article can be found at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/05/path-of-exile-public-beta-weekend-with.html |
| Wolfenstein 3D Celebrates Its 20th Anniversary in Style Posted: 09 May 2012 09:32 PM PDT With Wolfenstein 3D celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, it’s fitting — if unexpected — to see a nearly 30-minute developer commentary track from industry legend John Carmack exploring his memories and recollections from the early days of id Software. Despite the march of time and technology since the game’s 1992 release, you can’t help but be charmed by the man’s enthusiasm for his early days in the industry. As Carmack explains it, Wolfenstein 3D represents the “Wild West” days of development at id Software. You can hear in his voice his love of reliving those exciting times for the studio: A day and age where they were still “figuring it all out.” Back in 1992, id was a young studio in its prime, blazing a trail for the industry and the shooter genre the likes of which no one had seen before. Their work took center stage when it came to the cutting edge of gaming and controversy. They became an inseparable icon of PC gaming in the ’90s. Times have changed, and in a lot of ways id’s reputation and clout have changed with it. In today’s world, the company is no longer seen as the alpha dog when it comes to shooters, an arrangement that upset their relationship with their previous publisher, Activision. If anything, their near-absence from the industry outside of last year’s Rage has relegated them to the back of the pack, with franchises like Halo and Call of Duty stepping up to define modern-day standards for shooters. Id may have created Wolfenstein and its even more notable follow-up Doom, but the two properties seem to exist as little more than reference points in today’s conversations about shooters. After something of a fan revolt in response to Rage, and with constant mixed reports of whether “Doom 4″ is a troubled production or not, the future of id Software may rest very firmly on whether their next release can make them a relevant force in the market again. It’s great to hear Carmack talk about the glory days of old, and no one can understate the importance and influence id Software has had on gaming. It’s just surprising that one of the industry’s most iconic studios has turned into an underdog in the very genre it helped to create. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/wolfenstein-3d-hits-browsers-20th |
| The Old Republic Still Going Strong, Even With a 400k Subscriber Drop Posted: 09 May 2012 09:28 PM PDT Three months ago, Electronic Arts boasted its new MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic, had amassed 1.7 million subscribers. That number is a far cry from what World of Warcraft has, though it is a very strong showing for a subscription-based MMO in a market that is becoming much more free-to-play-centric. The publisher updated investors again on the status of TOR this week, revealing it has seen a drop-off of 400,000 subscribers to 1.3 million. That’s nearly one in four players who have stopped playing over that span of time, which surely means it’s time to sound the alarm and for those who voted EA as the worst company in America to start celebrating, right? In fact, this may not be as bad as it seems. A 23-percent decline is a substantial figure any way you slice it. Yet it’s important to remember this is still early in the life of the game; if this were to happen a year from now it would be more troubling. At this point in time, it’s natural for an MMO to lose a chunk of people who wanted to try the game out and nothing more. It seems entirely feasible a chunk of casual players tried the game out but didn’t want to pay a monthly subscription, which is essentially what the drop was attributed to in an EA conference call with investors on Monday. EA CFO Scott Brown said early last year only 500,000 subscribers would be needed for TOR to be “substantially profitable,” although he noted it would not be “the kind of thing we would write home about.” Once that figure surpasses 1 million, “it’s a very profitable business.” 1.3 million comfortably eclipses that mark, so the challenge for BioWare now becomes ensuring those people stick around. If the casual people looking only to sample the game are gone and this is the devoted user base left behind, I’d say EA and BioWare are in good shape — WoW didn’t reach its peak in a day. That’s particularly true when you consider they could still lure back some of the players they’ve lost who merely want to see features like a group finder implemented before committing $15 per month to the game. There are, however, a few causes for concern. The most immediate one is the game’s most hardcore players were given 30 days of game time for free. Doing so may have padded subscription numbers to make them look for better for investors, in which case it won’t be until EA’s next quarterly earnings report that we get a more accurate impression of how many people are paying to play. Even if the freebies had no effect, it won’t be until future updates that we can see how the game holds up long-term. We’re not even six months in, and it won’t be for a while longer that we see if player demand for new content can be adequately met. So far so good, but that’s not necessarily indicative of how things will be going a year from now. At this point, we’re also unable to judge how the game will hold up against WoW. After experiencing declines in the wake of Cataclysm‘s release (following the spike coinciding with its release, which is a pattern that occurs with each new expansion), WoW subscription numbers have stabilized. Activision Blizzard announced today that, as of March 31, it has 10.2 million subscribers. This indicates The Old Republic’s effect was short-lived, if it had any at all. Whether the opposite is true will be a key point for The Old Republic. The launch of Mists of Pandaria is sure to bring back a number of former players, some of which may be current TOR subscribers. Even if those people don’t stick with WoW for long, it’s no guarantee they will find their way back to TOR. WoW has managed to keep some kind of a hold of its players even when they aren’t playing; a segment of them may go off to try a new MMO, but many of them do eventually end up back in Azeroth. TOR will need that stickiness as the competition from Mists of Pandaria — not to mention TERA, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, World of Darkness, and so on — threatens to lure away its players, potentially for good. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/the-old-republic-going-strong-subscriber-drop |
| Wolfenstein 3D celebrates its 20th anniversary in style Posted: 09 May 2012 03:30 PM PDT You can now play the classic PC FPS, Wolfenstein 3D, in your web browser. The legendary first person shooter, often described as the grand father of the genre, can be accessed by pointing your browser to wolftenstein.bethsoft.com. Once you've negotiated the age gate, you'll be able to select from every level and difficulty setting of the original game. Fans can also show their appreciation for id Software's classic by visiting the game's Facebook page, where you'll find details of the 'Classic Platinum' edition of the game, which is available for free download on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch for a limited time. Bethesda has also teamed up with Valve to offer a limited time discount on Wolfenstein and id Software games via Steam. In case that wasn't enough, Bethesda has created a video podcast featuring the equally legendary technical director of id Software, John Carmack, where he reminisces on the creation of the game. Halcyon days, eh? Similar Article can be found at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/latest-pc-news/wolfenstein-3d-celebrates-its-20th-anniversary-in-style/ |
| Two Possible Reasons for BioShock Infinite’s 2013 Delay Posted: 09 May 2012 03:30 PM PDT BioShock Infinite was among the most anticipated games scheduled for release this fall. It’s still shaping up to be one of the bigger launches of the year, it’s just that year will be next year. Infinite’s release was officially pushed back today from its scheduled date on October 16 until February 26, 2013. The reason for this is said to be because of a goal to make it as great as can be, and while I don’t doubt there is a desire to do that, there may be other factors which contributed to the decision to delay the game’s release by four months. A message to fans from developer Irrational Games’ creative director, Ken Levine, was distributed to the press and posted online today. In it he claims that, since announcing the October release date in March, the team realized “that some specific tweaks and improvements will make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February 26, 2013. We wanted to let our loyal (and very patient!) fans know this as soon as possible. “I won’t kid you: BioShock Infinite is a very big game, and we’re doing things that no one has ever done in a first-person shooter. We had a similar experience with the original BioShock, which was delayed several months as our original ship date drew near. Why? Because the Big Daddies weren’t the Big Daddies you’ve since come to know and love. Because Andrew Ryan’s golf club didn’t have exactly the right swing. Because Rapture needed one more coat of grimy Art Deco. The same principle now applies to BioShock Infinite.” What this means beyond the fact that we won’t be playing the game until 2013 is it will not be appearing at this year’s E3 or Gamescom as it would have if it were releasing in October. Levine said their preference is to use the time that would be spent preparing for these events on developing the actual game, which is an understandable sentiment. The extra development time, both as a result of the delay and not having to create new trailers or demos for this summer’s events, should help to result in a better game. Levine’s statement made no mention of the BioShock game for Vita announced at E3 2011. He said last year it was going to be a “different project,” one “built from the ground up” for the platform, although by October no progress had been made and he acknowledged the possibility the game could be developed externally. At this point, it’s looking doubtful the game will ever be made as it will have to first wait for Infinite to be completed which now will not be the case until early next year. In a recent Wired interview, Levine described the public announcement of an October 16 release date as “great, because now we have an end date and we can know when it’s time to put pencils down. You can keep going forever, honestly. I could work on this game for another 20 years and keep polishing it and making it better. But at some point — and this wasn’t decided by our publisher, this was my decision — you need to say ‘this is the date.’ It helps keep the team focused on finishing it, knowing they have a constraint. I always think you work the hardest when you have constraints because that sort of helps you define your task.” Between that and the drip feed of information from the game’s PR in recent months, the decision to delay Infinite is likely only a recent decision. But is it only happening because there is an opportunity to make the game even better? One alternative is Irrational is busy at work developing some kind of multiplayer functionality. Shortly after Infinite was first announced, Levine said no decisions had been made regarding multiplayer. In other words, the idea of multiplayer in and of itself is not objectionable to Irrational (which has made multiplayer games like SWAT 4, Freedom Force, and Tribes: Vengeance in the past), but it has to have a solid idea — simple deathmatch and CTF won’t suffice. “I will say that we experiment with things, but for us we are never interested in making a multiplayer mode you could just play in some other game,” Levine said at the time. “Because, A) that’s not creatively interesting and B), financially, you’re wasting your time. They’re going to go play Halo. They’re going to go play Call of Duty.” Perhaps it finally came up with an idea that worked and felt it would be worth waiting a few extra months to implement it. Backing up the idea that some sort of multiplayer functionality will be in the game — whether it be of the competitive or cooperative sort, or even something that doesn’t have you directly playing alongside other players — is a recent Irrational job posting for a network engineer (as pointed out by superannuation). It specifically mentions the new hire will “help us with the networking aspects of BioShock Infinite.” Irrational was also previously looking to hire a network programmer (also spotted by superannuation), another position that would suggest work was being done on some kind of multiplayer mode. What may have also fueled the decision to delay Infinite is Grand Theft Auto V. The game is still without a release date, and with Rockstar coming to own the April/May release window thanks to the likes of Grand Theft Auto IV, Red Dead Redemption, L.A. Noire, and (this year) Max Payne 3, it looked at one point as if GTA V could be released during that window in 2013. However, it’s the month of October that the franchise has traditionally called home. The original GTA was released in Europe in October 1997; GTA 2 followed in October 1999 (on PlayStation; on PC it came out at the end of September); GTA III in October 2001; Vice City in October 2002; San Andreas in October 2004; Liberty City Stories in October 2005; and Vice City Stories in October 2006. The exceptions to this are few and far between; GTA IV would have been out in that window if not for technical problems and a contract dictating the 360 version could not be released before the PS3 one, hence the delay until April 2008. With that in mind, it would stand to reason that October would be the target for GTA V’s release. Although there may not be a complete overlap of the audience for Infinity and GTA V, it’s possible Take-Two (which owns Irrational and Rockstar) didn’t want them potentially competing against one another so directly. The hardcore audience will be there for both titles no matter what, but with so many other titles coming out toward the end of the year (Assassin’s Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Halo 4 being among the big ones), not sticking both games out there at roughly the same time improves the odds of each one luring in more casual consumers at launch. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter pointed out in an investors note today that Take-Two did not update its guidance for the current fiscal year, which calls for earnings of more than $2. Pachter says it’s unlikely this could be achieved without the release of a GTA game before the end of the year. He suggested that when Rockstar indicated it would be ready to release the game for October, Irrational was given the option by Take-Two of spending extra development time on Infinite. GTA’s release and the addition of multiplayer are not mutually exclusive theories: It’s possible both are players in causing the delay. Alternatively, neither may have played any role and it really is only a matter of making Infinite better, although that strikes me as improbable given what Levine told Wired not long ago. With Take-Two’s quarterly earnings report coming up on May 22 and E3 taking place in early June, we should be hearing more about GTA V very soon if it is coming this year. If not, the first half of 2013 is looking like it will have a pair of big game launches coming from Take-Two. Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/bioshock-infinite-13-delay-possible-reasons |
| Re-Examining the Role of Digital Death Posted: 09 May 2012 03:30 PM PDT There Bore with the Despite what takes the The |
| Why Donkey Kong Country is a Better Platformer Than Super Mario Bros. Posted: 09 May 2012 03:27 PM PDT I Please set down your pitchforks Donkey Kong Country was the
I was shocked to discover that As much as the game’s visuals SMB may have perfected the The scope of each game’s Despite all of this, the most Similar Article can be found at: http://www.1up.com/news/donkey-kong-country-platformer-super |
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