MMO Updates |
- End of Nations dev diary explains lore
- Shadowrun Online details new business model, shows off gameplay footage
- Exclusive: Illyriad major trade update launching this week
- World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria expansion releasing September 25th
- A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two City of Heroes factions played as one
- The Daily Grind: Is it possible to get as attached to vehicles as avatars?
- German consumer advocacy group accuses Blizzard of deceptive marketing with Diablo III
- Shadowrun Online changes business models during Kickstarter push
- The Game Archaeologist interviews Puzzle Pirates' Matt Jensen
- Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's Legacy of the Foefire
- How Turbine made Lord of the Rings Online's Rohan region
- The Soapbox: MMOs waste millions on voice-over
- RIFT gives previous subscribers a free weekend of play, hosts Conquest event
- EverQuest II's Qeynos Rises patch revamps city, PvP
- Massively Speaking Episode 209: Space skirts
- Guild Wars 2 weaves together three story types
- Mad Catz announces new Combat Pilot multiplayer flight sim
- Funcom outlines The Secret World's dungeon mechanics
| End of Nations dev diary explains lore Posted: 25 Jul 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Lore, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS, Dev Diaries  Audio Director Frank Klepacki explains the setting of the game this way: "What would the very near future be like if the economy actually did collapse, if the world really gave rise to a military power that controlled everything?" Petroglyph President Mike Legg explains that the the villain of the game is the oppressive Order of Nations, which strips civil liberties from the population. The team then describes the rise of the two rebellious factions, the Shadow Revolution and Liberation Front, which must try to set aside their own fighting to team up against the larger foe. You can watch the video, which also includes a good dose of gameplay footage, after the break. [Source: Trion Worlds press release] Continue reading End of Nations dev diary explains lore
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| Shadowrun Online details new business model, shows off gameplay footage Posted: 25 Jul 2012 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Video, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles  Wagner says that the game will be playable not only as an MMO but as a single-player game, and there will be PvP. In fact, with the mention of upcoming expansions and the way hub cities work, it seems that Shadowrun Online has more than just a business model in common with Guild Wars. You can check out the entire dev video, including some great in-game footage, just after the cut below. [Source: Cliffhanger Productions press release] Continue reading Shadowrun Online details new business model, shows off gameplay footage
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| Exclusive: Illyriad major trade update launching this week Posted: 25 Jul 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Economy, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, MMORTS, Crafting  How significant are these changes? Currently there are 17 items that can be traded among players; after the update, that number skyrockets to over 300. With the addition of crafted equipment, troop customization increases from eight basic troop types to include thousands of possibilities. Other changes include over 50 new special resource types, nine new mounts, 72 new weapons, 53 new armor types, 13 new specialist buildings, and 187 new technologies to research. The sheer number of additions is not the only change. With many commodities being regional, potential business moguls will find that establishing trade routes and even creating monopolies will be profitable. If you enjoy economic strategies instead of just military, check Illyriad out. [Source: Illyriad Games press release]
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| World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria expansion releasing September 25th Posted: 25 Jul 2012 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions  Look for more info to come as it develops. [Source: Blizzard press release]
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| A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two City of Heroes factions played as one Posted: 25 Jul 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, Culture, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, A Mild-Mannered Reporter  And yet people don't really think of the game, on a whole, as a two-faction game. Oh, the game has two factions -- everyone acknowledges that. But it's not lumped into the same category as the many games that have a direct split between two opposing player factions largely because the game has two factions only in the most high-level sense. Let it be known that this article isn't meant to discuss whether or not two factions are a good size for a game or not; that's a Soapbox topic right there, and it's not one I have a very strong feeling about anyway. No, this is entirely about why it is that City of Heroes has two factions but you never really see them as such. Being a hero or villain is almost a afterthought when it comes down to it. Continue reading A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Two City of Heroes factions played as one
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| The Daily Grind: Is it possible to get as attached to vehicles as avatars? Posted: 25 Jul 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  Part of this problem might stem from the fact that most vehicle MMOs have you constantly ditching old models in favor of new ones. Apart from games like Marvel Heroes, you just don't see that in traditional MMOs; your avatar at the beginning is the same one at the end, just better clothed. By viewing your vehicular avatars as disposable tools, you have a much harder time properly bonding with that item. Then again, I could be wrong. It's the internet, so I'm sure to be called out as such. I genuinely want to know: Is it possible to get as attached to vehicles as your in-MMO avatars?  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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| German consumer advocacy group accuses Blizzard of deceptive marketing with Diablo III Posted: 24 Jul 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Legal, Diablo III  Diablo III's current packaging states that players must be online to access Battle.net, but it does not specify that accessing Battle.net is a requirement of continuing to play the game. The outcome of these particular grievances could have a great deal of influence on the implementation of always-online services in the future, but it's unclear what Blizzard's response (if any) will be to this particular complaint.
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| Shadowrun Online changes business models during Kickstarter push Posted: 24 Jul 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Business models, New titles, News items, Free-to-play  At launch, the game will retail for $39.99 (Kickstarter backers will be able to get the game at the $25 donation level), with a new "campaign" launched every three or four months at $14.99. Cliffhanger Productions isn't fully replacing the free-to-play model, as both the campaign option and the free-to-play option will be launched on separate servers to support both business models. It's a far-reaching change based on community feedback, and it should be interesting for fans to see how this affects overall donations to the ongoing funding campaign.
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| The Game Archaeologist interviews Puzzle Pirates' Matt Jensen Posted: 24 Jul 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Interviews, Free-to-play, Browser, Casual, The Game Archaeologist  Which is totally cool with me, by the way. I love MMOs that take a path less-traveled. Today I got the pleasure of sitting down with Puzzle Pirates Lead Developer Matt Jensen to talk about what it's like to work on the lovechild of Captain Hook and Bejeweled. If nothing else, he convinced me that it would be awesome to work at Three Rings Design because the dress code every day is peg legs and frilly blouses. His team also has one of the coolest offices ever. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist interviews Puzzle Pirates' Matt Jensen
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| Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's Legacy of the Foefire Posted: 24 Jul 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles  This Guild Wars 2 beta was possibly more exciting for me than any of the previous ones. It was bigger in pretty much every sense -- more areas, more races, more PvP, more people. It was sill rife with its fair share of technical issues, but those issues did not seem to really define the norm. And most importantly, it was the last one, which left each experience flavored with the subtle taste of anticipation. What did you get up to? I'd hope some of you who aren't quite as comfortable with structured PvP took this last opportunity to get in and give it a go while the scene is (theoretically) as open and easy to join as possible. If you did, you probably ran into the Legacy of the Foefire map. If you didn't, here's a bit about what you missed. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2's Legacy of the Foefire
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| How Turbine made Lord of the Rings Online's Rohan region Posted: 24 Jul 2012 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries  Thus begins a brand-new developer diary on Lord of the Rings Online's latest expansion, Riders of Rohan. The article tackles the development of East Rohan, which we're told is six times larger than average landscape releases in the game to date. The team decided early on to split Rohan into two major sections, both for practicality and for thematic purposes. East Rohan will represent an earlier timeframe in the book as well as a more "classic" locale that fans remember from the books: "For now, we're dealing with the time when Gríma Wormtongue still holds sway over Théoden, the king's son is dead, orcs are running rampant, and the beleaguered Rohirrim can barely keep it all from falling apart." The dev diary speaks of the challenges of crafting the region, geographically and visually, and how the team's had to deal with the gaps in Tolkien's explanation of the culture.
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| The Soapbox: MMOs waste millions on voice-over Posted: 24 Jul 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, MMO industry, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, DC Universe Online, Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, The Soapbox  A-list voice actors are not new to the video game genre. Over the last 20 years, video games have pulled from the same pool of talent as cartoons and commercials. But it really wasn't until last year with DC Universe Online that we started to see MMOs advertise the voice talent they had in the games. DCUO filmed multiple documentary-style videos to impress us with the level of voice-over work the game had. Although DCUO was the first fully voiced MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic made a point to tell us that it had over 200 different voice actors (300 if you believe IMDB) with over a thousand recording sessions for over 200,000 lines of dialogue. In the end, what's the pay-off? Six months after launch, the majority of players will threaten to leave a SWTOR pick-up group if the other players don't skip over the dialogue. Although a large portion of players did watch all the dialogue shortly after the game launched, all the players I spoke to said that the cutscenes started to grate on them before they'd even reached level 50. And even though DCUO was the first MMO to be fully voiced, SWTOR got away with advertising that it was first mainly because voice-overs were considered so insignificant by the MMO community that almost no one noticed the fib. And dare we even talk about the expense of recording 200,000 lines of dialogue? Is fan excitement over, say, Mark Hamill's Joker worth the cost of bringing him in on the project in the first place? Continue reading The Soapbox: MMOs waste millions on voice-over
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| RIFT gives previous subscribers a free weekend of play, hosts Conquest event Posted: 24 Jul 2012 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, Events, in-game, PvP, RIFT  Trion's also putting the spotlight on its new three-faction Conquest PvP during the week. Players have a limited opportunity to snag special titles if they engage in combat or craft with excellence in Conquest, but these titles are going away as of the 30th. The dev team will be joining the fun as well; the devs plan to make appearances in each Conquest wargroup for those foolhardy enough to take them on. These grudge matches are scheduled on the 26th and 27th.
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| EverQuest II's Qeynos Rises patch revamps city, PvP Posted: 24 Jul 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest II, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, PvP, News items, Free-to-play  Today's patch also features a slew of PvP updates, including "new PvP stats derived from PvE stats, PvP gear that is useful in PvE combat, revised achievements, infamy, bounty, and a new token earning system." There's more, so head to the official EQII website for the full scoop.
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| Massively Speaking Episode 209: Space skirts Posted: 24 Jul 2012 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online, Guild Wars 2, Massively Meta, Massively Speaking, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Allods Online, Miscellaneous  Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 209: Space skirts
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| Guild Wars 2 weaves together three story types Posted: 24 Jul 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Lore, Guild Wars 2  The first type is what he calls Story of the World. This is the over-arching narrative that deals with the biggest threat to the world (the Elder Dragons) and how it is to be countered. ArenaNet chose to use dynamic events to tell these stories so that players are gradually made aware of the threat. The second story type is your personal one, which tells of your own rise to power, fame, and glory in a variety of ways. Finally, there's the story of the five central iconic characters in the game (Destiny's Edge) and how they relate to you and each other.
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| Mad Catz announces new Combat Pilot multiplayer flight sim Posted: 24 Jul 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Galleries, Video, MMO industry, New titles, News items, War, Miscellaneous  "We believe that Combat Pilot will prove to be an important destination for the flight simulation community to gather, interact, and share experiences," states Mad Catz President and CEO Darren Richardson. "Combat Pilot will allow the flight simulation community to come together and interact as never before." However, just as real pilots can't just hop in the cockpit without a license, those entering the Combat Pilot world won't get to just hop into formation with others without earning their wings first. Interested folks should note that the game does not stand alone; it is built around Flight Simulator X from Microsoft, which must be purchased separately. For a look at the game, check out the gallery below and watch the video after the break. [Source: Mad Catz press release] Continue reading Mad Catz announces new Combat Pilot multiplayer flight sim
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| Funcom outlines The Secret World's dungeon mechanics Posted: 24 Jul 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, PvE, The Secret World, Dev Diaries, Dungeons  The piece outlines the basics (one dungeon per play field, five-player groups, etc.), but it also gives a bit of insight into Funcom's encounter design. Gone are traditional waves of time-consuming trash mobs. The devs have instead opted to provide a series of ever more challenging boss fights. Once you've mastered a dungeon's eccentricities in normal mode (and once you've completed all the Solomon Island and Egypt dungeons), you can access each instance's elite mode. If you're skilled enough to survive elite mode, you can test yourself against Funcom's fearsome guardian. If you survive one of his challenges (of which there are three, one each for the main group roles of healing, tanking, and damage-dealing), you can access nightmare mode dungeons. Read all about TSW's dungeon options on the official website.
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