General Gaming Article

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• The Game Boy: Headcrabs, Deathclaws, and Bears – Oh My
• Facebook Files for Its Long-Awaited IPO
• Apple Denied Sales Ban on Galaxy Tab and Nexus in Germany
• Seven Ways to Stop Piracy WITHOUT DRM
• Stolen Online Game Items Leads to Offline Conviction in the Netherlands
• Nvidia GeForce 295.51 Beta Drivers Fix Annoying Fan Issue, Beefs Up 3D Vision Support
• Pirate Bay Operators Maneuver To Avoid Jail Time, Domain Seizure
• Redbox Renews Agreement with Walmart, Cuts Ties with Warner Bros.
• Microsoft Calls Out Google's Privacy Changes In Newspaper Ads
• Seagate: HDD Shortage Will Be A Year-Long Problem

The Game Boy: Headcrabs, Deathclaws, and Bears – Oh My Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:24 PM PST Gordon Freeman is a coward. Or at least, he is when I play him. It's those damn poison headcrabs. As soon as they start hissing – shrouded in darkness, probably fresh off the assembly line from some Nightmare Factory – I turn into an orange-and-black blur and beeline for the nearest corner to cry in. When Alyx is around, I push her into the poison headcrab's Terror Lair and hide until she makes the bad things that can kill me in two hits go away. Meanwhile, in real life,  I lean away from the screen until my spine feels like it's recently been on the receiving end of a Mortal Kombat Fatality. If you haven't gotten the picture yet, I really, really don't like poison headcrabs.   I love, however, that they exist. Half-Life 2's enemies in general are some of the most memorable I've ever encountered. In fact, I haven't experienced such a visceral reaction to any game enemy since.  And that's a problem.  Iconic enemies can define a whole level – or even an entire game. The headcrab's a perfect example. Sure, it may (head) crib a few attack strategies from Alien's facehugger, but excellent art/audiovisual design and level placement elevated it far beyond a mere face-munching me-too. Among gamers, the cuddly-as-it-is-horrifying jumping bean from hell is basically a cultural phenomenon.  Meanwhile, what's our hyper-advanced modern gaming scene bringing to the figurative dog show? Well, let's see: We've got the generic terrorist from Modern Warfare 3, the generic terrorist from Battlefield 3, the generic steroid-addled thug from Arkham City, generic zombies from everything, and inferior headcrab rip-offs from Gears of War, Halo, Resistance, etc. Remember that one guy from that one level of Homefront? Hey, me neither! So, what's the deal? Why have enemies suddenly taken a tumble in the whitewashing machine? And – more importantly – what aren't they doing that older-school baddies nailed so perfectly? Well, there are a few factors to consider. First off, there's the matter of mentality. Many of the enemies in today's big-name games are basically cannon fodder – and nothing more. They pop up, you wallop them with your whack-a-mole hammer (or multi-barreled rocket shotgun that also fires reminders that the Smurfs movie exists, as it were), and then you move on.  Games like Half-Life 2 and BioShock, meanwhile, are so memorable because of the multifaceted manner in which they present their most frightening foes. For instance, Half-Life 2 initially flings you crowbar-first into a world ruled by the Combine. I mean, if you ask me what my first memory of the basic Combine soldier is, it's not even a difficult question. And no, the answer isn't "shooting one in the face." Instead, it's a simple line: "Pick it up." And when I refused to drop that tiny tin can in the garbage out of sheer, I'm-Gordon-goddam-Freeman defiance, he smacked me in the face. That moment – and not when I was facing down a small army of gun-toting space oddities – was when I understood how bad things had gotten in Gordon's absence.   It's the little moments that count biggest. Similarly, there was also Lamarr the friendly headcrab and controllable Ant Lions to offset the sheer otherworldly terror of Ravenholm's special brand of headcrab zombies or retch-worthy clusters of ceiling-dwelling barnacles. They showed other sides to Half-Life 2's enemies. Somewhat paradoxically, I felt an attachment to the very things I was blasting. BioShock, meanwhile, designed an entire ecology around Big Daddies, making them far more than diving-suit-clad foils for the business end of your shotgun. Over the course of the game, you discovered their origins, purposes, and – eventually – became one yourself. (Admittedly, however, it wasn't until BioShock 2 that the franchise really perfected that concept.) Sure, having a giant drill for a hand definitely gave the Big Daddy an upper hand... drill... thing in the memorability category, but a gradual trickle of information turned Big Daddy from a giant target into a crucial part of Rapture's existence. There's also the matter of smart, measured build up and the air of mystique it creates. Wasteland denizens in Fallout 3, for example, whispered of Deathclaws in frightened tones long before I ever met one face-to-face. And when I finally saw one loping toward me, gangly limbs flying like vital-organ-seeking missiles? I turned tail  and fled for dear life while attempting to write out my last will and testament. Lamentably, I didn't exactly make it far.  Indie horror hit Amnesia, however, really steals the show in that category. It's so terrifying not because boogie men pop out and shout "boo!" around every corner, but for the exact opposite reason: they don't. Instead, there's a constant sickening dread lurking in the darkness. Slight sights, unsettling sounds, perfectly placed shadows. Together, they create a mystique that other survival horror games simply can't match. And your character, of course, is hopelessly helpless, rendering the classic "fight or flight" multiple choice test fairly easy. The answer is D) Wet Yourself.    There's another factor, though, that I think has played a major role in the shift away from interesting, well-designed enemies: graphical fidelity. Madness, you say? Well, consider this: The more realistic graphics are, the easier it is to design enemies that look and move like people. However, as humans, we naturally fear difference. My poison headcrab phobia? I bet it wouldn't be nearly as bad if I wasn't also violently afraid of spiders. Point is, we're pre-programmed to fear things that are unlike us, because nature's creepy crawlies have a tendency to, you know, murder us with poison.   Earlier games, though, were perfectly positioned to take advantage of that. A lack of detail became creepy,  inhuman abstraction. Awkward animations became herky-jerky, unnatural movements. Enemies like Legend of Zelda's life-sapping Re-Deads and dungeon-crawling (literally) Wallmasters were – on some level – a product of necessity. Technology was limited, so developers had to be creative.  Ever played SkiFree? Yes, that SkiFree. Same idea. The yeti didn't trigger minor heart attacks just because it signaled insta-death. Its rapid, oddly terrifying movements gave Child-Me many a pixelated nightmare because it ambled ever forward in a manner that was downright wrong. Happily, Minecraft's enemies – Creepers, especially – carry that torch today to some extent today, but they're the exception, not the rule.  By and large, it's all hyper-realistic terrorists this, hyper-realistic zombies that. Oh, and there's the occasional hyper-realistic giant spider in there – just to make me feel frightened in spite of myself. I want more than that, though. Give me a love-hate, life-death relationship for the ages – not another shooting gallery. Press start. Find me a new challenger.

Facebook Files for Its Long-Awaited IPO Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:44 PM PST It's finally happened — the Facebook IPO is a real thing. No more speculation, no more guess-work. Facebook filed its S-1 registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this afternoon indicating its intention to go public with an eye toward raising $5 billion from sales of stock based on a $100 billion valuation.  When a company makes the call to go public, they are required to share financial data. As such, this is the first time we've gotten a peek at Facebook's balance sheet. According to the S-1, Facebook pulled in $3.71 billion last year, with net income of $1 billion. When Google filed for its IPO in 2004, the S-1 revealed that it only earned $105 million in profit the previous year.  Obviously, Facebook has held back longer as the secondary market for private shares has allowed investors to get a taste of the social network. When the stock goes live, it's probably going to be the biggest buy since Google itself, and will make thousands of Facebook employees really stinking rich. Zuckerberg himself owns about 28% of the company, and will thus be worth $28 billion if the valuation holds up.

Apple Denied Sales Ban on Galaxy Tab and Nexus in Germany Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:25 PM PST One of the hotbeds in Apple's ongoing patent war with Samsung has been Germany, but a German court just handed Apple a bit of a smackdown. A Munich court has found that Apple does not have the right to ban Samsung's Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Nexus from Germany. The case came after Apple revoked a licence previously granted to Samsung relating to touchscreen technology. This is a case of "prior art" as it is often called in the U.S.. According to the judge on the case, Samsung successfully showed that the suit would fail because the technology in question, "was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection." This win for Samsung comes on the heels of a case in which Apple successfully argued that the Galaxy Tab looked too much like an iPad, forcing Samsung to redesign the device. It then released the Galaxy Tab 10.1N.  The patent at issue described the bounce effect that gives users a visual clue when they have reached the scrolling limit of a page. The patent is not technically invalidated, but considering the language used in the decision, it is unlikely Apple will strongly assert ownership of this behavior going forward.

Seven Ways to Stop Piracy WITHOUT DRM Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:35 PM PST It's a fact of life: Pirates be pirating. Last year, UK Interactive Entertainment estimated a 4:1 ratio of pirated games against those that were legally purchased. What do those numbers mean? A lot, when you're talking about loss revenue. In interview with our own Nathan Grayson, CEO Marek Španěl of Bohemia Interactive admitted that for every legitimate player rocking a rocket launcher in ARMA 2, another 100 players with pirated copies of the game are turned away. That's a whole lot of unrealized realized cash that should have wound up in Bohemia Interactive's coffers. As most of our readers will be quick to point out, Bohemia Interactive's not the only company to have their timbers shivered by digital piracy. As a defence against having their intellectual properties swiped, cracked and traded online like so many baseball cards, a lot of companies have turned to Digital Right Management; a move that seldom does more than temporarily slow pirates and enrage paying customers. Fortunately, there's a growing number of non-DRM related options out there for developers and software vendors to explore that'll stymy piracy while respect the rights of their paying users. Bake in Deterrents  Instead of being Insidious, why not be hilarious when it comes to defending your wares from piracy? That's what Serious Sam 3 developer Croteam did when faced with the problem of how to discourage the piracy of their creation without saddling their legitimate users with the frustrations that can stem from a healthy dose of DRM. Instead of crippling illegally obtained copies of the game, Croteam opted to make Serious Sam 3 a miserable experience for pirates by inserting an indestructible pink scorpion hellbent on destroying them into the mix. No matter where the players runs or tries to hide, the game's hilariously powerful enforcer tracks them down and kills them, making it impossible to play the first-person shooter in peace.    Provide Higher Levels of Support & Quality Control Rage, Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim and Battlefield 3 all have one thing in common: They were all a hot, glitchy mess when they were launched.  A lot of pirates justify their pillaging of digital goods by saying that they refuse to pay for a product that doesn't perform as it was intended to. While release schedules and industry pressures will always be a factor that decides upon when a piece of software made available to consumers, software developers would do well to consider adopting Blizzard's "it's done when it's done" mentality and sit on their products until they're able to vouch for their performance. If that's not possible, then employing a robust system for error reporting and resolution is a must: After all, no one wants to pay for something that's broken right out of the box, and if they do, they want to know what can be done to fix it as quickly as possible.    Perks In an effort to quell the second-hand sale of their software, a growing number of developers have been offering consumers premium downloadable content perks tied to a single-use code. The Catwoman missions in Batman Arkham Asylum and the cross-game weapons and armour offered by Electronic Arts in a number of the games from their catalog over the past few years are great examples of this. We're betting gamers would like to see more of this sort of thing—with tastier options than a few cosmetic items for our in-game characters. By routinely doling out fresh in game content to paying customers, development houses would be providing consumers with a compelling reason to pay for their wares. It might not stop piracy dead in its tracks, but it'd definitely boost sales.    Standardize International/Regional Releases There's plenty of excellent reasons to stagger the release of a new piece of software on an international scale: Doing so keeps servers from melting into pools of unusable silicon, and preserves the sanity of help desk agents, if only for a little while. That said, if a game's not available in the states, even though the Italians have had it for a week, you know that someone, somewhere is going to be pirating that bad boy.  By giving consumers what they want simultaneously on an international level, developers could strike another reason for illegally downloading an application from the the litany of excuses pirates have been employing for years.    Lower the Cost of Digitally Distributed Software Placing a software product in a physical marketplace is a costly undertaking, matter how you cut it. Product production, art and marketing, shipping—they all cost a goodly sum of dollars that wind up getting factored into the retail cost of a piece of boxed software, thus forcing consumers to decide between buying groceries for the rest of the month or investing in a new application. For some reason—let's call it crazed avarice—digitally distributed iterations of the same software often costs the same as their boxed up, marked up cousins. Were software developers to dramatically lower the price of their digitally distributed wares, it'd be an uphill slog for pirates to complain about the market value cost of what they're swiping. Sure, lower prices for digitally distributed wares means a less robust bottom line, but some cash is better than none, and where piracy is concerned, no cash gleaned from the sweat of your programer's brows is likely exactly what you'll wind up with.    Make an Effort to Actively Engage Your Community Friends don't steal from friends. Friends have your back. Whenever possible, you want your customers to be your friends. It doesn't pay to get locked into an adversarial relationship with the people responsible for giving you money. Developers would do well to get to know and understand the concerns of their market. Insomuch as it's possible, uncover the reasons why your market base feels compelled to pirate your products and do your best to address them. Listen to your customer's frustrations and concerns, and whenever possible, provide them with the help they need and deserve. As the old adage suggests: Respect earns respect. While you might not be able to obliterate the piracy of your products entirely, a modicum of concern for your customers could help to reduce it.   Nuke Them From Orbit (It's the Only Way to Be Sure) You've tried lowering your prices. You've opted to forgo Digital Rights Management measures in favour of introducing downloadable incentives to paying customers and tormenting pirates with a frustrating in-app nemesis. Simultaneously releasing your software across all regions? Been there, done that. Hell, in an attempt to curb pirating, you've even gone so far as to drastically reduce the online price of your software. Sadly, none of it has managed to make a dent in your company's shrinkage you'd been hoping for. At this point, you can keep on keeping on and hope that your non-DRM related anti-piracy measures and hope that they eventually gain traction, or sue the bejeezus out of anything that moves. Sadly, neither solution will be the cure-all you're looking for. DRM is, well it's DRM. Hated by the masses and viewed as a challenge by dedicated hackers, it's only a matter of time until any Digital Rights Management solution is circumvented.  What about lawsuits, you ask hopefully?  As with most legal matters, suing the individuals who pirate your products is more of a marathon than a sprint. Take CD Projekt Red, the development house behind  The Witcher 2: Assassin of Kings, for example. Since it's release in 2011, over 4.5 million copies of the PC game were illegally downloaded, putting CD Projekt Red in an ugly fiscal position, to say the least. In response to the rampant piracy they were being subjected to, the Polish development studio tracked down a large number of alleged pirates of the game and demanded they be paid for the the use of the software, or face legal prosecution. Great idea, right? Not so much: In the first few weeks of January, the development house announced that they would be discontinuing their legal crusade against those that would dare to pirate their game, chiefly due to the fact that the only thing that seems to enrage gamers more than DRM is the prospect of a shaky, difficult to support lawsuit based on the art—not science, mind you—of IP tracking.  If there's a final, definitive solution to online piracy that doesn't in some way involve Digital Rights Management, it has yet to be found. We can only hop that when such a solution is implemented, it's one that's as just to a product's paying end users as it is to the companies that designed it.

Stolen Online Game Items Leads to Offline Conviction in the Netherlands Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:59 AM PST The Dutch Supreme Court denied an appeal by a 19-year-old who was convicted of stealing a 13-year-old boy's virtual goods in the online game Runescape and ordered to serve 144 hours of community service. It probably didn't help that the suspect roughed up the 13-year-old and threatened him with a knife until he logged into Runescape and handed over an amulet and a mask, but this case was just as much about the value of virtual goods as it was the violence that took place offline. The offender's lawyer argued the stolen virtual goods "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value," according to an AP report. However, the high court shot down his argument and said the amulet and mask had intrinsic value to the 13-year-old based on "the time and energy" he expended procuring them in Runescape. This was a two-man operation that involved one of the thieves beating up the 13-year-old Runescape player while another suspect waited online to retrieve the goods he was forced to drop. They were convicted in 2009, though only one of them decided to appeal.

Nvidia GeForce 295.51 Beta Drivers Fix Annoying Fan Issue, Beefs Up 3D Vision Support Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:33 AM PST Nvidia has made available for download its GeForce 295.51 GPU drivers in beta form, and while beta code typically isn't for the faint of heart, this release could help you rest easy if you're an owner of a GeForce GTX 590 videocard that insists on spinning its fan full bore all the time. In addition to address the annoying fan issue, Nvidia crammed the new driver full of 3D Vision profile updates. Nvidia added or updated 31 3D Vision profile updates in all, including DotA 2 (rating upgraded to Fair), Fractal (rated Excellent), and Tropico 4 (rated Good). Other notable tweaks include: Fixes instances of driver timeouts while simultaneously watching multiple videos Adds edit/delte option for custom resolutions Supports multiple languages and APIs for GPU comptuing: CUDA C, CUDA C++, CUDA Fortran, Open CL, DirectCompute, and Microsoft C++ AMP Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 11, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel and AMD motherboards You can download the beta driver here.

Pirate Bay Operators Maneuver To Avoid Jail Time, Domain Seizure Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:19 AM PST By all accounts, 2012 hasn't been very nice to the torrent freaks over at Pirate Bay. Megaupload's takedown has them worried, and today, the Swedish Supreme Court ruled that Peter Sunde, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm and Carl Lundström -- the original operators of the site -- will have to pay fines and serve jail time for copyright infringement. Is the ship going down? Nah -- the site says it has things in the bag. As soon as they learned about the Swedish Supreme Court's decision, the group switched its domain from .org to the Swedish .se, TorrentFreak reports. The change is already in effect. Why? Because the U.S. government can seize .com, .net and .org domains. Someone from Pirate Bay told TorrentFreak they made the switch "just in case ICE has been waiting for the court case to be over." ICE is the Immigration and Customs Enforcement wing of the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security and has been seizing domains of alleged copyright infringers left and right over the past couple of years. But wait: why should the Pirate Bay's owners care? Aren't they about to be thrown in the clink? Not so fast, the Pirate Bay says in a blog post. With this said, we hear news from our old admins that they have received a verdict in Sweden. Our 3 friends and blood brothers have been sentenced to prison. This might sound worse than it is. Since no one of them no longer lives in Sweden, they won't go to jail. They are as free today as they were yesterday. So there you have it: the Pirate Bay just gave the middle finger to the governments of both the U.S. and Sweden. It'll be interesting to see where this goes.

Redbox Renews Agreement with Walmart, Cuts Ties with Warner Bros. Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:16 AM PST Warner Bros. decided to play hardball with Netflix, Blockbuster, and Redbox by demanding they each wait 56 days after a title is released before making it available for rent, which is twice is long as the 28-day waiting period film studios typically impose. While Netflix and Blockbuster begrudgingly accepted WB's terms, Redbox decided it can do better on its own and decided not to renew its contract, which expired on January 31, 2012. It's not a total loss for Redbox customers, however. Redbox plans to continue offering Warner Bros. flicks obtained through alternative sources, a move that not only eliminates the 56-day window, but could potentially make WB films available the day of release. "Redbox will continue to provide our consumers with affordable access to new release movies from all major studios including Warner Brothers at our more than 28,000 locations nationwide. We will work to provide Warner Brothers' movies through alternative means. Redbox maintains direct working relationships with every other major studio," said Gary Cohen, senior vice president of marketing and customer experience at Redbox. That's all Redbox was willing to say on the matter, though its actions speak louder than words, and you can bet it resonated with other studios that might be thinking about imposing the same elongated waiting period. It's in nobody's best interest to cut Redbox off, directly or indirectly, and the message has been sent that it doesn't bluff during negotiations. In semi-related news, Redbox announced it renewed its agreement with Walmart to continue plopping kiosks at more than 3,700 Wallyworld locations nationwide. You can expect to see more Redbox kiosks at Walmart stores in the future, Redbox said.

Microsoft Calls Out Google's Privacy Changes In Newspaper Ads Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:53 AM PST Microsoft's never been one to shy away from a fight with Google; when Microsoft recently signed LG to an Android licensing deal, several Redmond bigwigs taunted Google with a series of mocking Tweets. Now, Microsoft's sending yet another attack dog into the fight: ads running in several major U.S. newspapers that attempts to stir up feelings of resentment over Google's recent privacy policy changes. You can see a full image of the ad here on Microsoft's TechNet website, but here's a choice excerpt: Google is in the process of making some unpopular changes to some of their most popular products. Those changes, cloaked in language like "transparency," "simplicity" and "consistency" are really about one thing: making it easier for Google to connect the dots between everything you search, send, say or stream while using one of their services. But, the way they're doing it is making it harder for you to maintain control of your personal information. Why are they so interested in doing this that they would risk that kind of backlash? One logical reason: EVERY DATA POINT THEY COLLECT AND CONNECT TO YOU INCREASES HOW VALUABLE YOU ARE TO AN ADVERTISER. It goes on, but we think you get the gist. Microsoft's solution to the Google privacy problem is one you probably expected: why not try switching to Bing, Hotmail, IE or Microsoft Office 365? How do Google's privacy changes sit with you? Will you jump ship at Microsoft's suggestion, or do you consider the hubbub much ado about nothing? Image credit: AndroidShine.com

Seagate: HDD Shortage Will Be A Year-Long Problem Posted: 01 Feb 2012 10:28 AM PST A new year means a fresh start, and a fresh start entails putting 2011's skyrocketing HDD prices behind us, right? Not quite. Seagate released its quarterly financial results yesterday, and although the report left investors cheering -- Seagate pocketed $3.2 billion in revenue despite last year's catastrophic floods -- things are looking a bit bleaker for end users. Seagate fully expects the hard drive shortage to continue until the end of 2012 as manufacturers struggle to catch up to consumer demand. Seagate says that the hard drive industry will probably end up around 150 million HDDs short of the demand for them by the end of the year. As far as last quarter goes, the company says the entire hard drive industry made around 110 million HDDs, shipped 119 million, and had demand for 175 million -- so it came far short of meeting customer wants. Seagate's facilities weren't damaged in the Thailand floods, but it is still facing problems securing components from washed-out suppliers. PC World reports that seven of Seagate's top 10 suppliers suffered manufacturing damages during the floods. Things are looking even worse at Western Digital; WD did get smacked by the rising waters and doesn't expect to return to full manufacturing capacity until the third quarter.  Bottom line: things will get better eventually, but be ready to pay through the nose for a HDD for the forseeable future. For more info about HDDpocalypse, check out the lead QuickStart story in the print issue on stands now.

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MMO News

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• Hellgate Global celebrates with February events
• AI Helicopters arrive in Karma Online
• Repulse officially launches
• Dungeons and Dragons Online reveals new Update 13 Screens

Hellgate Global celebrates with February events Posted: 01 Feb 2012 03:32 PM PST Monthly events have arrived again in Hellgate Global. For February, players can find the following events available: * Hell Rush, Level and Be Rewarded, and Jumpstart return, giving boosts and giveaways to characters as they level up. * Premium item rewards for completing Base Defense Mode. * Daily Hunt, letting players earn rewards for finding each day’s specific item. * Rewards for players who complete the daily quest, Catacomb Run in Parliament Square, depending on how many times it has been completed. * Earn rewards for posting blogs that are helpful to the Hellgate Global community, submitting fan art for Hellgate’s Profile Picture, and sharing their best loot drops on Facebook. * Bonus premium items for players who buy featured premium items before Valentines, as a Pre-Valentine’s Perk. * 20 random premium shop customers will be awarded each week with a 7-day, +30 attribute point capsule. The top five buyers at the end of the event can get a +2 upgrade to weapon or armor of their choice. Hellgate is published by T3Fun, which also publishes Mythos. Hellgate  Gameplay Screenshot Source: Hellgate Global Celebrates February by Showing Love for Loyal Fans: Offers the Most Monthly Events in Hellgate History Hellgate Global February events loaded with rewards, celebraing the themes "Players Give" and "Hellgate Global Gives Back" LOS ANGELES – February 1, 2012 T3Fun today announced the continuation of Hellgate Global’s 2012 kickoff with a plethora of events for February, celebrating the theme of love. Through a series of fun events, players who give to Hellgate Global will receive rewards back. With the most events to ever take place, February will be one of the most exciting months in Hellgate history! February Hellgate Global events include: Players Give • Hellgate Journals – Hellgate Global unveils a long term program for players that are also active bloggers. Players will be rewarded for posting blogs that can help the Hellgate Global community. • Give Hell Some Face – Players will be able to submit their fan art to Hellgate Global for a chance to be used as Hellgate Global's Profile Picture for Hellgate Global. Four pieces of art will be chosen and those players will be handsomely rewarded. • Popular Vote: Best Loot – Players are invited to post their best loot drops on Hellgate Global's Facebook Page. The loot with the most likes and positive remarks will be declared as the winner. Hellgate Global Gives Back • Hell Rush – Hell Rush is back! Together with Level and Be Rewarded and Jumpstart, new, rerolling, and returning players will be able to enjoy their early levels with major boosts and giveaways from Hellgate Global! • Base Defense Challenge – Players that can complete the Base Defense mode will have a chance to receive premium items. • Daily Hunt – Hellgate players are always looking for a new hunting challenge. In Daily Hunt, Hellgate Global tasks players to hunt a specific item a day and players with the sharpest hunter's sense will be rewarded. This in-game event was started in January and will be extended until the first week of February. • Pre-Valentines Perk – February is the month of love. As a means of giving back to its loyal players, Hellgate Global will award players a bonus premium item whenever they buy a featured premium item for the duration of the event. • Hell Pick – Every week, 20 lucky premium shop buyers will be awarded a 7-day capsule that adds +30 attribute points. At the end of the event, five of the top 100 buyers will be given the chance to get a +2 upgrade to their weapon or armor. • Daily Quest: Catacomb Run in Parliament Square – A month-long event where players who complete the daily quest will be rewarded, depending upon the number of times the daily quest has been completed.

AI Helicopters arrive in Karma Online Posted: 01 Feb 2012 02:28 PM PST Karma Online is getting a new mode today: A.I. Helicopter. The A.I. Helicopter mode places players into four-man teams in a ten-round multiplayer competition. Teams must face off against a set number of predetermined enemies to advance, including bosses and the V5 Helicopter gunship. Returning veterans  will be able to get special in-game items for dropping in the game and checking out updates since they last played. The game has also added an exclusive channel for Turkish players, with plans to release more localized channels throughout 2012. Karma Online is published by Joymax, which also publishes Silkroad Online and Digimon Masters Online. Karma Online: A.I. Helicopter Mode: Source: KARMA ONLINE: PRISONERS OF THE DEAD SAYS ‘GET TO DA CHOPPA!!!’ New Update Introduces New Gameplay Mode, Comeback Soldiers’ Event, Clan Championship and Channel for Turkish Community February 1, 2012 – Joymax, a leading online game developer and publisher, announced that it will start the year 2012 with a major update for its first-person shooter World War II game, Karma Online: Prisoners of the Dead. Starting today, players can take part in a new A.I. Helicopter mode whereby a team of four players work together to take down a heavy-duty V5 Helicopter gunship. To learn more about the game, players can visit http://www.joymax.com/karma/. “The universe of KARMA is expanding rapidly and we are pleased to introduce the new A.I. helicopter gameplay mode into the mix,” said Joymax CEO, Nam-chul Kim, “The new mode is perfect for group play and with the introduction of the comeback soldiers’ events, clan championship and a new region specific channel for players in Turkey, 2012 is already shaping up to be a massive year for KARMA.” In the new A.I. Helicopter mode, players are grouped into four-man units that must work across ten grueling rounds of frantic multiplayer mayhem. Each unit faces a pre-determined number of enemies that must be defeated in order to advance forward. In select rounds, players will also face off against a variety of bosses including the heavy-duty V5 Helicopter gunship. Joymax will be running a Comeback Soldiers Event for all veteran players of KARMA from January 31st. All returning veteran players during the event period will be awarded with special in-game items. Joymax has also opened an exclusive channel to better cater to its expanding Turkish community. The new server aims to provide a better gaming environment for players both inside and outside of Turkey. Similar channels will be rolled out to local communities throughout 2012.

Repulse officially launches Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:17 PM PST Aeria Games has announced the official commercial launch of Repulse today. Repulse’s launch today includes the addition of four new maps with multiple gameplay modes, and include features like teleporters (Memorial and Arena) and energy-draining static fields (Castle). A second East Coast server will also be added, along with a high ping kick feature to help improve gameplay by removing players who are lagging severely from the game. The Repulse item mall also opens today with a variety of items to help gameplay. Aeria Games also publishes Wolf Team and Last Chaos. Repulse Gameplay Screenshot Source: Aeria Games Blasts Out Sci-Fi Action Shooter Repulse Commercial Launch of Highly Anticipated Dystopian Sci-Fi MMOFPS Offers Players New Features Including Four New Multi-mode Maps SANTA CLARA, Calif. – February 1, 2012 – Aeria Games, a leading global publisher of free-to-play online games, announced today the commercial launch of its new sci-fi themed first person shooter (FPS) game, Repulse. Following the heels of successful beta testing, Repulse is now fully live and ready to play with an updated client featuring a wealth of exciting new additions and improvements including additional maps. Experience Repulse's striking 3D graphics while battling enemies in the game's futuristic, dystopian setting. An arsenal of high-tech weaponry, enhanced movement abilities, and fast-paced combat make this MMOFPS a visceral experience. Repulse provides adrenaline-pumping action in a variety of hard-hitting player-versus-player (PvP) and player-versus-environment (PvE) modes. This frenetic FPS game also features full clan support, resulting in intense shootouts between rival players and clans. "We've upgraded Repulse with four brand new maps to celebrate its commercial launch as an intense, hard-hitting sci-fi shooter," said Tom Nichols, North America Director of Publishing, Aeria Games. "With twitch-based action moves like the Boost Jump, Wall Jump, and Dodge, Repulse sets the standard for brutally futuristic online combat." Repulse fires up the free-to-play FPS genre with explosive features: Special Action Moves – Use the dodge step ability and quick reflexes to avoid incoming enemy fire. Quickly jump in and out of combat with the boost ability. Overcome obstacles with the wall jump or sneak up on your enemies by cloaking. All these features and more are available in the Action Mode channels. New Content Added – Four new, exciting maps with multiple gameplay modes have expanded the game since the Closed Beta. Utilize the new teleporters to test your skills in the Memorial and Arena maps but watch out for energy-draining static fields in the Castle map! High Ping Kick Safeguard – In order to ensure lag-free gameplay, a second East Coast server will be added (select the server closest to you for the fastest gameplay). In addition, a high ping kick feature has been implemented to automatically remove players who are severely lagging from the game in order to provide a better experience for everyone. Customize Your Game – The Repulse web mall features a variety of items to enhance your Repulse experience. Visit the official Repulse website to download the game: http://repulse.aeriagames.com/. Like all titles at Aeria Games, Repulse is free to download and free to play.

Dungeons and Dragons Online reveals new Update 13 Screens Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:30 PM PST Turbine has released a new set of screenshots for Dungeon and Dragon Online’s upcoming patch, Update 13: Web of Chaos. The update will introduce three new free quests: The Lords of Dust, Servants of the Overlord, and The Spinner of Shadows. Two new items, the Omnispell Dust and Omnispell Stone, free up inventory space for casters who need material components. A new veteran status will allow players to start their character at level 7, and can be earned through favor or purchased in the store. The store will also add a Cloak of Resistance, a Necklace of Protection, and +1 Elemental Touch Weapons. Dungeons and Dragons Online: Update 13 Screenshots

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Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

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• Review: Soulcalibur V Redefines Namco’s Flagship Weapon-Based Fighter
• Aliens: Colonial Marines make Contact
• Review: Kirby Mass Attack is One of the Last Great DS Games
• Blizzard cancels BlizzCon 2012
• Rumored Discount on Vita’s Digital Games Needs to be More Substantial
• Vita Can Do Ad Hoc Multiplayer with PSP

Review: Soulcalibur V Redefines Namco’s Flagship Weapon-Based Fighter Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:35 AM PST In a season riddled with life-changing mega-sequels, Corpse Party couldn’t have arrived at a worse time — especially on a platform so ravaged by the deadly tag team of piracy and disinterest. With its distinctly fan-made presentation and digital-only availability, XSEED’s latest isn’t going to turn heads like the Uncharteds and Modern Warfares of the world; though, in the case of Corpse Party, this lack of attention just might be for the best. While most of our modern gaming blockbusters seek to offer either awkwardly bloodless violence for the sake of the coveted catch-all Teen rating or Bruckheimer-esque glorification of combat, the folks at Team GrisGris obviously didn’t suffer under these same publisher pressures. Corpse Party doesn’t seek to cast the widest net possible with a series of escapist power fantasies that gently nudge players down a path of rewards; from the outset, the game wears its heartlessness on its sleeve, dispatching characters in ways that have yet to debut in your nightmares (but soon will). This glorified visual novel may resemble a B-tier Super Nintendo game on the surface, but nothing else I’ve played over the past 25 years has been so relentlessly brutal, bleak, and terrifying. Though Corpse Party looks like an ancient JRPG, trappings like hit points, an inventory, and tile-based movement only exist as lip service; the “game” portions of Corpse Party act solely as a conduit for the narrative. Like Phoenix Wright and 999, Corpse Party is a visual novel, though it looks and plays decidedly more “gamey” than other entries in the genre. Instead of transitioning from static scene to static scene from a first-person perspective — typical of the genre — the game employs 2D sprites and an overhead perspective, providing players with a more familiar means of input. And since you’re tasked with controlling a group of defenseless teens, combat simply isn’t an option; the few foes found in the game most often kill with a single touch, making their presence more disturbing than any turn-based ghost battles ever could. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.1up.com/reviews?cId=3186644 Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

Aliens: Colonial Marines make Contact Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:35 AM PST Gearbox Sofware and Sega have released a new CGI-only teaser, simply titled Contact, to create fresh anticipation for this much-delayed FPS, which is now confirmed for an August 2012 release. The trailer features no shortage of action and tension as we're treated to a snapshot of a struggle between Colonial Marines and attacking aliens, culminating with a glimpse of the Alien Queen. A few days ago Gearbox went on record to explain the delay from Spring to August 2012: "Aliens: Colonial Marines is a process of creativity and invention and those don't necessarily follow the structure of an assembly line. While setting clear goals, deadlines and predictions is helpful, they are often subjective. "We don't want to sacrifice the creative process just for the sake of following a blue print. We prefer to have the creative discovery shape that blue print because our goal is to make a great game, and we are prioritising this goal over the previously targeted date." Check out the video below – kudos to the creators for capturing some of that classic Aliens magic… Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.totalpcgaming.com/latest-pc-news/aliens-colonial-marines-make-contact/ Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

Review: Kirby Mass Attack is One of the Last Great DS Games Posted: 01 Feb 2012 01:27 AM PST It’s funny what a mix of good and bad timing can do for a game. Take Radiant Silvergun, for instance: originally an arcade game and then a relatively limited Japanese Saturn release in 1998, the game became a favorite among the ultra-hardcore, import-happy crowd… assuming they could get the game. Due to its short life on the shelf and the general fervor over its developer Treasure, Silvergun quickly gained triple-digit price tags. Some would suggest that not playing Radiant Silvergun doesn’t make you a real gamer. Well, it’s not that good, but now it’s back and better and easier to get than ever. Radiant Silvergun is definitely a shooter from 1998. It requires a different kind of skill than today’s arcade shoot-em-ups, where the number one strategy is knowing when to tip-toe between curtains of bullets. Here, enemies are typically small and everywhere, bosses and midbosses are frequent, and they all have tricky patterns that can throw you off if you don’t learn them or don’t kill the boss before they get really tricky. On top of that, the game has an orthodox emphasis on weaponry. You have three basic attack types — vulcan, homing, or spread — that can be combined to make different combinations, like a vulcan cannon that fires from both ends of the ship, or a homing laser that goes for any enemy in your radius. Oh, and a “radiant sword” that you can swing around or use it to absorb certain pink bullets and charge up a super slash. In this version, you can map the combinations to any button you want, but the tower of button icons on the side of the screen when playing can still look a little intimidating. Nevertheless, it’s a feast of firepower. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.1up.com/reviews?cId=3185717 Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

Blizzard cancels BlizzCon 2012 Posted: 01 Feb 2012 12:34 AM PST (Source) Someone just sent this news to me via MSN, and I thought I should share it with everyone else. Blizzard has officially cancelled BlizzCon 2012 (this year), and will commence with BlizzCon 2013 next year instead. I am surprised, since I foresee this year’s event to focus mainly on World of Warcraft’s new expansion and Diablo III as well, together with a teaser for the new MMO. Blizzard Entertainment understaffed perhaps? Hmn… Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the 2012 Battle.net World Championship, a major global eSports event featuring some of the best pro-gaming competition in the world. Slated to take place in Asia toward the end of 2012, the Battle.net World Championship will host this year's StarCraft II and World of Warcraft Arena World Championship tournaments. Blizzard gamers and eSports fans from around the world will be invited to attend and witness some of the most skilled pro players on the planet battle it out for cash and glory. We're excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We’re also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players' hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we've decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013. More details about the 2012 Battle.net World Championship and BlizzCon 2013, including specific dates and locations, will be coming in the months ahead. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.mmoculture.com/2012/01/blizzard-cancels-blizzcon-2012.html Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

Rumored Discount on Vita’s Digital Games Needs to be More Substantial Posted: 31 Jan 2012 06:34 PM PST One of the benefits of digital games from the publisher’s side, at least in theory, is flexibility with pricing. With the cost of manufacturing and shipping physical games out of the way, it’s also a cheaper method of distribution. Considering consumers aren’t getting as much for their money — no box, no manual, no ability to sell or let someone borrow a game — it makes sense that digital games would be cheaper than their physical counterparts. That will be the case when shopping for Vita games in North America, though it would appear the discount we’ll be enjoying is not nearly as much as it should be. Reports of Best Buy stores getting Vita demo units in have surfaced in recent days. One NeoGAF member got to spend some hands-on time with the system ahead of its launch on February 22 and photographed a screen showing pre-orders for the digital versions of certain Vita games. Presumably these digital games Best Buy is offering would come in a form similar to Patapon 2‘s retail version where you’re given a code to download the game from the PlayStation Store. Regardless of that particular detail, the prices show only a few dollars in savings — it appears to be a 10 percent discount across the board for digital Vita games. According to the Best Buy pre-order image, Uncharted: Golden Abyss is $44.99 as compared with the $49.99 retail price; MLB 12 and Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational are $36.99 instead of $39.99; and Little Deviants is $26.99 instead of $29.99. Sony for its part is not confirming the exact pricing, though it did acknowledge games on PSN will be cheaper. I was told by a Sony spokesperson to look “for an announcement in the very near future” regarding details on the discount. Some kind of price difference between physical and digital games had been expected following the complaints about digital games on PSP. Sony Computer Entertainment Japan answered those complaints by revealing a discount on digital games this past October. Games are more expensive in the first place in Japan (Uncharted’s price was initially pegged at 5,980 yen, or $78, at retail) but the discount for downloading was also much greater. Uncharted and Hot Shots Golf were about $14 cheaper to download and Army Corps of Hell was about $13 less, while lower-priced games like Ridge Racer and Katamari Damacy only offered $5 to $6 in savings. However, Namco Bandai decided to drop the prices of the digital versions even further for a limited time (from the system’s launch in December through the end of March), bringing the savings up to $13 and $10, respectively, for the two titles. When you compare that with a $3 discount on the $30 Vita games in the U.S., it’s hard to feel like we’re really getting much of a deal. And that $3 discount isn’t likely to last for long, as price drops and sales at retail (plus the cheaper prices Amazon tends to offer) will wipe out what little benefit your wallet would see from opting to purchase a digital game. And that’s not to mention the additional cost that comes with buying digital games. A Vita memory card is essentially required, so you’ll likely have to at least buy a low-capacity one, and you’ll have to part with even more money for a larger one as you download more games. Although the prices on the cards are lower than initially expected, they are hardly what I would call cheap. Opting to buy a large memory card and then seeking out the discounted games on PSN will still have you spending more than you would have otherwise, at least until you’ve bought enough digital games to offset the cost of the memory card. Like with the memory card pricing situation, it’s possible Vita’s digital games will end up being cheaper than Best Buy’s pre-order screen suggests. I’d like to believe that’s the case because the idea of having all of my games loaded on the system (or a memory card inserted into the system, if you want to get technical) is immensely appealing to me as the sort of person who invariably wants to play the game I didn’t bring with me. Losing the ability to loan out my games — and every other downside that comes with digital games — just to save 10 percent isn’t all that enticing. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.1up.com/news/rumored-discount-vita-digital-games Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

Vita Can Do Ad Hoc Multiplayer with PSP Posted: 31 Jan 2012 01:26 PM PST Should you decide to upgrade to a PlayStation Vita but still find yourself playing a PlayStation Portable game, you won’t be prevented from playing multiplayer with someone who stuck with their PSP. A section of the Japanese PlayStation website shows that Vita is capable of communicating with PSP for the purpose of ad hoc multiplayer, Siliconera reports. In the United States it might not be a big deal to most. In Japan, ad hoc multiplayer is very popular, particularly when it comes to Monster Hunter. The only way you’ll be playing PSP games on your Vita in the first place is by downloading them through the PlayStation Store, as the system lacks a UMD drive. Not every single game is guaranteed to be compatible, but it does sound like the majority of them will be. Sony has indicated it may do something — at least in Japan — for owners of PSP games on UMD, like allowing them to download complimentary digital versions of games they already own for use on Vita. Details of this haven’t been finalized, but it would be a nice gesture — and one that hopefully would be repeated elsewhere in the world. Posted by: admin in Gaming News Find related article at: http://www.1up.com/news/vita-ad-hoc-multiplayer-psp Thank you for Visiting Gameforumer.com, Hope you enjoyed the stay with us.

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MMO Updates

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• Enter at your own Rift: Want to play RIFT for free? Now you can!
• Turbine shows off new locations from DDO's Web of Chaos
• See League of Legends' Ziggs in action -- he'll blow you away
• The Daily Grind: What do you like to see on MMO websites?
• 'RIFT Lite' announced, makes first 20 levels free to all
• Hyperspace Beacon: Wretched radio of scum and villainy
• EverQuest Mac fans fight for survival; SOE responds
• CNN observes the migration habits of the elusive wild gamer
• The Soapbox: Give indie a chance
• BioWare: All our devs play SWTOR
• Ultima producer's letter teases 2012 content
• Dutch Supreme Court declares RuneScape theft a real-world crime
• Bigpoint surpasses 250 million registered users
• Allods Online cheekily promotes Game of Gods expansion
• DDO 'prequel' update prepping community for the expansion
• Anarchy Online's new game director details early 2012 plans
• The Game Archaeologist dials up Phantasy Star Online: The highlights

Enter at your own Rift: Want to play RIFT for free? Now you can! Posted: 01 Feb 2012 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Opinion, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift Before rumors start spreading around like planar creatures through a tear, no, RIFT is not going free-to-play. You can, however, play RIFT for free through the first 20 levels now, thanks to the launch of RIFT Lite. Anyone with a Trion account can now play through the first 20 levels at no cost and with no time limit. RIFT Lite arrives alongside Update 1.7, the Carnival of the Ascended. Let's take a the significance of RIFT Lite, as well as the changes in the new update today. Continue reading Enter at your own Rift: Want to play RIFT for free? Now you can! Enter at your own Rift: Want to play RIFT for free? Now you can! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Turbine shows off new locations from DDO's Web of Chaos Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Dungeons In case you missed it, Dungeons and Dragons Online is trading Eberron for Faerun. Yes, Turbine is introducing a Forgotten Realms-themed expansion to its six-year old fantasy MMO, but first the company is gifting players with a prequel content push called Web of Chaos. Update 13 is scheduled to go live later this month, and today we have the first screenshots which focus on a cult called the Lords of Dust. Check out the gallery below for a look at their dungeon base as well as a glimpse of their Rakshasa cult masters. The content features new quests, new items, and the ability for veterans to start a character at level seven. [Source: Turbine press release] Gallery: Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 13 Preview Turbine shows off new locations from DDO's Web of Chaos originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

See League of Legends' Ziggs in action -- he'll blow you away Posted: 01 Feb 2012 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Classes, Previews, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends It's Ziggs week at League of Legends as Riot Games pours out the love for this hexplosives-flinging gremlin. A new Champion Spotlight video gives a good overview of this character, highlighting Ziggs' bomb-happy skills and key strategies for success. If being a Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight appeals to your playstyle, check out the video to see if Ziggs is your soulmate. As part of the Ziggs celebration, there are two new skins for him in the store -- Major Ziggs and Mad Scientist Ziggs -- as well as a special skin for Poppy (Scarlet Hammer Poppy). Check out the Champion Spotlight video after the cut and make sure to read up on Ziggs in our previous coverage of this new character! Continue reading See League of Legends' Ziggs in action -- he'll blow you away See League of Legends' Ziggs in action -- he'll blow you away originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: League of Legends

The Daily Grind: What do you like to see on MMO websites? Posted: 01 Feb 2012 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous During my time with Massively and as a gamer, I've visited scads of official MMO websites. And I can say, incontrovertibly, that no two of them had the same features and focus. Some were extremely easy to navigate while others were almost indecipherable without the Staff of Ra to guide me. Some were more about flash while others were loaded with content. And some, to my never-ending dismay, still lack an RSS feed which I cannot fathom in this day and age. But enough about my journeys -- I want to hear about your own thoughts on MMO websites. What do you like to see when you visit one? Are the aesthetics important to you, or are you more concerned with specific features? Are these websites more for first-time visitors curious about the game or should they cater to players looking for news and updates about their favorite titles? For bonus points, provide a link below to (in your opinion) the best-designed MMO website! 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: What do you like to see on MMO websites? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

'RIFT Lite' announced, makes first 20 levels free to all Posted: 01 Feb 2012 05:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, Launches, MMO industry, Patches, News items, RIFT Trion Worlds has just announced that its fantasy MMO RIFT, which released to wide acclaim just 11 months ago, will today launch an introductory version of the game known as RIFT Lite. Similar to Warhammer Online's Endless Trial and World of Warcraft's Starter Edition, RIFT Lite will allow "anyone with a Trion account to experience the game's first 20 levels at no cost and with no playtime restrictions." Players will be able to access the capital cities as well as Terminus, Mathosia, Freemarch, and Silverwood, all the way up to level 20 and on any server, for the low, low cost of zero dollars. In the press release, RIFT Executive Producer Scott Hartsman, who told fans last November that Trion had "absolutely no plans whatsoever" to turn RIFT F2P, stated that his company believes "a Lite edition with no time limit is the best way for players to see what an amazing experience RIFT continues to be." Diet RIFT launches today in conjunction with the latest patch, Carnival of the Ascended, which brings player weddings, dungeon overhauls, and PvP tweaks to Telara. 'RIFT Lite' announced, makes first 20 levels free to all originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Official RIFT Lite Portal

Hyperspace Beacon: Wretched radio of scum and villainy Posted: 31 Jan 2012 06:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Culture, Interviews, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon Many fan sites pull back just a bit when the game launches to absorb the traffic dip, especially when it's as large a game as Star Wars: The Old Republic. It's expected, right? All the fans are playing the game; why put work into something might not be read or listened to? However, the guys over at Mos Eisley Radio did the exact opposite. The MER crew expanded the number of podcasts and created one of the largest guilds in the game. (They hit the member cap pre-launch and had to turn people away.) This week, I appeared on the site's weekly broadcast, and in exchange, I sat down to interview three of the leads for the site: Executive producer Zach Brown, MER co-host and producer Evan Lewis, and producer of Alan Shot First and guild leader Alan Nauman. We talked about everything -- what has happened since launch, what they think of the game so far, and what they see for the future of the site and the game itself. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Wretched radio of scum and villainy Hyperspace Beacon: Wretched radio of scum and villainy originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EverQuest Mac fans fight for survival; SOE responds Posted: 31 Jan 2012 05:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Culture, Events, in-game While many players are celebrating the announcement of EverQuest's upcoming free-to-play transition, there is one EQ community that was crushed by the news. The small but dedicated fanbase of EverQuest: Macintosh Edition found out that with F2P, EQMac and its one server would be sunsetted on the same date. EQMac fans have begun to stage a campaign to save their favorite game, but it looks like there will be no budging SOE's mind on the matter. SOE President John Smedley took to the forums today to answer specific questions about the shutdown. "It breaks my heart to have to do this," he laments, before admitting that it's a done deal. Smedley cites the fact that the codebase is so ancient that only one SOE programmer knows how to work it, the player population is too small, and SOE was never that "proud" of the version. However, Smedley promised that he will run a poll to see if there's enough interest in a Mac port of the current version of EverQuest. If the response is big enough, he says, the company will consider doing it. Meanwhile, the game will be available for current players free of charge until the March 29th shutdown. SOE has a celebration planned for its final hurrah. EQMac came out in 2003 and was unique for remaining "frozen in time" in the years since, receiving no further active development or expansions. We will be covering this game and its shutdown more in-depth in a future Game Archaeologist column, so stay tuned. EverQuest Mac fans fight for survival; SOE responds originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: EQ forums #1, EQ forums #2, EQ poll

CNN observes the migration habits of the elusive wild gamer Posted: 31 Jan 2012 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, News items, Opinion, Miscellaneous We all know that one guy who flits between MMOs with the same attention span as an ADD goldfish on cocaine. Heck, we've probably been there ourselves a few times. Well, CNN's Geek Out blog has decided to take a look at the migratory patterns of the MMO gamer in his natural habitat, and the timing couldn't be more perfect. With the recent release of Star Wars: The Old Republic, gamers everywhere are deciding whether or not to migrate. The author of the piece takes a look at the comparative subscription numbers of major players in the MMO game, and speaks to Warner Bros. Entertainment's Jim Drewry and Adam Mersky regarding how the folks behind Lord of the Rings Online deal with MMO migration. It's really a rather interesting look into the culture, so click on through the link below to give it a read. CNN observes the migration habits of the elusive wild gamer originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: CNN Geek Out Via: A Casual Stroll to Mordor

The Soapbox: Give indie a chance Posted: 31 Jan 2012 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Business models, Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, Humor, The Soapbox, Miscellaneous Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. It's a pretty cool thing to introduce readers to new games. It's especially cool when the new game I am showing them would otherwise have completely passed under their radar, mainly because they receive most of their gaming news from other sites or from the blueshirts at Best Buy. I find no greater satisfaction than when someone tells me, "I didn't think I would like a game like that." When a player who normally feels comfortable engaging only with standard mechanics like linear questing, class-based gameplay, or raiding finds himself obsessed with some odd browser-based strategy game, everyone wins. Once that player gets hooked on one of my favorite indie titles, most of the hard work is over. The real challenge comes a few steps before that: getting the player to actually try the game in the first place. I've tried a lot of different tactics over the years, from using guilt or shame to acting as though only cool people play the game in question. Unfortunately, it feels as though the audiences have become increasingly resistant. I have to think that the recent crop of easily digestible AAA titles has not helped the situation at all. Continue reading The Soapbox: Give indie a chance The Soapbox: Give indie a chance originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

BioWare: All our devs play SWTOR Posted: 31 Jan 2012 03:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Bugs, MMO industry, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic Ever wonder if MMO devs play the MMO they're developing? Apparently the answer is yes in the case of Star Wars: The Old Republic. A new dev blog by BioWare executive producer Rich Vogel minces few words on that particular subject. "Every single one of us on the development team plays the game, and we see the same issues you do and where we need to expand," Vogel writes. The rest of the wall o' text isn't quite as illuminating. Vogel starts by defining bugs and exploits, and he offers a few generalities in regards to BioWare's ability to quickly respond to both types of issues. It's worth a read if you're heavily invested in Star Wars: The Old Republic, and you'll find it on the game's official site. BioWare: All our devs play SWTOR originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: SWTOR dev blog

Ultima producer's letter teases 2012 content Posted: 31 Jan 2012 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Ultima Online, Sandbox Did you know that Ultima Online turns 15 this year? It surely does, and if you're not having a geriatric fit over that fact and wondering where the time has gone, well, get off our lawns. In all seriousness, UO grand poobah Jeff Skalski has favored the masses with a producer's letter, and he drops several hints about what's to come for the 2012 version of Sosaria. Publish 74 is officially live, and the dev team is already hard at work on its followup, which Skalski says will address "a handful of long overdue bugs" as well as further the game's dynamic story arcs. Skalski also tells us that the artwork for the enhanced client is still in the oven, and in fact the makeover has turned out to be "more challenging than planned." As a result, it's not quite ready for primetime, but rest assured that it is still a priority. As always, more info is available at the official UO website. Ultima producer's letter teases 2012 content originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Producer's letter

Dutch Supreme Court declares RuneScape theft a real-world crime Posted: 31 Jan 2012 02:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO industry, RuneScape, Free-to-play, Legal, Miscellaneous Is stealing a virtual good deserving of a real-world criminal sentence? According to a recent ruling by the Dutch Supreme Court, the answer is "yes." The court recently upheld a ruling of a criminal case in which teens attacked another youth and forced him at knifepoint to relinquish his possessions in RuneScape, including an in-game amulet and knife. The incident happened in 2007, and a lower court convicted the two thieves in 2009. One of the defendants then appealed to the country's supreme court on the grounds that the stolen goods "were neither tangible nor material and, unlike for example electricity, had no economic value." However, the judges declared that these virtual items had value because they represented "time and energy invested" to acquire. The thieves were sentenced to 144 hours of community service. Dutch Supreme Court declares RuneScape theft a real-world crime originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: MSNBC.com

Bigpoint surpasses 250 million registered users Posted: 31 Jan 2012 01:30 PM PST Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Browser, Battlestar Galactica Online The folks at Bigpoint must be feeling quite nice about themselves about now, as a new press release from the company has announced that the studio's games now have a total of 250 million registered users worldwide. Heiko Hubertz, CEO and founder of the browser-focused MMORPG developer, is quite pleased with the development, claiming that "since 2002, [Bigpoint has] strived to bring high-quality games and experiences to the widest possible audience... and we're not done." The press release goes on to make the bold claims that "Bigpoint introduced the concept of F2P games" and that "over the past decade, Bigpoint has radically improved the quality of... online games." The statement conclues that "the company is planning a series of new launches in 2012, including new titles that leverage world-class Hollywood intellectual property." We already know that Bigpoint is the studio behind the upcoming MMOs based on A Game of Thrones and The Mummy, but what else does the studio have up its sleeve? We'll just have to wait to find out. [Source: Bigpoint press release] Bigpoint surpasses 250 million registered users originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Allods Online cheekily promotes Game of Gods expansion Posted: 31 Jan 2012 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Classes, Expansions, Free-to-play, Allods Online Say what you will about Allods Online; at least it has a sense of humor when it comes to its own publicity. While most MMOs would use the opportunity of an upcoming major patch for a serious, percussion-heavy trailer fraught with sword swinging and landscapes, Allods decides to go... another way. We don't want to spoil it, so suffice it to say that it begins with an epic confrontation between an ogre and a hermit crab that might well go down in history as one of the most nail-biting battles of the minds. The trailer is a promotion for Allods' upcoming Game of Gods expansion and includes brief glimpses into the update's new features -- including the not-at-all prancing Bard. (Bards rule, by the way.) You can watch the full trailer after the jump! Continue reading Allods Online cheekily promotes Game of Gods expansion Allods Online cheekily promotes Game of Gods expansion originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Allods Online

DDO 'prequel' update prepping community for the expansion Posted: 31 Jan 2012 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Expansions, Patches, Free-to-play Prequels are generally bad, bad things that your mother warned you about but you didn't believe her until you saw The Phantom Menace. Occasionally, however, there is the rare exception, such as Dungeons & Dragons Online's Update 13, which Turbine is billing as the prequel to this summer's Menace of the Underdark expansion pack. Update 13: Web of Chaos has a generous portion of goodies for all players in the form of three new free quests. These quests include tackling a uppity cult, freeing a prisoner from captivity, and battling the nefarious Spinner of Shadows itself. Also coming with DDO's next update will be a few additional store options, cosmetic pets, and the ability to unlock level 7 veteran status. The latter acquisition will allow you to make a new level 7 adventurer right out of the gate and can either be purchased with real money or in-game favor. You can read up on Update 13 and the expansion pack in our recent interview with Turbine. DDO 'prequel' update prepping community for the expansion originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: DDO

Anarchy Online's new game director details early 2012 plans Posted: 31 Jan 2012 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Sci-fi, Anarchy Online, News items, Free-to-play We haven't heard a whole lot from Funcom's old-school sci-fi MMO Anarchy Online since mid-December when the game's producer bowed out. Today, however, the new game director, Fia "Lindelu" Tjernberg, stopped by the game's official forums to give players a bit of an update on what they can expect from the first months of the new year. For starters, Tjernberg gives players a progress report on the game's upcoming shiny new graphics engine. She goes on to explain that "[Funcom's] artists have been preparing a couple of playfields to a standard that is very close to what we're aiming for," and adds that the first video of the new engine should hit sometime in February. Another large priority for the team for early 2012 is the new player experience, but perhaps most importantly of all is the "balancing act," as Tjernberg puts it, which (predictably) aims to bring the game's professions into balance "a little bit at a time." For the full details on Anarchy Online's plans for the next couple of months, just click on through the link below. Anarchy Online's new game director details early 2012 plans originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Anarchy Online monthly development update: January

The Game Archaeologist dials up Phantasy Star Online: The highlights Posted: 31 Jan 2012 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Expansions, Consoles, The Game Archaeologist The Dreamcast was a brief but shining aberration in the gaming world. Coming along years after Sega had fallen out of its position as a top-runner in the console market, it represented the company's big attempt to reclaim its former glory. While it failed to succeed in that respect and ultimately closed up shop in 2001 (ending Sega's interest in the console market), the Dreamcast became a gaming cult favorite responsible for some of the most innovative titles ever made. Games like Jet Grind Radio, Space Channel 5, and Shenmue have remained fan favorites long after the Dreamcast's demise, which shows the legacy that these dev teams left behind. But perhaps the Dreamcast's greatest gift to the gaming world wasn't crazy taxis or space dancing but a surprisingly forward-looking approach to online gaming. In 2000, the Dreamcast took the first steps to bringing an online console RPG to market, and while it wasn't a true MMO, it certainly paved the way for titles like EverQuest Online Adventures and Final Fantasy XI. It was bold, it was addictive, and it was gosh-darned gorgeous. Ladies and gentlemen: Phantasy Star Online. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist dials up Phantasy Star Online: The highlights The Game Archaeologist dials up Phantasy Star Online: The highlights originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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