MMO Updates |
- Leaderboard: Who's your favorite MMO music composer?
- Player panel submissions open for SOE Live 2013
- LotRO patching to Update 11 today
- TUG offers design video and new Kickstarter reward tiers
- Cutting to the heart of extraction in The Repopulation
- The Stream Team: MLT edition, May 13 - 19, 2013
- The Daily Grind: Have you ever been sidetracked by game music?
- MMO Week in Review: Quarterly financials
- EVE Evolved: Could EVE use twitch controls?
- NCsoft sales down from last quarter, up from last year
- Diablo III restores auction house, donates duped proceeds to charity
- Rise and Shiny revisit: Mabinogi remains magical
| Leaderboard: Who's your favorite MMO music composer? Posted: 13 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Leaderboard, Music  With all that said, let's keep it simple. Who's your favorite MMO music composer? Vote after the cut!  Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!Continue reading Leaderboard: Who's your favorite MMO music composer?
|
| Player panel submissions open for SOE Live 2013 Posted: 13 May 2013 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: EverQuest, EverQuest II, PlanetSide, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, Vanguard, Free Realms, DC Universe Online, EverQuest Next, PlanetSide 2, Dragon's Prophet  Do you have a subject involving any SOE game that you think would be of interest and benefit others? Maybe you are a whiz at livesteaming or you have primo tips and tricks on cosplay to dispense. What about sharing your fan site or holding a raid clinic? Whatever your idea, submit your proposal by 3:00 a.m EDT June 1st for consideration. If selected, you and up to three other panel members will receive All Access passes to SOE Live 2013 (no other expenses are covered, including food, travel, or add-ons). Panel selection -- which is not on a first-come, first-served basis -- will be completed mid-June.
|
| LotRO patching to Update 11 today Posted: 13 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Patches, Free-to-Play  In addition to a new launcher, new Wildermore region, continuation of the epic storyline with Volume III: Book 10, and an improvement to mounted combat, the most important thing to come to any LotRO patch since launch is the removal of Lalia from the cursed Barrow-downs. Seriously. Bob's aggro-magnet daughter and her cloak have retired from frustrating players and she now owns her own shop in Bree. Where she sells MISERY. Just kidding. I think she sells Beanie Babies or something. Be sure to check out the entire patch notes in the official forums.
|
| TUG offers design video and new Kickstarter reward tiers Posted: 13 May 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Crafting, Crowdfunding, Player-Generated Content  The new tiers offer digital beta or alpha access as well as in-game extras like tattoos on your character and a baby sabre tiger companion. Prices range from $30 to $65. Folks can also get gift packs to share that give bonus copies of the game in addition to the personal copy. Check out all the details on the latest update post. And be sure to watch the design video after the break. Continue reading TUG offers design video and new Kickstarter reward tiers
|
| Cutting to the heart of extraction in The Repopulation Posted: 13 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Previews, News Items, Sandbox, Crafting, The Repopulation  Since the game doesn't feature levels, there's a more organic system to gathering these resources. Players first decide how difficult the extraction should be, with higher difficulties resulting in higher-grade resources. More difficult extractions take longer, however, and as a result, players have a higher chance to fail unless they've practiced harvesting a particular species. For more details on the specifics, check out the full development blog on the official site.
|
| The Stream Team: MLT edition, May 13 - 19, 2013 Posted: 13 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, The Stream Team  Nothing beats an MLT, especially when the tomato is nice and ripe! Except maybe Massively TV. MMmm mmmm. Now there's something you can really sink your teeth into -- the wild and crazy antics of your favorite Stream Team hosts! And they've got a menu for all tastes this week, from space adventures to dragons to WWII planes. Of course, it all comes with a side of reruns and a dessert highlight to complete your meal. So pull up a chair and grab yourself a helping or two... or 10. Hey, there's no limit here; enjoy as much as you like! While you're enjoying the spread, be sure to join in the after-dinner chat in Outtakes. Continue reading The Stream Team: MLT edition, May 13 - 19, 2013
|
| The Daily Grind: Have you ever been sidetracked by game music? Posted: 13 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Music  You know what sucks? Hearing a cool piece of game music and having no idea what it's called or where to hear it again, that's what. I mean, it sucks in a first-world-problems sort of way, but still.It happened to me over the weekend as I was playing Star Wars: The Old Republic. My Imperial Agent was toodling along, doing the nefarious things that Imperial Agents do, when the most dastardly fanfare I've heard this side of the Imperial March came blaring out of my speakers. It was glorious. Naturally, I haven't heard the phantom track since, even after much fumbling about trying to recreate the in-game circumstances during which it originally played. I even turned to the soundtrack CD that came with the collector's edition that's been gathering dust in my closet since 2011. It wasn't on there, of course, since soundtrack producers have some unwritten rule about leaving off half the soundtrack (and jumbling the tracks they deign to include) when they make an album. I've also been unable to find the track on YouTube's extensive SWTOR soundtrack playlists. So, what say you, Massively readers? Has a piece of game music ever derailed a play session? Which one?  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!
|
| MMO Week in Review: Quarterly financials Posted: 12 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous  Every three months, we gawk at the revealed financial health of various gaming companies, collectively cheering and jeering and sometimes both. This week, we fixated on NCsoft's mixed fortunes, Star Wars: The Old Republic's vindicating free-to-play success, and World of Warcraft's 1.3 million subscriber losses. Blizzard was further vexed this week by a duping bug that saw the Diablo III auction house taken offline for several days before its restoration sans rollback. Read on for a roundup of the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: Quarterly financials
|
| EVE Evolved: Could EVE use twitch controls? Posted: 12 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, EVE Online, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, PvP, Opinion, EVE Evolved, Sandbox, Subscription  The lack of direct twitch-based controls in EVE is often cited by gamers as a big part of the reason they can't get into the game. There's no active dodging of missiles, manual ship targeting, or really complex tactical maneuvers in EVE, but that's kind of the point. Most ships in EVE are colossal lumbering hulks more akin to today's seafaring battleships than fighter planes, and combat with them is more a game of strategy and teamwork than a battle of reaction speeds. But that isn't exactly true of all ships; interceptors and fast microwarpdrive frigates move at several kilometres per second and are so agile that pilots can already pull off some interesting tactical maneuvers. So isn't it about time we made the combat for those ships a bit more visceral and immersive? In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at the fast-paced world of interceptors and explore how twitch controls and weapon aiming could possibly be implemented without killing the server. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Could EVE use twitch controls?
|
| NCsoft sales down from last quarter, up from last year Posted: 12 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Aion, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage 2, MMO Industry, Guild Wars 2, Blade & Soul, Miscellaneous  Guild Wars 2 accounted for 21% of sales in the first quarter, in addition to Blade and Soul's 9%, Aion's 16%, and the usual Lineage cavalcade (Lineage 1 represented 38% of sales alone with its subscriptions). While 64% of NCsoft's sales were in Korea, only 13% were in North America and 8% in Europe. The decrease in NA and EU contributions was due to "the reduction in Guild Wars 2 package sales," according to the report. All of NCsoft's subsidiaries posted drops in sales from last quarter except for NC Taiwan. [Update: Also of note in the earnings call is the news that NCsoft's Nah Seong Chan says the company is "preparing an expansion pack" but has yet to decide when it might launch. Very interesting news indeed as ArenaNet said as recently as March that it was not working on an expansion. Thanks to Mike and Robert for the tips!]
|
| Diablo III restores auction house, donates duped proceeds to charity Posted: 12 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, Consoles, Diablo III  Production Director John Hight gave a lengthy explanation of what happened with the situation and why Blizzard responded the way it did. "Only a relatively small number of players had the billions of gold necessary to exploit the bug, and only 415 of those players chose to use this exploit for personal gain," Hight wrote. "We elected not to roll back the servers in the Americas and are instead working to remove duplicated gold from the economy through targeted audits and account actions (as indicated above) without taking away progress that our players rightfully earned." Hight said that the studio is donating all proceeds from auctions conducted by dupers to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
|
| Rise and Shiny revisit: Mabinogi remains magical Posted: 12 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Video, Game Mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Casual, Virtual Worlds, Mabinogi, Rise and Shiny, Livestream, Sandbox  During this week's revisit, I knew I had to accomplish several things. First, I needed to clean up my quest list. Mabinogi is wonderful in the way it offers a player tons and tons of content and storylines, but they can be visited in a non-linear fashion that leads to confusion. Second, I wanted to revel in the glory that was the newly free extended inventory. Third, I wanted to check out the new systems and tweaks that have come along since I last dived into the game. Continue reading Rise and Shiny revisit: Mabinogi remains magical
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from Massively To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
