MMO Updates

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• Chaos Theory: Nine reasons The Secret World is the industry's best storyteller
• Browser-based Blood and Jade opens beta doors
• Watch live WildStar gameplay in pilot of new livestream series
• The Stream Team: Fright Night sing-a-long edition, October 28 - November 3, 2013
• RIFT and Defiance throw in-game promotions
• The Daily Grind: Do you want crowdfunding to succeed?
• MMO Week in Review: West vs. East
• EVE Evolved: Merging Valkyrie with EVE Online

Chaos Theory: Nine reasons The Secret World is the industry's best storyteller Posted: 28 Oct 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, Lore, The Secret World, Post-Apocalyptic, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play Contrary to what I sometimes see in the MMO community, I am a huge believer in games telling stories. If a game lets me create my own story, great, but even better are developers who know how to spin a good yarn and involve me in the process. That's why I've loved adventure and role-playing games throughout the decades, and it's why The Secret World has remained one of my top MMOs since it launched. I don't have a problem saying that I think The Secret World is currently the industry's best storyteller. If you want to take a cheap shot, you can insert some snide remark about rote quest text boxes in the comments, but I think that there's a lot of solid writing and storytelling across the MMO spectrum right now. It's just that TSW does it better. Why? What's going on here to make stories and characters that just stick in my head long after my brain has cycled other MMO's events to deep storage? I started writing a list and had a hard time stopping at just nine. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Nine reasons The Secret World is the industry's best storyteller Chaos Theory: Nine reasons The Secret World is the industry's best storyteller originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Browser-based Blood and Jade opens beta doors Posted: 28 Oct 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser Although browser-based Blood and Jade just barely kicked off alpha testing two weeks ago, the free-to-play game is already powering ahead into open beta testing. Starting today, players can get access to the Xianyang server and discover the drama of the Warring States for themselves by signing up on the official site. In Blood and Jade, players determine the fate of ancient China by becoming a master of martial arts, armed with ancient relics and accompanied by legendary Goddesses, and battling the forces of evil. Additionally, guilds can fight for territory and even ascend to the Imperial throne if they prove strong enough. [Source: R2Games press release] Browser-based Blood and Jade opens beta doors originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Watch live WildStar gameplay in pilot of new livestream series Posted: 28 Oct 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Video, Game Mechanics, MMO Industry, New Titles, Previews, News Items, Livestream In this day and age, seeing is still believing, so the more game footage we can see, the better! And WildStar delivered just that, displaying live gameplay in a stealthy livestream yesterday. Without any advanced notice or advertisement, Carbine Studios aired the pilot episode of a new livestream series aimed at showing off the upcoming game. In this premiere, Game Design Producer Stephan Frost and Senior Community Manager David Bass took turns playing through some content, including demonstrating the combat system and environmental hazards, all while answering viewer questions in chat. Although there are no big reveals in this particular episode, the hosts hinted that those could be incoming as the livestreams continue. If you want to catch all the WildStar action and get plenty of gameplay hints, watch the full episode embedded below. [Thanks to Paul for the tip!] Continue reading Watch live WildStar gameplay in pilot of new livestream series Watch live WildStar gameplay in pilot of new livestream series originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: WildStar pilot episode

The Stream Team: Fright Night sing-a-long edition, October 28 - November 3, 2013 Posted: 28 Oct 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Polls, MMO Industry, Massively Meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous, The Stream Team Creepy crawlies and ghoulish goblins: Without a doubt, this week harbors the most spooktacular day of the year! So get in on the celebration and join with your favorite streamers in singing this new Halloween carol. (Why should that other holiday get all the fun?) It's the most wonderful time of the year With kids trick-or-treating And everyone scaring you; be full of fear It's the most wonderful time of the year! It's the hap, happiest season of all With those costumes to try on and candy to gorge on And Stream Team to watch It's the hap, happiest season of all! There'll be streamers all hosting Many streams that are boasting Halloween events for their shows There'll be scary ghost stories told in their full glory on Massively TV (see below!) Continue reading The Stream Team: Fright Night sing-a-long edition, October 28 - November 3, 2013 The Stream Team: Fright Night sing-a-long edition, October 28 - November 3, 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

RIFT and Defiance throw in-game promotions Posted: 28 Oct 2013 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Events (In-Game), Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, RIFT, Promotions, Defiance, Buy-to-Play Trion is in the middle of a special promotion that's giving a serious boost to both RIFT and Defiance players in-game. In RIFT all players are receiving 20% boosts to all types of XP and currency gained, and this bonus is stackable with other boosts. Trion's also selling 160% XP potions and raid 1 rings in the store. Over on Defiance's side, players are enjoying 25% boosts to loot, XP, and weapon skill. Epic mod hoards have also made their way to the store. These promotions will continue through Friday, November 1st. Trion is throwing this "PC Gaming Week" to celebrate RIFT's return to Steam. RIFT and Defiance throw in-game promotions originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Trion's PC Gaming Week

The Daily Grind: Do you want crowdfunding to succeed? Posted: 28 Oct 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, New Titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Sandbox, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play Star Citizen passed the $25 million milestone in its ongoing crowdfunding campaign over the weekend. While this is cause for celebration for backers, the devs at Cloud Imperium Games, and really anyone who wants to see more options, specialization, and high quality core titles in the gaming industry, the space sim sandbox has also generated a backlash of sorts. Just about every SC-related article we publish features a handful of comments that are highly skeptical of CIG's ability to deliver on its stated goals. There are also a few vocal people who seemingly want to see the game fail for the lulz. Now, this could be nothing more than the usual trolling that accompanies every highly anticipated title. But it could be something more, and so today we ask you if you actually want crowdfunding in general to succeed? If not, why not? 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: Do you want crowdfunding to succeed? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 28 Oct 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMO Week in Review: West vs. East Posted: 27 Oct 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Massively Meta, Week in Review, Miscellaneous At the end of every week, we round up the best and most popular news stories, exclusive features, and insightful columns published on Massively and then present them all in one convenient place. If you missed a big MMO or WoW Insider story last week, you've come to the right post. Both RIFT and City of Steam announced sunsets-but-not-quite this week. The English-language version of City of Steam is shuttering next month, but take heart: It's been reacquired by its original studio in China and will relaunch with major gameplay revisions as City of Steam: Arkadia. And RIFT, fresh from an apparently nasty duel with its Russian operating partner, shut down abruptly in that country, though RIFT EU continues to welcome refugee players. Read on for a look at the rest of this week's top MMO stories. Continue reading MMO Week in Review: West vs. East MMO Week in Review: West vs. East originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 Oct 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

EVE Evolved: Merging Valkyrie with EVE Online Posted: 27 Oct 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Video, EVE Online, Business Models, Culture, MMO Industry, New Titles, PvP, News Items, Opinion, Consoles, EVE Evolved, Dev Diaries, Sandbox, MOBA Ever since its release in 2003, EVE Online has been bombarded with requests for direct flight controls and dogfighter-style gameplay. Most ships in EVE are huge lumbering hulks compared to real-world aircraft, more akin to large sea-faring ships than nimble jetfighters. Even tiny agile Interceptors can't be controlled directly, instead having the player issue commands to fly in a particular direction or move toward or orbit an object. As a result, combat in EVE has become much more heavily about the strategy of directing fleets of dozens or hundreds of ships than any kind of piloting skill or twitch control. This year's EVE Fanfest gave players a glimpse into the world of immersive twitch combat with the announcement of a new dogfighting game set in the EVE Online universe. Originally starting out as an virtual reality experiment by a few developers in their spare time, EVE Valkyrie has now become a full game in its own right and an example of what's possible with the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. It was always assumed that Valkyrie was an EVE game in name and theme only, but recently developers have revealed that they'd like it to tie into the actual EVE Online universe itself. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at recently revealed information on EVE Valkyrie and speculate on how it could be integrated into the EVE universe. Continue reading EVE Evolved: Merging Valkyrie with EVE Online EVE Evolved: Merging Valkyrie with EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 27 Oct 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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