MMO Updates |
- Analysts: 75 percent of US core gamers prefer physical copies
- ESO and other MMOs still behind Microsoft's console paywall
- Wildstar's Gaffney praises ESO marketing
- Sci-fi MMORTS Astro Lords: Oort Cloud arrives in July
- The Daily Grind: What MMO issue do we fuss about too much?
- Darkfall Unholy Wars unveils the new custom roles
- Jukebox Heroes: A civil chat with Dawngate's Jeff Broadbent
- Ascent adds in a colonization city-building sim
- Meet Pantheon's god-killer, the WarWizard
- WildStar's name registration is on again, off again, on again [Updated]
- Massively Speaking Episode 297: WildStar's Chad Moore
- Elder Scrolls Online invites you to learn how to group
- World of Warcraft finally integrates Night Elf ears
- EQ Next roundtable covers combat in Landmark; Landmark arrives on Steam
- Shards Online launches its Kickstarter
| Analysts: 75 percent of US core gamers prefer physical copies Posted: 14 May 2014 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items  The firm concludes that 34 million US gamers fall under its core definition, with the average core gamer playing 22 hours per week. NPD's report also claims that while the overwhelming majority of its survey participants favor physical game copies, digital distribution is up five percent year-over-year.
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| ESO and other MMOs still behind Microsoft's console paywall Posted: 14 May 2014 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, News Items, Consoles, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription  Microsoft's Phil Spencer told Joystiq that "engineering constraints, policy constraints, and partner constraints" are to blame, though Bethesda has previously expressed its dissatisfaction with the arrangement. ZeniMax recently announced that ESO's console release has been delayed by six months.
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| Wildstar's Gaffney praises ESO marketing Posted: 14 May 2014 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, News Items, WildStar, The Elder Scrolls Online  Because Wildstar was mentioned in the post as a game that's doing marketing right, Carbine's Jeremy Gaffney jumped into the thread to offer his own opinion. "Elder Scrolls is redonculously huge as a franchise," the Wildstar Exec Producer offers. "Skyrim sold, what, 16 million copies? So everyone knows about it in advance - check out the Facebook, TESO has literally 10x the likes. So Zen can be much more broad in their marketing." Gaffney goes on to explain -- quite candidly -- about the marketing strategy for Wildstar and how they are probably spending way less than Zenimax is for ESO. He makes sure to give plenty of kudos to Zenimax for what they've done so far with ESO and manages to throw in a few references back to the work they've been doing on Wildstar so far. Check out the whole thread for more from the fans of both games. Spoiler alert: It's actually a friendly Reddit thread.
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| Sci-fi MMORTS Astro Lords: Oort Cloud arrives in July Posted: 14 May 2014 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Galleries, Screenshots, Game Mechanics, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, MMORTS  Developer Aratog Studios claims that Astro Lords is "the first MMORTS to combine three major game genres in a consistent world: construction management, arcade-style shooting, and strategic raid warfare." Gameplay progresses as "players manage and grow their asteroid base, their generals board spaceships to shoot and destroy enemy spaceships and bosses, and they raid other asteroids to loot or capture them." It'll be a cross-platform MMO available both in-browser and within a standalone client. Astro Lords is expected to enter closed beta on June 10th, with open beta a week later and formal launch on July 1st. [Source: Aratog Studios press release]
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| The Daily Grind: What MMO issue do we fuss about too much? Posted: 14 May 2014 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  So what MMO issue do we fuss about too much? Are we too uptight over the whole "raiders vs. casuals" issue? Does throwing a tempter tantrum over a lack of a guild vault make us come off as spoiled children? Do we fixate on the many horrible failings of Elf culture?* Does there come a point when you just roll your eyes at another rehashed rant spouted by people who just won't let the little things go? Are we merely addicted to the drama that comes with these debates? *The answer is no. We can never badmouth Elves enough for the horrors that they have inflicted on the fantasy genre.  Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
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| Darkfall Unholy Wars unveils the new custom roles Posted: 13 May 2014 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Darkfall, Classes, Game Mechanics, News Items, Sandbox  Players will be able to pick out any 9 school skills (with 1 Ultimate skill) and several common skills for a given build, with a grand total of 16 skills from school skills and common skills. Players will also be able to mix and match armor types to create just the right sort of playstyle. Builds can be altered at any point if a character has been out of combat mode for 15 minutes, so you're not locked into one configuration. Check out the official post for more details on the mechanical shift.
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| Jukebox Heroes: A civil chat with Dawngate's Jeff Broadbent Posted: 13 May 2014 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Interviews, Free-to-Play, MOBA, Jukebox Heroes, Music  Jeff Broadbent: It does seem the online video games are becoming the norm! I am actually working on a couple of new online games also at the moment. The interesting thing about the game market today is that there are many different platforms including mobile, downloadable, online, and console, so it's quite diversified. The Dawngate gig came about through audio director Caleb Epps. I was staying in touch with Caleb, and he let me know about a new project he was working on. He had me create a couple of demo tracks for the game, and based on that material, I was given the opportunity to score the game. Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: A civil chat with Dawngate's Jeff Broadbent
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| Ascent adds in a colonization city-building sim Posted: 13 May 2014 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Sandbox  Developer James Hicks has added in a colonization system to the sandbox MMO, allowing players to engage in a city-building sim among the billions of star systems. Colonization is intended to be the endgame for industrial players, with a great amount of complexity and no upper limit on the number of buildings or colonists. Every planet can be colonized, although ones with hostile environments will require more work and protective domes. To build up their colonies, players will need to recruit colonists, bring them to the planet, and task them with farming and mining the new world. "My intent from here is to expand on the city building aspects -- giving the population more complex needs and desires, making the recruitment aspect deeper and more meaningful, and adding new production types, new structures for interacting with other players like starport facilities and stock markets, and expand on the 'out of ship' play," Hicks wrote.
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| Meet Pantheon's god-killer, the WarWizard Posted: 13 May 2014 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Lore, MMO Industry, Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen  The team posted a new piece of concept art and lore yesterday covering powerful figures known as WarWizards. WarWizards were created by external forces to help battle the god-kings of Terminus. A few talented individuals were chosen to be elevated with the ability to master both magic and weapons. In the Deicide Wars, WarWizards smacked down many god-kings and cemented their legacy in the process. WarWizards have retreated into myth and legend, although the post certainly hints that they might return if Terminus faces another great threat.
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| WildStar's name registration is on again, off again, on again [Updated] Posted: 13 May 2014 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Bugs, Events (Real-World), News Items, WildStar  "There are over 15,000 trying to access 1 single page, slow load times are going to happen. Just gotta refresh and try again," says Carbine via Twitter. "If you see a timer, that means your name is saved and you are good. If you are seeing "[question marks]" wait a couple minutes and try again." Have you been able to register yet? And did you steal Justin's name? Update: CRB_Gaffer has posted a statement about the downtime to Reddit. We've included it below: Continue reading WildStar's name registration is on again, off again, on again [Updated]
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| Massively Speaking Episode 297: WildStar's Chad Moore Posted: 13 May 2014 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Podcasts, Interviews, Opinion, Massively Speaking, Miscellaneous  Get all of our opinions and analysis on the most important stories of the past week right here on Massively Speaking, the industry's leading MMO podcast. And if you have a comment, question, or topic for the podcasters, send an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. [iTunes] Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes. [Stitcher] Follow the podcast on Stitcher Radio. Listen here on the page: Read below the cut for the full show notes. Continue reading Massively Speaking Episode 297: WildStar's Chad Moore
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| Elder Scrolls Online invites you to learn how to group Posted: 13 May 2014 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Guides, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription  The studio posted a new video today that takes you through ESO's group mechanics and grouping tools, step by step. It also contains helpful tidbits such as the fact that groups get 10% extra XP. You can check out the seven-minute grouping tutorial video after the break. Continue reading Elder Scrolls Online invites you to learn how to group
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| World of Warcraft finally integrates Night Elf ears Posted: 13 May 2014 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Betas, Fantasy, Expansions, Previews, Races, Dev Diaries, Subscription  "Overall, we've made her new model a little more defined, made some of her proportions a bit more realistic, and added a bit more muscle tone," the studio wrote. "We wanted to visually communicate that she is a fully capable warrior huntress, and small details like muscle definition help highlight that." One interesting fact about this makeover is that the Night Elf ears will finally be "fully integrated" into the model itself instead of being separate pieces that were tacked on to the head.
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| EQ Next roundtable covers combat in Landmark; Landmark arrives on Steam Posted: 13 May 2014 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Video, Game Mechanics, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Landmark  How do movement tools play into the combat scene? Players can utilized grappling hooks as a means to gain distance quickly and then use ranged abilities. There will also be abilities that trigger from other movement types, such as dashing and dodging. Hear about all these details in the video below. [Update: In other Landmark news, SOE has just announced that Landmark is now on Steam! Dave Georgeson has stated on Twitter that SOE is not dealing in Steam keys for existing users right now; you'll have to use the old "add game" trick.] Continue reading EQ Next roundtable covers combat in Landmark; Landmark arrives on Steam
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| Shards Online launches its Kickstarter Posted: 13 May 2014 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, News Items, Sandbox, Crowdfunding  The game's Kickstarter campaign has just launched, aiming for $320,000 by 6/12/14. It includes most of the things that you'd expect in an MMO Kickstarter -- beta access, digital copies, and so forth. If you've got $10,000 to throw at the game, you can even get a custom-designed house and have the developers show up as gods to run a one-time live event. If you're interested in the concepts, check out the Kickstarter and consider throwing a few dollars toward it.
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