MMO Updates

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• Free for All: The MMO freak show... step right up!
• The Secret World designers talk optimal builds, travel, and more
• Gamescom 2011: ArenaNet announces Guild Wars costume competition!
• Final Fantasy XI may be ported to PlayStation Vita
• Black Prophecy North American launch day round-up
• Alganon opens European servers
• The Daily Grind: What makes you feel epic?
• Final Fantasy XI improves quality of life with July version update
• Fallen Earth dev blog talks builds, combat mechanics, and more
• Hyperspace Beacon: Expecting a living world
• MMObility: My iPhone versus my Android
• One Shots: Head and shoulders above the others
• Darkfall video shows off new chainmail armor
• Icarus and GamersFirst collaborate on new MMO
• SWTOR flashpoints playable at Comic-Con [Updated]
• City of Heroes previews First Ward

Free for All: The MMO freak show... step right up! Posted: 13 Jul 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Trailers, Video, Culture, Opinion, Humor, Free for All Back when I played and toured with a band, we would always finish up our East coast trips in New York. Sure, it's a big beautiful city but the true fun came when we visited Coney Island. We'd check out the rides and grab some fried foods, but the best part was visiting some friends of ours who ran and performed in the freak show. One particularly lovely lady was known as Insectavora, and she was covered in tattoos. She had a knack for eating bugs, too, and describing to the audience what they tasted like. (Feeding crickets oranges made them taste orangey.) There are plenty of MMOs out there that would feel right at home in the Coney Island freakshow. These odd ducks are made by someone special, played by a special few and visited by me. I love them, but making a list of them was sort of hard. After all, these days we have MMOs that are populated with the weirdest looking critters you can imagine, and all of our tolerance levels for the odd and unusual have risen. But click past the cut and let me show you some of my favorite oddball MMOs. Remember...I use that term lovingly. Continue reading Free for All: The MMO freak show... step right up! Free for All: The MMO freak show... step right up! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Secret World designers talk optimal builds, travel, and more Posted: 13 Jul 2011 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Video, Game mechanics, Interviews, MMO industry, New titles, News items, The Secret World Funcom devs have been hitting the publicity circuit lately in support of The Secret World, and GamePro has a new video interview featuring lead designer Martin Bruusgaard and lead content designer Joel Bylos. The pair spend a good nine minutes talking about various aspects of their upcoming fantasy-horror MMO, with particular attention given to the game's skill system and the builds it makes possible. "In certain areas, people will need to have the correct effects to be optimal," Bylos explains. "In solo play especially, you will want to have a certain build." You can still progress any way you see fit, though, and Bylos was quick to point out that Funcom's intent is to provide a flexible character building system. That said, it's clear that build flexibility can come at the expense of perfect optimization, and ultimately Funcom is striving for a balance between playing how you want to play and tweaking your build as you go in order to progress through content. The interview also touches on travel in The Secret World, and Bylos drops a few interesting hints about the use of hollow-earth myths to facilitate the globe-jumping that players will experience when traveling between far-flung locales like New York, Seoul, or London. Check out all the details after the cut. Continue reading The Secret World designers talk optimal builds, travel, and more The Secret World designers talk optimal builds, travel, and more originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Gamescom 2011: ArenaNet announces Guild Wars costume competition! Posted: 13 Jul 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars, Events, real-world, New titles, Guild Wars 2 ArenaNet always makes an outstanding appearance at the video game fan conventions. Last year at Gamescom, developers allowed players to play Guild Wars 2 for the first time, and fans -- begging to get a bit of swag -- would literally swarm the stage each time the staff would speak. This year will likely be no different. Holding to tradition, ANet is sponsoring a Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 costume contest for those who attend the event in Cologne, Germany. Come to the convention dressed in your best Guild Wars-related outfit on Sunday, August 21st to earn prizes and display your love for all things Guild Wars. ArenaNet is also happy to announce that it will attend the Eurogamer EXPO this year on September 22nd through 25th in London, England. The team promises to have game demonstrations at the NCsoft booth so that you can grab some personal playtime with Guild Wars 2. A full list of convention activities can be found on the Guild Wars 2 official site. [Also, check out some of the amazing Guild Wars costumes, like the one pictured above, by Katerina Maria on DeviantArt.] Gamescom 2011: ArenaNet announces Guild Wars costume competition! originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy XI may be ported to PlayStation Vita Posted: 13 Jul 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, MMO industry, Consoles It's not definite yet, but signs are pointing to a possible port of Final Fantasy XI over to the recently announced PlayStation Vita in the indeterminable future. Siliconera reports that Square Enix is mulling over a basic port of the aging title to the beefed-up portable platform. While the plans are not definite at this point, it's an intriguing concept especially when you consider Vita's Wi-Fi and 3G capabilities. Hiromichi Tanaka, former lead designer for Final Fantasy XI and producer for Final Fantasy XIV, says that while a Vita port is a possibility, the difficulties of working with the PlayStation 3 mean that a version on that console doesn't look likely (the PS3 version of XIV is still in limbo). Final Fantasy XI recently received a dollop of quality-of-life improvements in the July update. Final Fantasy XI may be ported to PlayStation Vita originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Black Prophecy North American launch day round-up Posted: 13 Jul 2011 07:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Black Prophecy It's launch day for Black Prophecy, and while the impending blast-off probably won't generate as much publicity as last week's final space shuttle mission, it's nonetheless a day long remembered for fans of spaceships, sci-fi, and Reakktor's free-to-play followup to Neocron. But wait a minute, didn't Black Prophecy launch last March? Why yes, yes it did... in Europe. Today marks the official North American street date, and Massively's got you covered in terms of all the Black Prophecy news that's fit to print. Join us after the cut for recaps of the European launch, the North American closed beta phase, and a bunch of other blurbs to tide you over until you're able to strap into your very own internet spaceship. Continue reading Black Prophecy North American launch day round-up Black Prophecy North American launch day round-up originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Alganon opens European servers Posted: 13 Jul 2011 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, News items, Free-to-play, Alganon Quest Online announced today that its free-to-play MMORPG Alganon is expanding! The game's reach grows just a wee bit longer with the launch of the Aeon server, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Players on either continent can choose to play on either server, so there's nothing stopping North American players from throwing down with their friends across the pond. As a result of this new addition to the Alganon family, players will have a week (until July 19th) to transfer to the Aeon server free of charge. To do so, all you have to do is log into the Alganon website, choose the My Account option, and click My Transfers. Voila! The new server also comes just in time for the upcoming GM vs. Player battles taking place on July 16th and 17th. For more information, head to the official Alganon site. Alganon opens European servers originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: What makes you feel epic? Posted: 13 Jul 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Events, in-game, Endgame, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Virtual worlds, Miscellaneous On a very basic level, MMOs are all about trying to make the player and the player's character feel epic in some way. You're supposed to feel big and important, like you're making a difference in the world. But there are a lot of games that offer a lot of different paths to epicness, and while one player might want to be an Ascended fighting against rifts in, well, RIFT, other players feel more epic by being an influential farmer in Star Wars Galaxies. Maybe you feel epic banding together with a huge group of people to defeat an endgame raid. Maybe you feel epic working your way through small-group content with your closest companions. Maybe it's PvP, or crafting, or something else entirely. Whatever your game of choice, today we ask you -- what makes you feel epic? What sort of experiences make you feel really important in the game world around you? 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. Please be advised that there's no need to make a joke about anyone's genitals on today's Daily Grind. (We see that one coming.) The Daily Grind: What makes you feel epic? originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 13 Jul 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Final Fantasy XI improves quality of life with July version update Posted: 12 Jul 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Final Fantasy XI, Patches, News items, Consoles It's not all that often that a game launches a major patch without a major drop of content, but Final Fantasy XI has done that with the July version update that's just gone live. But that's not to imply that the version update doesn't include quite a bit -- just that it doesn't include any brand-new missions. Instead, the update contains a number of improvements to the game's quality, including the addition of new vendors, smoothed texture effects, and usability improvements to many of the game's existing systems. Several jobs have seen improvements with this update, including White Mage, Samurai, and Puppetmaster, with the latter getting a few new automaton pieces to complement the changes. A number of Grounds of Valor regimes have also seen their overall requirements tweaked to help players complete the objectives with fewer headaches. There are also new and improved textures and resolution option for users on the PC, a welcome option that's been requested for some time. Final Fantasy XI can look at the full list of patch notes for all of the changes -- it might not be a new battlefield, but it's still full of welcome improvements. Final Fantasy XI improves quality of life with July version update originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Fallen Earth dev blog talks builds, combat mechanics, and more Posted: 12 Jul 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Post-Apocalyptic, Dev Diaries Let it never be said that the devs at GamersFirst and Icarus fail to communicate with Fallen Earth players. The latest wasteland-flavored dev blog is longer than your average George R. R. Martin novel, and just about as complex. This week's installment is heavy on builds and mechanical info following the recent combat revamp, and theorycrafters, min-maxers, and folks whose eyes don't glaze over at the thought of number-driven minutiae will no doubt find it instructive. There's also a brief mention of current subscriber rewards, as well as some hinting at the various subscriber levels (and premium access benefits) that the dev team is still in the process of tweaking. Read all about it at the official Fallen Earth dev blog. Fallen Earth dev blog talks builds, combat mechanics, and more originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Hyperspace Beacon: Expecting a living world Posted: 12 Jul 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Opinion, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Hyperspace Beacon The other day I was talking to some friends about Star Wars: The Old Republic, of course. As of late, it seems to be the only thing I'm talking about. My friend isn't a guy who follows the game that closely, but he is an MMO player and has certain expectations for the game. Specifically, we talked about Crew Skills and space combat. He is an EVE player. EVE Online has one of the most in-depth crafting systems in any MMO to date, not to mention the game is completely set in space, right? On the other side of the fence, I was talking to some roleplayers in Star Wars Galaxies, who also don't follow the game as closely as I do. These MMOers are expecting SWTOR to be filled with the best roleplay tools available in the gaming industry. It's BioWare; after all, that team created Never Winter Nights, the most customizable RPG ever. (Of course, this doesn't take into effect that latest games to come from the developer were pretty linear and not very sandboxy.) As arm chair developers, we sometimes believe that implementing ideas in an MMO is a lot easier than reality. On the official forums last week, a player made this statement: "I, and 14 other guildmates, really want to plan on rolling on an rp-pvp server. It's such a trivial game feature to confirm for us, I don't understand why they wouldn't just mention it and be done with it." After saying that he would look into it, Community Manager Stephen Reid made the statement that "A good rule of thumb with MMO development is to never assume something is trivial." What are some other "trivial" expectations players are placing on this game? Which ones can BioWare deliver on? Which ones aren't as trivial as suggested? Why can't Star Wars: The Old Republic give us everything we want? In this week's column, let's talk about setting. Continue reading Hyperspace Beacon: Expecting a living world Hyperspace Beacon: Expecting a living world originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

MMObility: My iPhone versus my Android Posted: 12 Jul 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Mobile, Hands-on, MMObility I've been lucky enough lately to surround myself with some pretty nifty gadgets. It's not hard, really, being that my mobile phone provider gives me a large discount every two years. Coincidentally, my phones need to be upgraded about every two years, so it works out perfectly. Lately, though, I've been using my phones less and less as phones and more as gaming devices. I text to communicate and also make heavy use of the cameras. They might be called a "phone" but making phone calls is the least I do. We were generally an iPhone household for a while. When my wife's old original iPhone was upgraded to a 3GS, I got the old one. When we upgraded her to an iPhone 4, I got the 3GS and my mother got the original. (She loves it by the way.) We also have an iPad 1 and 2, but no Android tablet... yet. I do have my HTC Inspire Android phone, though. I've spent enough time with all of them to form a pretty strong opinion on both. Now, this is not going to be a tech-talk filled column. I don't do that sort of thing. I don't care if I save a few frames per second -- that stuff varies so much anyway. I am going to just lay out how they work for me specifically, and maybe you readers can fill in some blanks with your opinion. Continue reading MMObility: My iPhone versus my Android MMObility: My iPhone versus my Android originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

One Shots: Head and shoulders above the others Posted: 12 Jul 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots Today's One Shots submission comes from Duskman, who may have plenty of Guild Wars characters, but he's got a clear favorite in the mix: This is my main character from my favorite MMO. He's a Monk named Bulletproof Dusk in Guild Wars. These days he splits his time keeping his friend's red bar full and dragging along his spirit army. I created this guy way back in 2006. I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking at the time, but I chose what must be the ugliest head/hair style in the game. The 2006 Dragon Festival was my first big in-game event and I got this awesome dragon mask with crazy eyes. He has worn it ever since, hiding his ugly face in shame. He is wearing the Elite Flowing armor tattoo set, dyed with a combination of black and silver. I'm closing in on 2,000 hours invested in Guild Wars and have not regretted a second. We've taken a look at all of your accessories over the past few weeks on One Shots: weapons, armor, mounts, and pets. But now it's time to turn the spotlight on the star of the show. We want to see you -- well, your character. Snap a screenshot of your favorite character in your favorite MMO. Let us know about him or her by sending the screenshot, your name, and some information about the character to oneshots@massively.com, and we'll feature it here on One Shots! Gallery: One Shots: 2011 One Shots: Head and shoulders above the others originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Darkfall video shows off new chainmail armor Posted: 12 Jul 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Darkfall, MMO industry, News items Character wipes and the 2.0 relaunch may be foremost in the mind of Darkfall fans these days, but Aventurine has just released a new video that demonstrates its ongoing commitment to improving the existing game (not to mention its ongoing sense of humor). Though the clip clocks in at a paltry 50 seconds, that's time enough to get a good look at Darkfall's upcoming chainmail armor improvements. You'll also want to stick around to the end of the video for a cameo appearance by... well, we're honestly not sure what that was, but it looked big, angry, and vaguely like one of Agon's notorious AI mobs. Today's video release is the second part of a new Aventurine initiative called Media Sneak Peek, and you can view it after the cut as well as on the official Darkfall website. Continue reading Darkfall video shows off new chainmail armor Darkfall video shows off new chainmail armor originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Icarus and GamersFirst collaborate on new MMO Posted: 12 Jul 2011 12:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, News items, Post-Apocalyptic Icarus Studios and Gamersfirst's Reloaded Productions have announced today that the two studios will be partnering yet again on an upcoming MMORPG. The game, titled Hailan Rising, will be based on Icarus' xScape platform, which is being modified to support Unity 3D. Hailan Rising is "slated to be the industry's first full scale PvP-based Fantasy MMORPG developed in Unity 3D," and places players in the role of one of eight character classes in the post-apocalyptic fantasy world of Hailan. After the world is destroyed by a huge flood, land is at a premium, so players must battle it out for the newly created islands and the resources they hold. For more information on this upcoming title, head over to the game's official site. Gallery: Hailan Rising Core Gallery Icarus and GamersFirst collaborate on new MMO originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SWTOR flashpoints playable at Comic-Con [Updated] Posted: 12 Jul 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic Several weeks ago we told you about BioWare's plans to stage a public demo of its Star Wars The Old Republic MMORPG across the street from this month's San Diego Comic Con. Today, MMORPG.com has picked up on the news from the official forums, pointing out that the demos will feature the game's first two flashpoints. Interested players will get to work their way through the Black Talon and Esseles instances beginning Thursday, July 21st at 7:00 p.m. Pacific and running through Saturday, July 23rd. The sessions will last approximately one hour and are open to the general public. You'll want to get there early, though, as spots are limited and interest in BioWare's sci-fi opus is ramping up in anticipation of a possible 2011 release. [Update: Apparently, this isn't open to the public. There's a lottery to get in. Good luck with that!] SWTOR flashpoints playable at Comic-Con [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

City of Heroes previews First Ward Posted: 12 Jul 2011 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Lore, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Virtual worlds It's important for City of Heroes players to remember that Issue 21 isn't just bringing City of Heroes Freedom -- it's also bringing several pieces of new content, including the foreboding First Ward. The official site has just put up a preview of the new region, the site of Emperor Cole's first attempt at making his perfect society... and the site of his greatest failure in that goal. Because First Ward was the start of Praetoria, one that ended in destruction and death despite everything. Protected by a prototype system of sonic fencing which would later be used around Praetoria proper, First Ward was able to repulse the Devouring Earth for quite some time. But Hamidon had a secret plan to burst up from within the city, leading to widespread death and destruction across the landscape. The city remains as a place where the veil between dead and living has been weakened to near the breaking point while the Devouring Earth stalk the streets, and while something may be blossoming within the city, it's certainly not Cole's dream. City of Heroes players can check out the official site for the full details on what has happened to the city. City of Heroes previews First Ward originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

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General gaming

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• Another South Park Game is Headed Exclusively to Xbox 360
• 1UP's Dinocroc vs. Supergator Blu-ray Giveaway
• Peggle, Bejeweled Maker PopCap Now a Part of EA
• 3DS Gets Nintendo Video in North America Later This Summer
• Creating a Truly Horrifying Game Experience
• XCOM Now an FPS Because Strategy Games Aren't "Contemporary"
• 1UP's The Mooniacs Giveaway
• Windows 8 Code Points to Xbox 360 Game Support?
• BioShock Developer Irrational Has No Plans for a Wii U Game
• Burnout Crash is Why Paradise Was Crash-less

Another South Park Game is Headed Exclusively to Xbox 360 Posted: 12 Jul 2011 10:03 PM PDT In addition to the tower defense title released back in 2009, South Park: Let's Go Tower Defense Play, Microsoft has a deal to exclusively publish a second title based on the South Park brand. This is according to Prithvi Virasinghe, creative director of 345 Games, who recently spoke with Joystiq. 345 Games is the studio established earlier this year to produce games based on various Comedy Central and Spike TV properties. Deadliest Warrior and Ugly Americans were both planned as games to be out this summer at the time, and I wondered if a South Park game might be next. Joystiq inquired about that very subject and learned of the Microsoft deal. "Right now, South Park is actually in a first-party deal with Microsoft Studios, who published the first game, and they're doing a second game as well," Virasinghe said. "After that, that first-party exclusivity window expires, and we get a shot of taking that back."

1UP's Dinocroc vs. Supergator Blu-ray Giveaway Posted: 12 Jul 2011 04:33 PM PDT 1UP's Dinocroc vs. Supergator Blu-ray Giveaway How To Play Who would win the fight? Master Chief vs. Marcus Fenix. Akuma vs. Scorpion. Kratos vs. Batman. There are plenty of imaginary battles we could ponder in our heads, but at the end of the day, there's only one epic battle that really matters... Dinocroc vs. Supergator.

Peggle, Bejeweled Maker PopCap Now a Part of EA Posted: 12 Jul 2011 01:40 PM PDT Update: PopCap has confirmed the news. On its website, it jokingly listed five new projects/changes that are now (not) in the works: "EA is being rebranded to Poptronic Arts; Sim Zuma: The SwampLife Edition; Peggle: Dead Space - Bjorn's Breakfast; Bejeweled Battlefield Blitz; and Plants vs. ZombEAz: NFL Lockout Edition." It also lovingly put together the Plants vs. Zombies inspired image above. Original Story: PopCap is to be acquired by Electronic Arts, reports the Wall Street Journal. The deal may end up being worth $1.3 billion; EA will initially pay $650 million in cash and $100 million in shares, according to the report. EA has been trying for some time now to increase its presence in the casual games space, and this is its biggest move yet. It doesn't come as much of a surprise, as a PopCap acquisition was rumored in late June, with EA as the likely buyer.

3DS Gets Nintendo Video in North America Later This Summer Posted: 12 Jul 2011 01:09 PM PDT Nintendo Video, a 3DS app that delivers free content to the handheld, will be made available in Japan and Europe tomorrow, July 13. North America, meanwhile, will have to continue waiting. Nintendo Video, like the Spot TV service already available in Japan, will routinely offer free 2D and 3D video downloads. Whereas Spot TV offers daily, original content from Fuji TV and Nippon TV, Nintendo Video will deliver content less often, according to Andriasang. In Europe, the first offering of content will include 3D episodes of a cartoon series called Oscar's Oasis and exclusive, 3D episodes of a program demonstrating various magic tricks. Videos are downloaded automatically through SpotPass when you're in range of a Wi-Fi access point.

Creating a Truly Horrifying Game Experience Posted: 12 Jul 2011 12:43 PM PDT Horror games in the video game industry are without a doubt a niche. Though survival horror games like Resident Evil, Dead Space and Left 4 Dead have dominated the scene, true atmospheric games with lingering effects such as Fatal Frame and Clock Tower have all but faded into obscurity. A successful horror game doesn't simply pit you against wave after wave of grotesque horde of monsters. Instead, it leaves a lasting chill down your spine that can still be felt even after the game is turned off, reverting you to a 5 year old self afraid to walk down the dark hall of the house. We decided to take to the boards to see how the 1UP Community felt about this topic. We asked them what they thought was important in creating a truly horrifying experience out of a game and here is how they responded

XCOM Now an FPS Because Strategy Games Aren't "Contemporary" Posted: 12 Jul 2011 12:38 PM PDT It's nice to see the XCOM series being revived after more than a decade away, even if Ken Levine and Irrational Games aren't the ones developing the new game, as was once rumored. Series fans were shocked when the new XCOM was revealed as a first-person shooter; the series began in the turn-based strategy genre, and even when it moved in the direction of real-time strategy, it was still unmistakably a strategy series. The reason that's been abandoned with the new game is because strategy games just aren't in like they once were, in the mind of 2K Games. Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K Games (XCOM's publisher), spoke with MCV about the subject, explaining, "The '90s generation of gamers all love XCOM and we own the IP, so we thought OK, what do we do with it? Every studio we had wanted to do it and each one had its own spin on it. But the problem was that turn-based strategy games were no longer the hottest thing on planet Earth. But this is not just a commercial thing -- strategy games are just not contemporary." "I use the example of music artists. Look at someone old school like Ray Charles, if he would make music today it would still be Ray Charles but he would probably do it more in the style of Kanye West. Bringing Ray Charles back is all fine and good, but it just needs to move on, although the core essence will still be the same.

1UP's The Mooniacs Giveaway Posted: 12 Jul 2011 12:05 PM PDT 1UP's The Mooniacs Giveaway How To Play With bright colorful graphics and accessible gameplay, The Mooniacs is the perfect summertime mobile game. Get ready to enjoy Simple to understand with addictive challenges and loads of new downloadable content, because we're giving away The Mooniacs universal app codes (works for iPhone & iPad) all day long! Here's how to win:

Windows 8 Code Points to Xbox 360 Game Support? Posted: 12 Jul 2011 11:10 AM PDT Yesterday Microsoft merged GamesForWindows.com with Xbox.com, something that didn't really come across as a move proving the company takes PC gaming as seriously as it claims it does. Windows 8 is said to feature gaming as a "key component for the whole" operating system, and one way it's rumored to do that is by allowing gamers to play Xbox 360 games on PC. Reports of this first emerged in May and resurfaced again just recently. It wouldn't be something you're able to do for free -- users would reportedly need to pay for an Xbox Live-style service first. With that subscription active, you'd simply pop an Xbox 360 game disc in and start playing. Unlikely as it may seem, WinRumors reports that Windows 8's kernel code contains references to things such as "XBOX_360_SYSTEM_CRASH" AND "XBOX_360_SYSTEM_CRASH_RESERVED," neither of which is something you'd expect to see.

BioShock Developer Irrational Has No Plans for a Wii U Game Posted: 12 Jul 2011 10:20 AM PDT We know Irrational Games is at work on both BioShock Infinite and an all-new, "core" BioShock game for Vita. Beyond that, you could be forgiven for believing Ken Levine and company are also developing something for Wii U. After all, the third-party sizzle reel Nintendo showed at E3 (which was later revealed to be showcasing games running on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, not Wii U) was prefaced by a variety of prominent industry members talking about Wii U and its controller. Among them was Irrational's Ken Levine, who said in the video, "A full console experience that's getting streamed... my wife'll be asleep and I put in headphones and play a full hardcore console gaming experience in bed on this smaller screen -- that's a really revolutionary thing for me as a gamer." After several Wii U games were rattled off, like Batman: Arkham City, Tekken, Assassin's Creed, and Ghost Recon: Online, another clip of Levine was played in which he said, "It seems like Nintendo has sort of heard the voices of the hardcore gamer." He never explicitly talks about developing software for Wii U, and there's a good reason for that. Levine has clarified that Irrational isn't working on any games for Wii U right now.

Burnout Crash is Why Paradise Was Crash-less Posted: 12 Jul 2011 08:59 AM PDT Burnout Paradise was a fine game, yet it lacked one element that series fans really missed: Crash mode. That's what made ratings board listings for something called Burnout Crash especially exciting, as it had been something fans were deprived of on consoles since the previous title, Burnout Revenge. As it turns out, the omission of Crash mode was a deliberate move and Criterion always intended to develop a Crash-specific game at some point. "If you played Burnout Paradise, everybody asked me at the time why we didn't put Crash mode in," said Alex Ward, Criterion's creative director, according to Eurogamer. "This was why. It was always our intention." Paradise replaced Crash mode with Showtime, a mode where players had to bounce their vehicle down the street and off of other cars to earn points. There was nothing outright wrong with it, it just wasn't as much fun as Crash mode, which had players driving their cars into a busy intersection in an effort to create the most devastating and costly crash possible.

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