MMORPG News

The Secret World: The Polaris
Star Wars: The Old Republic: Crafting the Class Intros and a Community Q&A
DUST 514: Chronicles: Stranded Part 4
EVE Online: Interview with CCP Soundwave and CCP Flying Scotsman
General: Troy Online: Closed Beta Test and Power Leveled Event
General: Hellfire Ramparts... Again!
General: Why San Diego Comicon Sucks
Final Fantasy XIV: Final Fantasy XIV: The Official Review
General: SMITE Interview with Todd Harris

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:10 AM PDT

If you've been keeping up to date with The Secret World, you're familiar with the game's Location Reveals as development continues on the highly anticipated MMO. Late last week, the team revealed the story and details behind the location of the much talked about Dungeon Location, the Polaris.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Crafting the Class Intros and a Community Q&A

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 11:03 AM PDT

Brian Arndt, Senior Video Editor at BioWare, has contributed to the latest edition of Studio Insider to give us a look at the crafting of the various Class Intros akin to the movie intros that we're all so familiar with. Senior Audio Artist, Scott Morton also gets in on the action, fielding a series of community written questions.

DUST 514: Chronicles: Stranded Part 4

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 10:36 AM PDT

The chronicling of DUST 514's lore continues with CCP Remnant's latest edition of Stranded, bringing us Part 4.

EVE Online: Interview with CCP Soundwave and CCP Flying Scotsman

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:50 AM PDT

Tacticalgamer.com has released an audio interview done with CCP Soundwave and CCP Flying Scotsman from the EVE Online team. In the audio, they cover all manner of topics, from Incarna itself to what lies in store for the future of EVE Online. Check it out.

General: Troy Online: Closed Beta Test and Power Leveled Event

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 08:35 AM PDT

Troy Online, an MMORPG from ALT1Games, has entered into its second Closed Beta effective July 15th. While the CBT lasts only until this evening at at 9:00PM PT, they will also be hosting an in-game event an hour later for those participating. Check it out!

General: Hellfire Ramparts... Again!

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 06:38 AM PDT

In this week's WoW Factor, Joseph Sanicky brings us along on his adventures and mishaps through one of The Outlands' earliest dungeons. Find out what kind of "misadventures" Joe had with PUGs in Blizzard's behemoth.

General: Why San Diego Comicon Sucks

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 06:16 AM PDT

In this week's SDCC-themed List, Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller takes a look at just how the mother of all Comicons has changed into something altogether unrecognizable. See if you agree with his assertion and be sure to add your own thoughts to the discussion.

Final Fantasy XIV: Final Fantasy XIV: The Official Review

Posted: 16 Jul 2011 05:32 AM PDT

It's been a long time coming, but MMORPG.com's Lori May has been spending a lot of time inside of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV. In the official MMORPG.com review, find out if Lori May's expectations for the successor to FFXI are met or if the game falls short of its namesake.

General: SMITE Interview with Todd Harris

Posted: 14 Jul 2011 07:59 PM PDT

MMORPG.com's Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller sat down with Hi-Rez Studios COO Todd Harris to discuss their upcoming MOBA (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena), SMITE.

MMO updates

Duke of Mount Deer Online - Open Beta soon
Firefall - Red 5 and Webzen dispute set to end
Faxion Online - Layoffs hit developer
Webzen - A look into the company

Duke of Mount Deer Online - Open Beta soon

Posted: 19 Jul 2011 05:29 AM PDT

While I do not usually announce the Open Beta date for foreign games that frequently, Duke of Mount Deer by China developer ChangYou is not one to be missed. Having a development budget of over USD 80 million, the game is set to open up to Chinese players on 22nd July, which is this Friday. If anyone is interested, I might draw up a registration guide for the masses!

Duke of Mount Deer Online is set to release a similarly themed movie based on the game soon, with China's biggest period drama actor Hu Ge at the helm. The official game/ movie theme is sung by him as well, which you can see in the official music video below. For more on the game, click here and refer to my previous posts!

Firefall - Red 5 and Webzen dispute set to end

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:37 PM PDT

After months of argument between Webzen Korea and Red 5 Studios, with both companies filing lawsuits over the Asia Pacific publishing rights for Firefall, the whole matter is set to end. According to foreign reports, representatives from Webzen and Red 5 Studios are set to meet and make peace with each other, with both agreeing lawsuits and court appearances will do no good for either.There is no date mentioned on when the talks will happen, but it seems there is genuine interest in settling this issue peacefully. More about the conflict can be read here.

Faxion Online - Layoffs hit developer

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 05:50 PM PDT

(Source) Some weeks back, I played Faxion Online for a little while and immediately uninstalled the game. Yes, the game has a unique theme of Heaven vs Hell and some interesting features but when you can't get the basics right, the game doesn't deserve players. Awkward game design, blocky character models, a combat system rehashed from the 90s'... In fact, I was so pissed off by the game I did not post a small article about it after taking an ingame footage seen below.

UTV Ignition Games seem liked a really promising company at first, but since the release of Warrior Epic and Mytheon (selling the game with a ridiculously priced package at launch), I did not hold much hope for this blundering game developer. The management apparently has no idea what the market wants now and just try too hard to be "unique" in their games. Sorry, UTV Ignition Games, you deserve it. Enough of bashing, below is the whole article from Gamasutra.

Development and support staff from True Studios, developer of free-to-play MMO Faxion Online, were laid off last week as UTV Ignition continues to stray away from internal development.

Don Choi, VP of UTV Ignition's online division, confirmed the news to Gamasutra this morning, saying that a "fraction" of the True Studios staff had been laid off.

According to one of the affected employees, who asked to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the situation, that "fraction" actually represented the majority of the employees at the Austin-based True Games studio.

In addition to the development staff, our source tells us the platform team, the customer service division and all but one of the quality assurance staff was let go.The game's studio in China will "be closing in the next couple of weeks," our source reports.

According to Choi, Faxion Online "will continue to run and be updated frequently," despite the layoffs (Choi did not comment on the potential closure in China when asked). Additionally, he says the studio's multi-platform Planet Crashers remains in development.

"Their severance was a joke," our source tells us, saying that the layoffs demonstrate UTV Ignition's "clear and demonstrated inability to focus, plan or execute on many levels."

UTV Ignition has been cutting its internal development as part of a shift that sees it becoming a pure publisher, with the most recent layoffs hitting an Austin-based console team working on pre-production for an unannounced title.

Webzen - A look into the company

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:05 AM PDT

I am sure Webzen by now should be a name most online gamers will recognize. Starting years ago with MU Online, the Korean developer/ publisher has found much success in almost all its games. Well, according to a recent report, Webzen's games are not really popular in Korea itself since more than 50% of its earnings are from overseas servers.

More famous titles from Webzen over the years include MU Online, SUN Online and R2 Online. After buying over NHN Games, new titles such as the much anticipated action MMORPG Continent of the Ninth (C9) is added as well. Ok, enough with the introduction, let's take a look into the company!