MMORPG News

MMORPG News

Guild Wars 2: Making the Battle of Kyhlo

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:28 AM PDT

The Arena.Net team has posted a collaborative effort in the latest Guild Wars 2 blog. Several team members chime in on how the Battle of Kyhlo was designed from a lore perspective, level design, programming, voice acting and more. It's a terrific look at how intricate the design of the games we love truly is.

EVE Online: Incarna 1.1 Coming August 30th

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:21 AM PDT

While most of the European CCP team is on holiday, the US team continues to battle lag and make plans for the release of the v1.1 EVE Online: Incarna patch on August 30th. In a new blog post, CCP Fallout gives a peek into the future for Incarna and what may be coming down the road.

Ether Saga Online: Future's End Update Released

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:16 AM PDT

Perfect World Entertainment has released the Future's End content update for Ether Saga Odyssey. Most notably, Future's End brings two new high level dungeons with twenty rounds of combat with increasingly difficult monsters to battle.

Defiance: Trion Shows Off Syfy Game

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 07:11 AM PDT

Trion and Syfy have been on hand at the 2011 Gamescom showing of the collaborative effort called Defiance. The teams are celebrating with the release of nine new in-game screenshots. Check them out in our Defiance gallery.

General: World of Warplanes: Wargaming.net is Soaring High

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 12:27 PM PDT

World of Warplanes has had a significant presence at this year's Gamescom in Germany. World of Warplanes is the second game from Wargaming.net and devs are hoping the success of World of Tanks will rub off on it. MMORPG.com Industry Relations Manager Garrett Fuller had the opportunity to chat with Project Manager Alexander Zezulin. See what nuggets of information Garrett uncovered in our exclusive interview.

General: Button clicking /= immersion

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 02:54 PM PDT

In her latest Player Perspectives column, MMORPG.com's Isabelle Parsley takes a look at what exactly immersion is in MMOs. Whether you are the type of player who simply logs in or the type who sees/hears/speaks nothing but the world of the game you're in, all crave some level of immersion. Check out Isabelle's thoughts about immersion in today's MMOs and then let us know your thoughts in the comments.

General: Guild Sores: The Art Nerd Is Me

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 03:17 PM PDT

You know what we're talking about here: The obligatory art book that accompanies any game's collector's edition. Most of us use those as a handy coaster or maybe even for "throne" reading. Believe it or now, however, there are art nerds like David North who devour this stuff. Check out his latest Guild Sores 'toon to see just how bad it is.

General: Friday Fights: Champions Online vs City of Heroes

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 03:26 PM PDT

It's been awhile since we've seen two worthy heroes enter our own MMORPG.com battle ring but we have a new bout scheduled for today courtesy of promoter Adam Tingle. In the red corner is City of Heroes. In the blue corner, we have Champions Online. See how Adam Tingle called the match in Friday Fights: Champions Online vs City of Heroes. Got an opinion? Be sure to share it in the comments below.

DC Universe Online: Fight for the Light Trailer

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:57 AM PDT

SOE has released a new trailer spotlighting the new DC Universe Online adventure pack, "Fight for the Light". Hosted by Jens Anderson, the video queries "Why Green Lantern?"

End of Nations: The Metagame

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:54 AM PDT

Trion and Petroglyph Games have released the Gamescom 2011 trailer for End of Nations. The trailer features developer interviews focused on the metagame in End of Nations. Global warfare is ON!

Guild Wars 2: Live from Gamescom

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 06:43 AM PDT

Arena.net and the Guild Wars 2 team are making some live commentary about PvP matches going on during the convention. Check them out on ESL TV.

Scarlet Legacy: The Race for $15,000 Begins

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 10:42 AM PDT

GamesCampus has announced that Scarlet Legacy has officially entered its open beta phase of development. During the open beta which is scheduled to run through the end of September, guilds will race to level. The top place guild will win $10,000 in cash and $5,000 in Campus Credits. What are you waiting for?

Aerrevan: Now F2P and with 25% Off In-Game Items

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 10:35 AM PDT

According to CubeForce Media, today is a good day to try out Aerrevan. Not only is the game now free to play, but all in-game purchases are 25% off for a limited time.

Voyage Century: Flying the Jolly Roger

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 10:01 AM PDT

Voyage Century Online players now have the opportunity to fly the Jolly Roger and practice pirate speak. Pirates are cropping up in most regions of the game and can be identified based on the regions they operate in, such as the Caribbean Pirates, Corsica Pirates, Crete Pirates etc..

General: Nexon Profits Jump

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 09:53 AM PDT

Nexon has announced that its second quarter profits are up 38% over the same time period in 2010. According to the press release, profits are up due to the company's stable of free online games and its microtransaction revenue model.

Troy Online: Full Service Begins on August 19th

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 09:48 AM PDT

Alt1Games has announced that the Troy Online open beta will end on August 18th at 10 p.m. with the game officially launching at 11 a.m. PST on August 19th. Developers indicated that the interim will see a patch deployed addressing issues raised by players during the beta phase of development.

DC Universe Online: New Screens Show Lots of Green

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 09:41 AM PDT

Sony Online Entertainment has released several new screenshots from the upcoming DC Universe Online adventure pack called "Fight for the Light". The screens feature a lot of green. Wonder why? Check them out in our DC Universe Online screenshot gallery.

PlanetSide 2: Gamescom Screens Impress

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 09:36 AM PDT

Gamescom is a media lover's paradise with all the screenshots and videos coming out. Not to be left out of the excitement, we have a bunch of new screenshots from Planetside 2. You can see them all in our Planetside 2 screenshot gallery.

World of Tanks: Gamescom Trailer Blasts Onto the Scene

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 08:19 AM PDT

Wargaming.net has released a brand new trailer for its premier title, World of Tanks. The trailer was released at the 2011 Gamescom.
Posted by Shri Krishna

General gaming

General gaming

Saints Row: The Third Brings More Off the Wall Options to Open World Games

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 06:30 PM PDT

One thing seems true after spending the first five minutes in a playable demo of Saints Row the Third (herein referred to as SR3): The Saints Row franchise has cemented its place as the punch-in-the-balls the open world genre needed. Sure, it's a bold statement. But a majority of big budget open world productions seem to cling to the concept of "realism" like a warm blanket on a chilly night. Volition, the developers of the Saints Row franchise, seem set on taking the covers off and doing something completely absurd -- resulting in something that feels fun and accessible even if things you do in the game can also look detestable at times.

I start my time basking in the moonlit pastures of Steelport before immediately hijacking a Street Sweeper and taking it to Rim Jobs -- the one stop shop for car parts, paint jobs, and crazy customizations. I outfit my new machine to look a little meaner by adding customized parts. After some fiddling around with the interface, I add spiked out body parts, a chainsaw and cage on the back of the cab, and some Noz -- because every vehicle should have it, especially street sweepers.

Activision Boss Bemoans Mudslinging, Wants Everyone to Succeed

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 05:08 PM PDT

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Those within the games industry need to stop attacking each other and stop treating things like politics where there can only be one winner. That's the thinking that Activision Publishing COO Eric Hirshberg tried to express to the crowd at Gamescom yesterday. He spoke about, among other things, the war of words that's gone on between Battlefield and Call of Duty as of late, explaining that he wants everyone to succeed, not just those working for or with Activision.

"There's one other thing that this intensely competitive landscape has brought into our industry. And that, unfortunately, is an awful lot of mudslinging. Competition is of course a good thing. It keeps us all on our toes and ultimately, it makes the games better," he said, according to a transcript (PDF) of his speech, courtesy of One of Swords. "Competition is healthy for this, or any other industry. But it's one thing to want your game to be successful. It's another to actively want the games of others to fail."

Earlier this year, DICE GM Karl-Magnus Troedsson suggested Call of Duty's developers were "getting lazy." He said, "They're using the same engine, the same recipe for building a game. At some point you need to take that leap. I haven't seen them take that leap since a long time ago."

EA Limiting Copies of The Old Republic at Launch, Both Digitally and at Retail

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 04:23 PM PDT

Star Wars: The Old Republic

It feels like every so often an MMORPG comes along that everyone claims will be the one that truly challenges World of Warcraft. They've all come and gone, and WoW is still reigning supreme, even if it's in a bit of subscription lull between expansion packs right now. Star Wars: The Old Republic has the strongest license of any WoW competitor yet, and although it's not going to come along and kill WoW by any stretch, it seems to have the best chance at being a big success alongside it. And while big-name games don't typically sell out at launch these days, that might just happen with TOR, and it's reportedly an intentional move by EA.

No, EA isn't limiting the supply of The Old Republic copies in order to give the illusion of it being more popular than it really is. (Nintendo was accused of this with the Wii, once upon a time.) Instead, Game Informer reports that a rep showing the game at Gamescom revealed plans to limit the game's supply at launch. The purpose is to avoid server instability, a problem that invariably plagues MMOs following launch when there is a massive influx of players and not enough servers to handle the load.

It plans to do this both at retail and digitally. There is apparently an exact number of copies it believes it can handle; should that number be exceeded, digital sales will be cut off and EA will try to increase its server capacity. The rep didn't provide a specific timetable for how long the process would take. Odds are, it wouldn't be an especially long time.

Portal 2's Free Challenge Mode DLC Coming Next Month

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 03:09 PM PDT

Portal 2

In typical Valve fashion, the first downloadable content pack for Portal 2 -- you know, the game with those offensive adoption jokes -- hasn't come as soon as many expected. Shortly after the game's launch in April, Valve said to expect it this summer. With the season winding down, it's hard not to wonder if that release window still holds up.

According to Valve's marketing VP, Doug Lombardi, it does -- it'll be out in mid-September. Speaking with Kotaku at Gamescom, he pointed out that mid-September is "still technically summer," which is true, as fall doesn't begin until September 21. But still.

The exact contents of the DLC remain unknown. When it was first announced, new test chambers (with accompanying leaderboards) and a challenge mode playable either alone or with another player were mentioned.

Xbox 360 isn't Done in Japan Yet, as Far as Microsoft is Concerned

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 02:25 PM PDT


Despite reports of Japanese retailers killing their support for the Xbox 360, Microsoft itself has no plans to suddenly close up shop in the region.

It's no surprise that the Xbox 360 hasn't done well in Japan. It first showed up in Japan in December 2005, just a month after it did in North America, and yet it reportedly wasn't until June that it surpassed the 1.5 million units sold mark. That's despite Microsoft attempting to bring in Japanese gamers with exclusives like The Idolmaster 2 and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi's Lost Odyssey and Blue Dragon. (Idolmaster 2, as it happens, is headed to PS3 later this year.)

According to an Edge report from earlier this week, Japanese retailers are looking into dropping support for the Xbox 360. Geo in particular was said to be "drastically scaling back its Xbox 360 business." Tokyo's Yamada Denki is getting rid of both hardware and software from the "majority of its stores" throughout Japan and selling its remaining stock at a discount.

Always On DRM Dropped for Driver, Replaced by On-At-Launch DRM

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 01:29 PM PDT

Driver San Francisco

Ubisoft has heard the complaints about its decision to force Driver: San Francisco players on PC to be online at all times, and it's opted to ditch that particular requirement.

That's the good news.

The bad news is another form of DRM is replacing it, albeit one that is slightly less intrusive. In order to play Driver, you'll need to be connected to the Internet when you first launch the game, according to a Rock, Paper, Shotgun report confirmed with Ubisoft by 1UP. Once a connection is made, you're free to disconnect from the web and play for as long as you wish. Until the next time you wish to play, that is, when you'll have to be connected once again.

The 1UP Staff Reacts to the 1UP Community's Top 100 Games You Should Play Results

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 11:45 AM PDT

Feature

The 1UP Staff Reacts to the Community's Top 100 Games You Should Play Results
You chose your top 100 games; find out what we thought of your selections.

By 1UP Staff

1UP Member crispy4001 polled the 1UP Community asking what games were essential to a video game fan's gaming experience. Check out what the 1UP Staff had to say about the results of this compilation and the games that made the cut.

Jeremy Parish

Jeremy Parish - 1UP, Editor-In-Chief

I hope it doesn't seem too harsh to say I'm a little disappointed with this list. No criticism intended to crispy, of course; it's awesome that he put this document together. I just think the natural state of lists like this is to stray from the creator's good intentions ("games you should play," "most influential games ever," "greatest games of all time," etc.) and default into a synopsis of the respondents' personal favorites, even if that's not what was being asked for. The taste of 1UP's members clearly skews toward console games of 16-bit vintage and later, frequently from Japan and specifically designed by Nintendo, and I can respect that -- that's not too far from my own preferences. I mean, hell, Final Fantasy XII is on here, and I feel like some sort of heretic for loving that game as much as I do. I guess I was hoping a list of games I need to experience before I die or whatever would range a little further afield from the U.S. console gaming mainstream into stuff that's genuinely unfamiliar to folks like me. Landmark ZX Spectrum games or dazzling arcade masterpieces or even some '80s vintage PC games -- things along those lines. For example, I don't even like graphical adventures, but the lack of LucasArts SCUMM games on this countdown is a gaping hole through which an ocean of tears flows. I'm not gonna demand a recount or anything, but I would definitely be interested in seeing slots 101-200... maybe that's where all the kooky obscurities are hiding.

Mike Nelson

Mike Nelson - MyCheats Senior Editor

Assassin's Creed: Revelations Takes a Cue From Inception

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 11:45 AM PDT

This third and last chapter of Ezio Auditore da Firenze's trilogy, and fourth in the main series, Assassin's Creed Revelations -- as the title suggests -- is meant to wrap up the story so far by revealing several truths about its three main leads. This means that, while exploring Constantinople and other nearby villages as Ezio, we'll also get a chance to experience key events in Altair's (from Assassin's Creed) life, and at the same time several questions about Desmond's fate and role will finally find an answer.

Falko Poiker, mission design director for Revelations, plays the game for us at Gamescom 2011, commenting on some of its new gameplay features and slipping in some details of the story. The part of the game Poiker shows us starts with a wounded Ezio chasing his next target. The main objective of the Assassins this time around is to retrieve five mysterious keys needed to open a vault located in Masyaf -- a familiar location to those who played the original Assassin's Creed. Retrieving these keys, once apparently possessed by Altair, is one of the core quests in the game.

It Continues to Look Like Diablo III is Coming to Consoles

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 11:42 AM PDT

Diablo III

Diablo III is, officially speaking, only planned for release on PC and Mac. More than likely, it'll also make its way to consoles at some point. At Gamescom this week, a Blizzard staffer dropped yet another hint that such an outcome is almost certainly going to happen.

Over in Germany, lead designer Josh Mosqueira stated that Blizzard "is very, very serious about bringing the Diablo III experience to the console," reports Eurogamer. He explained that they're hiring programmers, designers, and artists to work on consoles, although this still isn't an official announcement that a console port is really happening.

"All I can say is it's going to be awesome," he teased. "Stay tuned."

Nintendo Still Thinks People Want Urban Champion

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 10:36 AM PDT

Urban Champion

This week's update for the various Nintendo download services brings with it several new games, the most noteworthy of which is... worthy of being noted because of how awful it is.

Urban Champion ($4.99) is the latest game in the 3D Classics line of classic game revivals on the 3DS eShop. It's the third such remake, joining Xevious and Excitebike. It's a very simplistic fighting game (based on a Game & Watch title) that came to North America in 1986 on NES.

It isn't the strongest selection for a remake; it was also released on the Virtual Console in 2006 and was among the worst games available at the time. Nintendo has made it clear that 3D Classics likely won't ever be released in great abundance, so why a game that is generally regarded to be so miserable was chosen as one of the six planned 3D Classics is beyond me.

Posted by Shri Krishna

MMO updates

MMO updates

Seven Core - English teaser website up

Posted: 19 Aug 2011 04:51 AM PDT


(Teaser website) As I posted several months back (link), in fact back last year, gPotato has acquired the English rights for Korean developer Noria's new sci-fi online game, Seven Core. Originally scheduled for 201, the game has just gone into Closed Beta in Korea, with the English server under gPotato Europe aiming for a 2012 beta. Click on the link above and pre-register now!


Additionally, more information can be found in my previous posts (link). I can't wait to give this game a try, simply base don looks for now :)



Update: I have been geting questions about the availability of the game since it is hosted by gPotato EU. As I mentioned before, Galanet, gPotato's holding company, has gotten the rights for the North American server as well. While I do not know if the EU server will accommodate everyone or will there be a separate server, below is the official document. I can't believe there are still people doubting my sources.
Posted by Shri Krishna
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