Space-themed MMO, Star Supremacy, now has an official site packed with information about each of the three factions, star fleets, weaponry, science and technology and more. According to the dev team, Star Supremacy will be entering into its closed beta phase of development in the next month.
Comic books. We all love 'em. But what is it these days with every comic book hero (or villain) being given their own Hollywood treatment? In Coyote's Howling, venerable columnist Coyote entertains the idea that maybe this sort of thing simply must STOP. Check it out and then leave your comments!
Earlier this week, a video interview with one of Bioware's developers stirred up a veritable poop storm of controversy when it was suggested that Star Wars: The Old Republic would not feature same-sex relationships between players and compantions. In his latest column, MMORPG.com Managing Editor Bill Murphy offers his opinion on the issue. Read on and then weigh in with your (calm, cool & collected) thoughts in the comments.
During last week's Gamescom, MMORPG.com's John Milburn had the opportunity to check out a special Rift presentation about the upcoming 1.5 patch, a patch that is set to bring some interesting new features into the game. Check out John's report on the presentation liberally peppered with questions about some of the features. Keep reading!
UTV True Games devs have announced that three-month old Faxion Online is shutting down. Beginning this week, players will not be able to purchase items from the in-game store and the servers will go dark in approximately thirty days.
Trion has let us know that its inaugural title, Rift, has been nominated as a finalist in three categories for the 2011 Game Developers Choice Online awards. Categories include Best New Online Game, Best Online Technology, and Best Online Visual Arts. GDC Online Awards will be handed out on October 10th.
Face of Mankind is now being developed by Nexeon Technologies. The team has sent out notice that the website and forums have been given a much-needed facelift and have a laundry list of game features and fixes that have been implemented in just the last few weeks.
Wargaming.net has announced that a new special world event called Battle for the Dnieper. The live event will mirror the true four month long battle fought during WWII. Players participating in the event will see experience gains, gold acquisition and more.
Rusty Hearts closed beta players will be able to log in later today to check out the new material coming with Phase 2 of the testing period. Developers have promised a new costume item for players logging in prior to 2:00 a.m. PST on August 25th.
gPotato's European division has announced that a new "fusion" MMO is currently in development by Noria. The announcement is being celebrated with a new game play trailer that shows off some wicked weapons (check out the flame thrower!) and mounts (flying pod racer type vehicles).
Back in February 2010 (link), I posted about Korean studio Gorilla Banana's first online game title, Red Blood Online. The developer did not actually leak out much information, but today, a new trailer was shown as the game is being prepared for the Closed Beta phase. From what I know, this should be the first Free to Play open world action MMO from Korea. Red Blood Online's storyline is based on a manga series which has been running in Korea for around 7 years.
Users who register now before the Closed Beta date is announced will be able to access the full testing phase, which I already did. Although the class choices looks lacking now, with only 3, I have no doubt more will be added in the long run. I am really excited! The age of Free to Play open world action MMO is now in full gear from both China and Korea!
Update: I am informed that the game will be indeed an open world, but it will be using a Guild Wars system, where every open map is actually an instance and only players in a party will be able to see each other once step out of town. The game hence does not have a persistent world. The game also utilized a system call "Stage Automation", where each map will change its routes every time players re-enter. Pretty much like Diablo II's dungeons. More information when made available as Closed Beta is scheduled to start in September.
(Official website) Thanks to a forum post in OnRPG (link), it seems that Hunter Blade is getting an English server, for now. I am not sure if this is a temporary server to attract business partners from the West or if the developer are serious about hosting an English server themselves, but we shall see. Developed in China by JoyChina, the game has been called a Monster Hunter clone from gamers everywhere. This English server is currently in Closed Beta.
I started trying out the game late last year in the China server (link), before I managed to capture footage when my new PC rig arrived (link). You can see some of the footage below as well. Will this game work out? Personally, I am confident it will suffer the same fate as Faxion (link), which I predicted its imminent downfall as well. You might like it, so give the game a spin!
(Teaser website) gPotato EU, which was at last week's gamescom 2011 in Germany, brought its new MMORPG SevenCore to the show with little media spotlight. With that said, the publisher for SevenCore has released the game's debut English trailer, which you can see below. With a mixture of sci-fi technology and fantasy, the SevenCore is also touted as a "riding action MMORPG".
Why is this and Age of Wulin under the gPotato EU banner and not the North American gPotato? Well, like I posted previously, the company has SevenCore's rights for North America as well according to a March 2011 press release (link). Well there be changes? Hmn... The Korean server just went into its first Closed Beta phase, so stay tuned for more information. More info can be found here (link).
(Official website) Announced just last week (link), ChangYou's new online card game, Sword Girls, is back with a brief preview of the game's dungeon system. A dungeon in an online card game?! Yeap. you read it right. The dungeons, just like most MMORPG now, are classified into the Easy, Normal and Hard modes. And no, you cannot collect all the cards once you win, but you gain Ores to craft new cards. Closed Beta begins in October and below is the continuing official press release.
A boss will appear after enough Dungeon levels are cleared. Boss characters are especially tough enemies with abilities not seen in normal game play. Gold Lion Nold is the first boss you will face in the game, and while any new player will easily be able to conquer Dungeon floors, you are going to have to show that you really know how to use your deck if you want to defeat her.
At the start of every turn, Nold reduces the Cost of each of her Followers by 1. Each player has a 10 Cost limit on the cards they can have in play at once, so for Nold, this means that she will be putting out more powerful cards and have room the next turn for even more powerful cards. To beat her, you will either have to tear down her expensive cards before she puts too many out, or you will have to come up with a way to survive them.
Gold Lion Nold is a tough challenge, but if you can beat her, there is a chance she might join you! Whenever you defeat a dungeon boss, you might get a version of that boss as a special Character card. You can only get them from beating the bosses! They cannot be crafted or purchased. On top of that, the very first person to topple a previously undefeated boss will be guaranteed to receive the card. Every time a new dungeon comes out, you will want to make sure you are the first one to beat it. If you can tame the Gold Lion and earn her humanoid form, this card will be a mark of pride.
Nold looks a bit different in her humanoid form. She behaves differently too. Unlike her boss form, which is built to be a difficult challenge for everyone to overcome, her powers are on par with any of the other Characters. However, they still deal with Cost manipulation. Every turn, she reduces a played card's Cost by 1 and lowers the Cost of a card in hand by 1. Match this special Character with other cards that manipulate Cost, and you've got a deck with a unique and effective theme!
GameStop has definitely incurred the rage of the masses with its latest stunt. It admittedly opened brand-new copies of the PC version of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in order to remove the OnLive codes that were placed within the packaging. Not only is the practice of selling previously opened items as 'brand new' unethical, the legality of doing so has been called into question. GameStop is now reportedly pulling PC copies from its shelves so that they can be recalled.
The 1UP Community, comprised of both GameStop customers and former employees, were eager to shed some light on the retail chain's questionable practices, as well as share their feelings concerning its recent actions.
A thread on the 1UP Board is ongoing, which you can find here. Read on for some highlights from both that thread and the comments section from today's news story.
If you know Japanese, or you just like hearing the humble, slightly desperate tone of Shinya Arino's voice, you may want to track down the Japan Blu-ray special release of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the advertisement for which is appearing in assorted game magazines over there right now.
The Blu-ray release of the film -- whose Japanese title translates to "Scott Pilgrim vs. the Evil Ex Army" -- includes a commentary track that features director Edgar Wright and Arino, whose humorous attempts at finishing old NES games are chronicled in the series Retro Game Master (now available in streaming English at Kotaku).
The so-called "Ultimate Japan Version" package also includes footage of Wright and lead actor Michael Cera's publicity tour through Japan and a roundtable discussion with Tomohiro Machiyama, a well-known Japanese film critic and the supervisor of the film's Japanese-language subtitle package.
Upon learning that PC copies of Deus Ex: Human Revolution include a code that can be redeemed for a free OnLive copy of the game, GameStop instructed employees to open and remove the code. Customers weren't told this was happening and that they were buying a new, already opened game. Instead of continuing to do that, GameStop is instead pulling all regular edition PC copies from store shelves so they can be recalled.
This is according to a memo sent out to employees that was acquired by Giant Bomb. The reason for this is identified as the included OnLive codes, with the memo reading in part, "As GameStop is developing a streaming service in our Spawn Labs Cloud Gaming Division, the coupon that was included is for a competitive service. We are returning all copies of the PC regular edition to the vendor in agreement with Square Enix."
Employees are directed to use these pulled copies to fill any pre-orders that might remain, but it looks like the remainder -- with the OnLive codes presumably already removed -- will be going back to publisher Square Enix.
Not very much coming out in this pre-TGS season, but here's a selection of the most interesting games due to hit Japan next week, courtesy the review pages of Famitsu magazine:
- Grand Knights History (10/9/9/8, 36 points): Very high marks for Vanillaware's new PSP game, one that comes closer to being a traditional RPG than anything else they've produced. "The traditionally-Vanillaware graphics, along with all the little animations mid-battle, are just amazing," one writer said. "The easy entry into online play is just as great, and raising characters to send to the battlefield is both innovative and very smooth in action. This game gets top marks in fun."
"The intricately-drawn graphics and well-designed interface are both great," another added, "making this game a feast for the eyes. Even though it's a standard RPG, all the little touches make it seem fresh all over again."
After years of silence, fighting games are back on the crest of the wave. Sagas like Street Fighter, KOF or Marvel vs. Capcom are once again spawning sequels and extended editions, but everyone seems scared of moving in uncharted waters, while fans of the genre are slowly starting to feel the urge to fight on unknown terrain. The thirst for new IP or remakes of obscure ones, blatantly ignored by big-shot software houses, is about to be quenched by Autumn Games and Reverge Labs with Skullgirls, a digital delivery fighting game made by fans for fans. Skullgirls, which has a tentative US release of Q4 2011 and is headed to PS3 and 360, will initially feature eight characters. More fighters (including boys, contrary to the title!) will be later available via DLC.
Thanks to tight community interaction and the team's personal passion for the project, Skullgirls is developing quite a bit of attention amongst fighting game enthusiasts. Following its development can be a rewarding experience: Reverge Labs' blog, official website, and Twitter account all get constant updates including news, fanart, movies and other interesting material for fans to feast upon; amongst which are beautiful pieces from the OST scored by none other than Michiru Yamane of Castlevania fame.
Nearly a year after making its first debut at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom's Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor has finally been shown off in public again, this time at Gamescom.
"It's been a while since the initial announcement at TGS 2010, but we're finally at the point where we can start showing it off to people," commented producer Tetsuya Kitabayashi in an interview with Famitsu magazine. "At this point, it's basically just a race to see how much content we can cram in. Trying to figure out what works for a hardcore game like this one on the Kinect has required a trial-and-error process. That's the biggest mission for this game, and it's also the hardest. A lot of casual Kinect games have come out, but they mostly just have your body serving as the controller. There's no way you can make a Steel Battalion game with that approach. For this game, the Kinect's used as a device to help players get into the game world more, a way to connect to the game. It lets you experience the war zone for yourself."
For Kitabayashi, who's done work for Capcom on everything from Monster Hunter to the Mega Man X series, Kinect and Steel Battalion was a natural match. "When I heard about the Kinect device for the first time, I thought it'd be pretty neat if we made a Steel Battalion game for it," he said. "I also wanted to develop it alongside From Software because they're so good with robot and mecha games. Capcom's expertise is more along the lines of making characters seem really human, so I figured putting those two together would be nice."
Steve Jobs tendered his resignation as the chief executive officer of Apple today, bringing an end to his more than 14 years in the role.
"I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple's CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come," he wrote in a letter to Apple's board of directors today. "I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee."
He recommended that Tim Cook, Apple's COO, be promoted to take over him, as was previously planned. Apple has taken the advice, naming him the company's new CEO.
Typically, most people don't bother to read any EULAs, or End User License Agreements. That's the document that often pops up whenever installing a new game or any piece of software on your computer. It's hard to blame anyone for not reading them, as they're very long, filled with technical terms and phrasing that can be difficult to understand, and are essentially the exact same thing almost every time. So why bother? As it turns out, there's a very good reason to inspect the EULA for Electronic Arts's Steam competitor, Origin.
As noted by a member of the Escapist forums, Origin's EULA gives EA the right to do any number of things that arguably border on being spyware. Namely, under the clause titled "Consent to Collection and Use of Data," installing Origin means you "agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer." It's important to note that this isn't the first time this has come up in a EULA for an EA product, but it doesn't make it any more comforting.
You agree that EA may collect, use, store and transmit technical and related information that identifies your computer (including the Internet Protocol Address), operating system, Application usage (including but not limited to successful installation and/or removal), software, software usage and peripheral hardware, that may be gathered periodically to facilitate the provision of software updates, dynamically served content, product support and other services to you, including online services. EA may also use this information combined with personal information for marketing purposes and to improve our products and services. We may also share that data with our third party service providers in a form that does not personally identify you. IF YOU DO NOT WANT EA TO COLLECT, USE, STORE, TRANSMIT OR DISPLAY THE DATA DESCRIBED IN THIS SECTION, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL OR USE THE APPLICATION. This and all other data provided to EA and/or collected by EA in connection with your installation and use of this Application is collected, used, stored and transmitted in accordance with EA's Privacy Policy located at www.ea.com. To the extent that anything in this section conflicts with the terms of EA's Privacy Policy, the terms of the Privacy Policy shall control.
In other words, EA has the right to collect all sorts of information on your computer, regardless of its relation to Origin and the games installed through it, and use it for things like marketing to you. And, as it says in caps -- as if that matters when it's buried in the EULA that almost no one reads -- the only way to avoid sending this data to EA is to simply not install Origin. There's no way to opt-out, which seems like the simple, reasonable way to handle this.
Rounding out this week's spate of new game announcements from Japan is Rhythm Kaitou R, a new Nintendo 3DS title that mixes adventure elements with Elite Beat Agents-style rhythm action.
The "R" of the game's title is a master thief who targets all the big-name sites in Paris, from the Louvre (above) to Notre Dame Cathedral -- but, strangely, he returns the stuff he steals to its original location several days after each heist. It turns out that R is a young man searching for leads and trying to figure out where his father is, but in the meantime, he's got pretty much everyone in French law enforcement on his tail.
The game unfolds as a series of musically-injected rhythm minigames, with gamers being asked to press buttons and tilt the 3DS console in time with the sound and onscreen prompts. Every aspect of a robbery, from breaking into a location to running from the cops afterward, has a rhythm minigame of its own to master. It'll all unfold with an original soundtrack from a known (non-game-industry) musician, too, although Sega isn't revealing whom until later.
Those who purchased From Dust from Steam are eligible to receive a refund.
This decision comes just a day after Ubisoft said it would remove all online authentication DRM from the game. It had previously claimed PC gamers would only have to be online when they first install it. That turned out to be untrue, as it actually requires you to be online each time the game starts. Combined with what's overall a pretty poor PC port, gamers are understandably upset with Ubisoft.
The DRM's removal will be happening in about two weeks with the release of a patch. Ubisoft recently decided to ease up on the DRM it planned to use in Driver: San Francisco on PC. It will go from requiring a constant Internet connection to only requiring a connection at start-up, much like From Dust currently has. The always-on DRM has been described by Ubisoft as being successful at stopping piracy, but this kind of DRM hurts legitimate customers, and that's simply not right.
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