MMO Updates

---

• New documentary follows the Race to World First
• Clone Wars Adventures gets new starter zone, mini-game, and more
• WRUP: Obscure Transformer toys edition
• The Daily Grind: Are you a screenshot junkie?
• Storyboard: Army of me
• Betawatch: October 8-14, 2011
• Wasteland Diaries: Launch 2.0
• Overshadowed by the Charr and undervalued by all: New Guild Wars 2 blog investigates the Grawl
• SOE's John Smedley weighs in on the recent hacks
• SWTOR opens the Operations holonet page
• Some Assembly Required: Quest building with SWG's Chronicles
• SWTOR trailer revels in the signs of war
• Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary looks at melee classes
• SWTOR's EU launch moved up to December 20th
• Prius Online's Stronghold of the North expansion coming October 26th
• Play games, heal kids: It's time for Extra Life 2011
• Perpetuum upgrading to shader 3.0
• Ship spinning returns to EVE Online
• GDC Online 2011 hits record attendance

New documentary follows the Race to World First Posted: 15 Oct 2011 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Video, Culture, News items, Miscellaneous MMO players, have you ever thought that your in-game exploits were worthy of a feature film? Well, they probably aren't, but at the very least they're worth a documentary! An upcoming documentary film by the name of "Race to World First" is about the World of Warcraft guild Blood Legion and its journey to become the number one guild in the world. The only catch is that the current numero uno guild is the internet-famous Paragon. The full documentary can be watched at Looking for Group Productions' website for the meager fee of $2.99. If you'd like a peek at what you'd be getting yourself into, follow on past the cut to watch the documentary's trailer. Continue reading New documentary follows the Race to World First New documentary follows the Race to World First originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Ten Ton Hammer

Clone Wars Adventures gets new starter zone, mini-game, and more Posted: 15 Oct 2011 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, News items, Free-to-play, Casual, Family, Clone Wars Adventures Things have been busy over at Sony Online Entertainment's Clone Wars Adventures, it would seem. The game just received a sizeable update, which brings a new mini-game, a new starting area, and a number of new outfits and pets to the game. The new mini-game comes in the form of Aquatic Assault, a top-down shoot-'em-up that puts players in the tentacles of the Nautolan Jedi Kit Fisto as he attempts to fend off Separatist and Quarren forces from his ship. New players are also in for a treat, as all new characters will begin in the just-added Ryloth Battle zone, which is an outdoor environment where a battle between Republic troops and renegade battle droids rages on. For those who would prefer to stay indoors, though, SOE has added a new Featured Homes browser, which lets players browse through player houses that have been deemed particularly snazzy. A number of new items are available as well, such as Commander Wolffe's armor, Jawa and momong pets, holoprojector costumes, and housing decoration items. If you're interested in checking out all these new additions, just head on over to the game's official site. Clone Wars Adventures gets new starter zone, mini-game, and more originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Clone Wars Adventures: Aliens and Attackers!

WRUP: Obscure Transformer toys edition Posted: 15 Oct 2011 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Massively meta, Miscellaneous Apparently, Japan is getting a whole bunch of Transformers next year based off of guys that are beyond obscure. They're giving Enemy and Stripes toys, and you'd have to be insanely familiar with the franchise to know who those two characters are. So where's my Xaaron? Impactor? Dare I even ask for Flame? There's a whole pantheon of characters with big roles in stories and no toys for years. Don't laugh, we finally got a Straxus, there is hope. Now that I'm done with the usual lead-in that no one cares about, it's time for the part that everyone cares about -- this week's edition of WRUP! Join us past the cut when the Massively staff shares what we'll be doing for the weekend, as well as our thoughts about making a character concept and checking it twice. And when you're done reading our plans, let us know yours in the comments! Continue reading WRUP: Obscure Transformer toys edition WRUP: Obscure Transformer toys edition originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Daily Grind: Are you a screenshot junkie? Posted: 15 Oct 2011 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Screenshots, Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous For some of us, the screenshot button that most games feature is essentially a way to save embarrassing or inflammatory conversations for later laughter or blackmail. But for other players, it's the window into a game and it will be worn down to a nub before too long. Whatever your program of choice, some players bring out their inner photographer in-game, producing galleries of images rendered with astonishing care and attention to detail. Of course, screenshots are a great way to get a sense for the look of the game, and having a large collection of them is certainly an advantage when you're writing for a site that uses a lot of different shots as header images. Much like any other part of the game, some players love it and some players kind of ignore it. So where do you fall? Do you absolutely adore capturing screenshots? Or is it something that just happens occasionally, sometimes accompanied by looking back and wishing you'd gotten a picture? 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! The Daily Grind: Are you a screenshot junkie? originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 15 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Storyboard: Army of me Posted: 14 Oct 2011 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous There are, sadly, more character concepts in pretty much every game on the market than there is time for me to play them all. This is a horrible setup, and I've lodged a complaint with the management, but I'm not expecting any sort of response. Mercifully, in the vast majority of games, you can at least somewhat sidestep this issue by using up all of your character slots on alts. If the game gives us 12 character spaces, the odds are good that many of us will have 12 characters within a month, with that number only changing as we kill off some of that number or get more slots. All of this leads to another problem, though. If you play Alice and someone else plays Bob, there's plenty of space for the two of them to interact. But if you play Alice and Claire and Bob interacts with both of them, eventually, logic would dictate that Alice and Claire ought to interact with one another. And that's not just problematic from the standpoint of interacting with yourself; in many cases the game outright disallows that sort of login-juggling. Suddenly you need two characters to talk, and there's no way to even get them sharing the same room. Continue reading Storyboard: Army of me Storyboard: Army of me originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Betawatch: October 8-14, 2011 Posted: 14 Oct 2011 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Massively meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous Welcome to Betawatch, Massively's weekly report on the state of MMO betas. In each installment, we'll report everything from the latest open betas, closed betas and even alphas in one convenient place. Plus, we'll make sure to include as much info on each game's current status, including projected release dates (if known) and links to the sign-up forms to get yourself into that beta you've been seeking. You'll notice the absence of Dawn of Fantasy from the Betawatch list this week -- 505 Games has launched the title, and we wish the game the best of luck! Age of Wulin joins our closed beta list, so if you're a sandbox fan, you'll definitely want to sign up. Follow along after the jump for the latest Betawatch list. Continue reading Betawatch: October 8-14, 2011 Betawatch: October 8-14, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Wasteland Diaries: Launch 2.0 Posted: 14 Oct 2011 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Economy, Patches, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, Wasteland Diaries, Post-Apocalyptic, Crafting Fallen Earth is officially free-to-play with patch 2.0. There are very few restrictions on the free accounts, so if you haven't at least tried it out, you really have no excuse. If it's been a while since you've played, you might want to pop in and check it out. A lot has changed, and there's no need to sub up to take a look. The world is pretty well populated now. Even Los Alamos was crowded again, like it used to be over a year ago. The starter towns were packed with new players all running around with their axes and air rifles. The population is certainly healthy at the moment; hopefully it will last. It's been over two years since Fallen Earth went live, and it's also probably been over two years since the wasteland has had so many people in it. LifeNet gear is back in style again. Players are trotting around on "Old Nags," and the Help channel is a fusillade of questions that many of the more helpful and knowledgeable players try to keep up with. I spent a few hours traveling around and watching the crowds. Seeing the swarms of players and the dead mobs littering the desert sand in Sector 1 reminded me of launch day back in September of '09. But the difference is this: There are more players everywhere, which means many of the old players have returned as well. I've noticed some big changes already, and I'll share those with you right after the cut. Continue reading Wasteland Diaries: Launch 2.0 Wasteland Diaries: Launch 2.0 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Overshadowed by the Charr and undervalued by all: New Guild Wars 2 blog investigates the Grawl Posted: 14 Oct 2011 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Races The Charr bully them, the Asura look down on them, and the humans see them as general-purpose bad guys who are to be farmed endlessly for their necklaces. The Grawl are the Rodney Dangerfield race of Guild Wars, but things might be looking up a tiny bit in Guild Wars 2. At the very least, ArenaNet is giving the race some love. The latest ArenaNet blog post, Planet of the Grawl, gives fans an in-depth look at the history, society, and religion of the Grawl. The creatures haven't had much of a chance to evolve, so while fans of the current game will find them pretty familiar, we'll know them better. Jeff Grubb is the mind behind these new details, and he describes the Grawl as a "deeply religous, shamanistic people," with religious squabbles being the source of a fair amount of their problems. He goes on to explain how the spiritual side of Grawl society works, how they interact with the rest of Tyria, and more -- even noting some of their early design iterations. Take a look at the ArenaNet blog for the full scoop on the Grawl! Overshadowed by the Charr and undervalued by all: New Guild Wars 2 blog investigates the Grawl originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: ArenaNet blog

SOE's John Smedley weighs in on the recent hacks Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous You'd think putting the words Sony and hack together in the same sentence would give John Smedley a minor heart attack. Not so, according to a GameSpot writer who spoke with Sony Online Entertainment's CEO at the recent GDC Austin event. Unlike the lengthy service outage that cost the company some credibility (and millions of dollars) earlier this year, the latest attempted security breach was neither widespread nor particularly effective, according to Smedley. It's also likely that the problem didn't stem from compromised Sony network data. "We've said publicly when we were compromised before that the information is out there and could have been used. That was obviously the first thing we looked at. Then we did the mathematical analysis and said 'obviously that's not what happened.' I'm not going to say it's impossible [{that}the info came from Sony]. We just think that's not the most likely case," Smedley explained. SOE's John Smedley weighs in on the recent hacks originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: GameSpot Via: Game Politics

SWTOR opens the Operations holonet page Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, New titles, Endgame, Star Wars: The Old Republic Star Wars: The Old Republic does everything slightly different from other MMOs on the market. Of course, the principle difference is personal story, which is woven into every bit of gameplay. Even the traditional raids are slightly different. In SWTOR, these highly dangerous group encounters are called Operations -- large, story-driven encounters for either faction. Today, the BioWare development team released a new page on the official website highlighting this endgame content. The Eternity Vault Operation is presented through images of the opening cutscene, part of the first encounter, and the end boss, the Infernal One. The videos included had been presented previously during E3 and PAX East as the Eternity Vault trailer and walkthrough video. However, at the bottom of the page sits an image that does not fit the Eternity Vault encounter, followed by these cryptic words: "Even though the Eternity Vault is featured prominently here, it is not the only high-level Operation for you to experience in Star Wars: The Old Republic. More will be revealed..." As soon as we know exactly what those words mean, we will let you know in our continued coverage of this highly anticipated title. SWTOR opens the Operations holonet page originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: SWTOR Holonet

Some Assembly Required: Quest building with SWG's Chronicles Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:30 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, Opinion, Star Wars Galaxies, Guides, Some Assembly Required, Sandbox What? A tease you say? No I'm... OK, maybe just a little. But that's really not to be helped. If you wonder why we are seeming to delve into Star Wars Galaxies a bit more than other games right now, it is because we have to cover it before the lights go out, else how would you have a chance to go in and explore it for yourself? And the fact that the suns are going to permanently set over Tatooine in a couple of months does not negate the fact that there are some impressive features in the game worth highlighting! Hopefully, by doing so, not only will players be able to take some time to enjoy them while they can, but other developers will get the hint and start incorporating more into their titles. What feature is the focal point of this eighth edition of Some Assembly Required? In case you missed it hidden so sneakily in the title, it's SWG's Chronicles system. You can't define player-generated content any better than with sharable quests created by the players themselves. Sure, other games have quest builders (the question is why don't more?!), but Galaxies has some unique elements. If you have been gone from the game so long that you have no idea what I am talking about, take heart: Today's guide will explore this feature and walk you through exactly how to get started. If you have an active subscription to take advantage of the final months of this epic sandbox, you can hop into game and tinker with Chronicles before it is gone for good. Trust me, it is worth it. Hop a landrover and zoom past the cut for a look at SWG's version of build-a-quest. Continue reading Some Assembly Required: Quest building with SWG's Chronicles Some Assembly Required: Quest building with SWG's Chronicles originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SWTOR trailer revels in the signs of war Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, Star Wars: The Old Republic "Peace between Republic and Empire is crumbling. Every world, signs of war." Thus begins a two-minute journey through Star Wars: The Old Republic's setting, as the narrator takes us to a half-dozen worlds where conflict is brewing, people are being stabbed in the back, Bantha raiders are waving sticks above their heads, and players' mouths are salivating. This new trailer, Signs of War, is being shown this weekend at the New York Comic Con. While it might not be packed with new information, it's certainly a pulse-pounding buildup to this December's launch. From Jedi to Agents, every class gets its little moment to shine in it, packaged between explosions and large-scale conflict. You can watch the full trailer after the jump! Continue reading SWTOR trailer revels in the signs of war SWTOR trailer revels in the signs of war originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Star Wars: The Old Republic

Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary looks at melee classes Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, News items, Dev Diaries Last week, Ignited Games announced the upcoming 2-D side-scroller WindSlayer 2. This week, the title is back for more with a new developer diary that looks at the game's melee classes. Those who prefer to go wading into battle on the front lines will have three choices: the valiant Warrior, the dexterous Rogue, or the enlightened Monk. For the full details on each of these classes, head on past the cut for the full dev diary. And once you're done, don't forget to head on over to the game's official site (linked below) to register for a shot at a spot in the closed beta test. Continue reading Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary looks at melee classes Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary looks at melee classes originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

SWTOR's EU launch moved up to December 20th Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:15 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Launches, New titles, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic For all of you European Star Wars: The Old Republic fans out there who were planning to be sick from work on December 22nd for the game's launch, you'll now be doing it two days earlier. That's right -- if you plan to play the game at retail launch, you'll be doing it on the same day as the Yanks in North America: December 20th. The announcement was made today during BioWare's New York Comic-Con panel, where our sister site Joystiq grabbed the news. Stay tuned to Massively for more from SWTOR and NYCC as it becomes available. SWTOR's EU launch moved up to December 20th originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Via: Joystiq

Prius Online's Stronghold of the North expansion coming October 26th Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Dungeons Remember Prius Online? No, it's not the game where you're a corporate lawyer helping Toyota dodge a bunch of brake-related lawsuits. It's the one where you're the hero of a fantasy world, possessed of a Giga pet and a strange companion called an Anima (the latter of which has a dark and mysterious past that you must unravel as you battle your way through the game world). Yeah, it's that Prius, and gPotato has just issued a new press release for the game's Stronghold of the North expansion content. New dungeons, new quests (500 of them), and a new level cap (70) are on tap, and the company promises more details to follow before the patch's October 26th launch date. Head to the official Prius Online website to learn more. [Source: gPotato press release] Prius Online's Stronghold of the North expansion coming October 26th originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Play games, heal kids: It's time for Extra Life 2011 Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:30 PM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, Massively meta, Livestream, Miscellaneous Extra Life is upon us once again. Arguably the biggest annual charity event in the gaming world, Extra Life challenges gamers from all over to round up sponsors for their individual gaming marathons in support of Children's Miracle Network hospitals. Massively's own Beau Hindman will be one of those stepping up to the plate for a 24-hour gaming marathon. He'll be on Massively's Livestream channel beginning tomorrow morning, October 15th, at 9:00 a.m. EST to stream a variety of games. Want to help out? Visit Beau's donation page to contribute any amount, then check out his Livestream beginning tomorrow morning. Want more? Follow along after the jump for a roundup of our Extra Life posts from this week, and be sure to leave a comment and let us know about other MMO-related Extra Life events -- particularly those that you're involved in! Continue reading Play games, heal kids: It's time for Extra Life 2011 Play games, heal kids: It's time for Extra Life 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Perpetuum upgrading to shader 3.0 Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Perpetuum, Dev Diaries, Sandbox Avatar Creations has posted a new Perpetuum dev blog that heralds the coming of shader 3.0. This is either great news or irritating news depending on what kind of gaming rig you run, but either way, change is coming. The sci-fi sandbox game launched with model 2.0 shaders because Avatar wanted to make it as accessible as possible for as many people as possible, and because the team initially lacked DirectX experience. Now, though, Avatar has "reached the limits of shader model 2.0," and needs to upgrade the game in a visual sense without "going through significant hacks that reduce client performance and mess up the codebase." Shader 3.0 is the answer, and the dev blog serves as a warning that the game's minimum hardware requirements will be changing. "As the vast majority of you have hardware that supports SM3, the change will only affect a handful of players," Avatar states. Perpetuum upgrading to shader 3.0 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Perpetuum dev blog

Ship spinning returns to EVE Online Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, Sandbox Everyone knows that internet spaceships are serious business. Relatively few, however, recognize the grave importance of EVE Online's late great ship spinning mechanic. Happily for the hardcore, those few include CCP developers, and as we mentioned a few weeks ago, one of New Eden's favorite pastimes is coming back from the dead. A new CCP dev blog spills the beans on the release date, and EVE vets will probably be thrilled to hear that ship-spinning is coming to the Singularity test shard today. The feature is tentatively scheduled to return to the Tranquility live server on October 18th during an extended downtime beginning at 11:00 UTC. CCP has also added the old hangar interface functionality back into the EVE client, and users with sub-optimal Incarna computer specs (or those who simply hate walking in stations) can opt to turn off the game's captain's quarters and party like it's 2010. A weekend discount on PLEX has also been announced. Ship spinning returns to EVE Online originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: EVE dev blog

GDC Online 2011 hits record attendance Posted: 14 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous This week's Game Developers Conference Online in Austin, TX finished on a high note yesterday, as it saw record numbers this year: 3,350. This marks a 12% bump over 2010, which is good news for the conference organizers as they start to lay plans for 2012. GDC Online 2011 held over 145 panels, keynotes and discussions and culminated with the Game Developers Choice Online Awards that, among other honors handed out, inducted EverQuest into the Hall of Fame. We've had Massively reporters on the scene at GDC Online 2011 all week long, so if you missed it, it's never too late to catch up on all of the design theory and frank developer talk. GDC Online will be returning to Austin on October 8th, 2012. GDC Online 2011 hits record attendance originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Gamasutra

You are subscribed to email updates from Massively To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

MMORPG News

---

• Guild Wars 2: All About the Grawl
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: NY Comicon Trailer - Signs of War
• Star Wars: The Old Republic: Three Intriguing Nuggets of Info Out of NYCC
• Aion: PvP Extravaganza Trailer
• The Secret World: New Screens Show Off Factions & Environments
• Aion: I'm a PvE Carebear But...

Guild Wars 2: All About the Grawl Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:59 PM PDT The Grawl were one of the most prolific monsters in the original Guild Wars and will be making a reappearance in Guild Wars 2. A new blog post detailing the Grawl race has cropped up on the Arena.Net blog.

Star Wars: The Old Republic: NY Comicon Trailer - Signs of War Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:42 PM PDT Bioware and the Star Wars: The Old Republic team have released a brand new trailer. The video was shown at the 2011 New York Comicon and is called "Signs of War".

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Three Intriguing Nuggets of Info Out of NYCC Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:12 PM PDT During NY Comicon today, the team behind Star Wars: The Old Republic announced a new operation/raid that will involve the Hutts. At this point, the operation is unnamed.

Aion: PvP Extravaganza Trailer Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:50 AM PDT The Aion team has released a new trailer showing off some of the new PvP content that will be featured in the upcoming patch.

The Secret World: New Screens Show Off Factions & Environments Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:47 AM PDT Funcom and The Secret World team have released a cool half dozen new screenshots that show off the environments around the New York area as well as some faction fashion looks. Check them all out in our Secret World screenshot gallery.

Aion: I'm a PvE Carebear But... Posted: 14 Oct 2011 10:04 AM PDT MMORPG.com Associate Editor Suzie Ford recently had the opportunity to check out the upcoming Aion v2.7 patch with the dev team. The forthcoming patch has a heavy emphasis on PvP play and, while Suzie is a total carebear, she found a lot to like during her time on the public test server. Check out Suzie's impressions of the v2.7 patch. Read on!

You are subscribed to email updates from MMORPG.COM News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

General gaming

---

• NYCC: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva Brings the Games to Film with Style
• Review: Guardian Heroes Storms Back From the Dead
• NYCC: Street Fighter X Tekken Gets an Early March Release Date, Special Edition
• NYCC: The Amazing Spider-Man Movie Has a Videogame Tie-In
• NYCC: What's the Oldest Video Game for Sale at the Show?
• Why We Play Japanese Games
• NYCC: Suddenly the Star Wars Kinect Xbox 360 Seems a Lot Less Cool
• NYCC: Mega Man Legends 3 Cast on the Rebound
• Resistance 3 Sold Only 180,000 Units in the U.S. Last Month
• Xbox Live Accounts Targeted in FIFA DLC Scam

NYCC: Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva Brings the Games to Film with Style Posted: 14 Oct 2011 09:26 PM PDT 1UP's resident Batman expert, Thierry Nguyen, once told me that one of the most basic canonical facts in DC Comics' style guide is that Batman always wins. Over in Japan, on the even more hardboiled side of things, you have Golgo-13, the emotionless sniper who never misses his shot. And now it seems Level-5 is making a serious bid to boost their own leading man, Hershel Layton, to those vaunted heights. With their new (or at least newly translated into English) film Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, a new bit of fictive infallibility has come to light: Professor Layton always has the answer.

Review: Guardian Heroes Storms Back From the Dead Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:10 PM PDT 2011 seems destined to be the Year of the HD Remake. With major publishers raiding their back catalogs for material to resell, both retail shelves and online marketplaces seem increasingly packed with familiar games from the last console generation (and beyond). These revivals often play on the strength of a popular brand such as Resident Evil and Metal Gear Solid. Other times, an HD remake can offer a little-known game a second chance. One such remake hitting the Xbox Live Arcade this week is Guardian Heroes, a cult favorite and critical darling that had the misfortune of being a Sega Saturn exclusive. The sprawling beat-em-up with RPG stat-management and multiple endings never found the audience it deserved in 1996, but fifteen years later it still represents one of the best examples of the genre.

NYCC: Street Fighter X Tekken Gets an Early March Release Date, Special Edition Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:03 PM PDT A March release for Street Fighter X Tekken was looking highly and we've now gotten confirmation that's the case. Better yet, it'll be out earlier in the month than we previously suspected. A fact sheet for the game sent out in August listed it with a spring 2012 release. With spring starting during the latter half of the month and Capcom's sales forecast saying the game would be out before April 1, March 27 was the only date that seemed to fit. Instead, the game will be out right before the end of winter, on March 6 in North America. The date was revealed at a New York Comic Con panel today along with a March 9 date for the game in Europe.

NYCC: The Amazing Spider-Man Movie Has a Videogame Tie-In Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:35 PM PDT Men in Black III isn't the only 2012 movie with an Activision game tie-in being revealed this week. As spotted at New York Comic-Con today, the poster you see above for The Amazing Spider-Man features the Activision logo and an ESRB "Rating Pending" mark. No developer is listed, though Beenox appears to be the one behind it. That makes sense as it was responsible for the two most recent Spider-Man games, Edge of Time and Shattered Dimensions. Edge of Time came out earlier this month. The Amazing Spider-Man is set for release on July 3, 2012, and one would think the game will be released as close as possible to that date. That would give Beenox a fairly short amount of time -- not even a full year -- to develop the new game.

NYCC: What's the Oldest Video Game for Sale at the Show? Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:02 PM PDT At any nerd culture event like New York Comic-Con, the dealer's room is always fairly massive and includes local video game peddlers eager to share their wares with the public. Sometimes, the games in question are downright ancient -- most dealers' offerings fizzle out around the NES era, but every once in a while there's some real legacy content. This year's NYCC is no different, with a handful of the countless retail booths selling Atari VCS games, Intellivision carts, Game & Watch systems, and even older wares. Still, the absolute oldest video game item at the show appears to be this Pong clone, which my Internet research suggests was produced by a German company as one of countless ripoffs of Atari's home game megahit. I can't find a specific date for this particular unit, because it's pretty obscure even as far as Pong clones go, but chatter on AtariAge and other, similar collector forums pins its chip design to about 1977. That makes it roughly a year older than the Magnavox Odyssey2 being sold in the same booth (it hails from 1978).

Why We Play Japanese Games Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:37 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet Why We Play Japanese Games All the reasons we still can't get enough of Eastern-developed games. By: Nadia Oxford October 14, 2011 Most 20- and- 30-somethings probably owe their first gaming experience to the tangle of American-made consoles and computers that blew through the late '70s and early '80s. But it was arguably Nintendo Entertainment System and its accompanying games that immersed us neck-deep in a fantasy worlds populated by dragons, robots, and princesses in peril -- worlds we didn't want to leave, much to our parents' chagrin. Japan's contribution to video games gave the North American side of the industry a shot of adrenaline right in the heart. For years, kids in English-speaking countries associated Japan with video games (for better or worse), to the point that some of us were inspired to study the language and then look overseas for jobs in the industry.

NYCC: Suddenly the Star Wars Kinect Xbox 360 Seems a Lot Less Cool Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:33 PM PDT Wandering through the floor of New York Comic-Con this afternoon, I had to stop and gawk at the neatly crafted R2-D2 and R2-Q5 statuettes adorning the table of Major League Mods because, well, I'm a sucker for astromechs. But then I noticed the miniature robots had game controllers in front of them. Then I realized that they are, in fact, functional game systems: Artoo is an Xbox 360, while his darker counterpart is, naturally, a PlayStation 3. Not only that, but in a nod of the hat to the movies that inspired these amazing frivolities, Artoo's projector (with which he beamed Princess Leia's holographic distress signal) is, in fact, a real-life projector. I thought I was in love with Microsoft's limited edition Xbox 360 bundle for Star Wars Kinect, but now I'm not so sure. On the other hand, these custom mods are priced according to their ability to inspire awe, coming in at a cool $1200. Expensive, sure; but to be fair, their creator (Major League Mods owner Mark Bongo) builds each one to order. He also does randomly awesome other mods, like a 2.1 stereo speaker system built into a glossy Death Star, and an Xbox 360 slim model customized to look like Iron Man's convertible briefcase armor.

NYCC: Mega Man Legends 3 Cast on the Rebound Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:25 PM PDT Are you still bummed about the fact that Capcom canned Mega Man Legends 3? 'Cause I sure am. But at least the cast isn't taking defeat lying down. That there on the left is Mega Man Legends villainess/love interest Tron Bonne gettin' down to Just Dance 3. She seemed to enjoying herself. Good to see the characters bouncing back, even if fans are having trouble letting go.

Resistance 3 Sold Only 180,000 Units in the U.S. Last Month Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:43 PM PDT Sony's big PlayStation 3 exclusive for September was Insomniac's Resistance 3. With the release of the NPD Group's monthly numbers yesterday, we saw it was among the ten best-selling games in the United States, coming in at number seven. Without sales numbers, though, its position on the sales chart means very little. Thanks to the NPD opening up a bit, we now know the number of copies it sold, and it's less than half of what Resistance 2 did during its first month. Eurogamer was told by NPD analyst Anita Frazier that Resistance 3 sold 180,000 units in the United States during September. That's significantly fewer than one would expect from a big-name FPS franchise, particularly given it had almost the full month to sell (it was released on September 6) and a relatively comfortable, two-week gap between it and other big shooter releases Deus Ex: Human Revolution (August 23) and Gears of War 3 (September 20). Resistance 2's debut was even further down the top ten than R3 -- it came in at number nine back in November 2008. The difference is it sold 385,000 units in the U.S. despite going up against Call of Duty: World at War, Gears of War 2, Left 4 Dead, and the Wii's onslaught of games like Wii Play and Wii Fit.

Xbox Live Accounts Targeted in FIFA DLC Scam Posted: 14 Oct 2011 01:11 PM PDT Update: Electronic Arts claims FIFA 12 isn't attracting hackers at an especially high rate. "We haven't seen a spike or increase in reports of FIFA 12 players having their accounts hacked," said an EA rep in a statement sent to Giant Bomb. "With the launch of FIFA 12 it likely has just shifted renewed focus onto this particular game." Microsoft also expanded upon its original statement, adding that it's a coincidence that FIFA is a common element in many of these hacking reports. "It's not a title-specific issue and is coincidental that FIFA has been tied to a number of compromised accounts," a Microsoft rep said.

You are subscribed to email updates from 1UP RSS feed To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610