| MMObility: Exploring a tiny universe in Pocket Galaxy Posted: 10 May 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Screenshots, Video, EVE Online, Game Mechanics, New Titles, Previews, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Casual, MMObility Pocket Galaxy, a new sci-fi mobile MMO, is relatively impressive at first. It's a nice looking game that feels like a cross between Dark Orbit, Asteroids, and EVE Online and seems to be pretty casual and cheap to play. These things make me happy. I've adopted a casual playstyle because of my need to be the guy who plays every single game he sees, and that has had the side effect of making casual gaming perfect for me. For example, a Pocket Galaxy player who wants to craft more ammo for one of her guns needs to create the items by waiting a certain amount of real time that can be shortened by using cash. Many players might see this as some sort of money-grab. I see it as a casual game with the option to speed up build times, but then again... I'm patient. Continue reading MMObility: Exploring a tiny universe in Pocket Galaxy  MMObility: Exploring a tiny universe in Pocket Galaxy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| City of Steam opens beta doors at 10 pm tonight Posted: 10 May 2013 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New Titles, News Items, Free-to-Play, Browser, City of Steam, Steampunk If you've been eagerly awaiting your chance to get into the browser-based steampunk goodness of City of Steam, your wait is nearly over. Clear your Friday night plans because in just a few hours at 10:00 p.m. EDT, the city of Nexus will be welcoming its new residents. And you won't be needing any early access key, as Mechanist Games is throwing the beta doors open wide for any and all! Returning testers will notice many new features have been added since the closed beta runs, like events, a plethora of new cosmetic items, and more streamlined skill, talent, and crafting systems. And jetpacks -- who can forget the jetpacks! Players will also find over 80 dungeons, over 100 quests, new PvP maps, open Wilderness levels, customizable gear, and more... and that's only to start! The devs have an aggressive release schedule plan of adding new features and content on an almost bi-weekly basis throughout the beta. For more details on what you can expect, check out Massively's hands-on experience as well as the official open beta features list. [Source: Mechanist Games press release] City of Steam opens beta doors at 10 pm tonight originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Massively Exclusive: How WildStar has the power to move you Posted: 10 May 2013 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Interviews, News Items, WildStar Movement does not normally seem like a complicated topic in MMOs. You press forward; your character goes forward. Backward? Same deal. You can turn, and you can strafe, and you can turn and strafe and run forward if you're some kind of rebel or you want to give yourself motion sickness. But WildStar makes movement a bigger deal than normal because with a greater emphasis on action comes a greater emphasis on moving out of the path of danger. The latest official video covers all the basics of movement, from dashing to sprinting to pining for the presumably nonexistent quadruple jump. But we had a chance to sit down with lead combat systems designer Chris Lynch and lead class designer Hugh Shelton to talk about more of the specifics, starting with the obvious question: What beast must we slay to unlock the all-powerful quadruple jump? Wait, that wasn't it. It was about chaining movement tricks together in an endless cycle of airborne dashes. Continue reading Massively Exclusive: How WildStar has the power to move you Massively Exclusive: How WildStar has the power to move you originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Age of Wushu hosts a Royal Celebration Posted: 10 May 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), New Titles, Free-to-Play, Sandbox, Age of Wushu Party like it's 2013! Snail Games invites players in the world of Jianghu to join in a special Age of Wushu Royal Celebration starting today. This celebration will have various events sprinkled throughout the month, from earning rewards just for just logging in to chances to face and fight world bosses for their loot. And the rewards themselves range from gift packs to buff items to VIP bonuses. Want to earn a special gift pack? Log in for one hour a day and you'll get one for each day. Players who manage to spend at least two hours online every day for the entire week will earn a much larger reward that includes a 30-day mount and a number of buffs and bonuses. Gain even more rewards for leveling school inner skills and for being a VIP. The event is open to all players regardless of school or skills. For a full listing of the events and their accompanying rewards, check out the official event schedule. [Source: Snail Games press release] Age of Wushu hosts a Royal Celebration originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Second Wind: Age of Conan Posted: 10 May 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Video, Age of Conan, Game Mechanics, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-Play, Hands-On, Humor, Livestream, Second Wind I remember playing Age of Conan when it first came out; it seems like an eternity ago. So many titles have been released and failed since then that it's easy to get it all mixed up, and it doesn't help when many of those titles are sub-par or just plain boring and forgettable. Age of Conan sort of messed with my head with its insistent instancing and odd combat mechanics. I just couldn't wrap my head around what the game was trying to do. Is it a hardcore PvP-centric MMO? Many would say so. Is it a grand, single-player adventure? In some ways. Is it an immersive romp through the long-lived lore of Conan the Barbarian? I guess so. It's a bit of all of these but does none of them perfectly. I decided to jump back into the game because the last time I played it was when it switched over to its odd freemium model that is all-too-common in Western MMOs these days. Continue reading Second Wind: Age of Conan Second Wind: Age of Conan originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Should World of Warcraft go free-to-play? Posted: 10 May 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Business Models, MMO Industry, Opinion, Free-to-Play, The Daily Grind There's only one Western subscription MMO that can stand to lose 1.3 million subs in three months and shrug it off: World of Warcraft. But shrug it off doesn't appear to what Activision-Blizzard is doing. During the investor call that revealed the heavy sub losses, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick acknowledged the changing market and his plans to adapt with speedier content. "It's important to note that the nature of online games has changed," he said, "and [that] the environment [is] becoming far more competitive, especially with free-to-play games." And Blizzard president Mike Morhaime suggested the company is "studying" the comings and goings of players and how to entice former players to return. Well, we don't have to look much further than Star Wars: The Old Republic's recent rejuvenation to figure out that free-to-play is one of the better ways to entice gamers to return (and open their wallets). Surely, Blizzard has to be wondering whether F2P might be a huge boost to the game as it's approaching its ninth birthday later this year. What do you think -- will World of Warcraft eventually go free-to-play, and more importantly, should it?  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: Should World of Warcraft go free-to-play? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 10 May 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Get some Defiance DLC with a side of free updates Posted: 09 May 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Business Models, Patches, News Items, Consoles, Defiance, Buy-to-Play Now that Defiance is live and has gone through the usual slew of launch-day messes, it's time for the developers to start thinking about the future. That means DLC. The latest development blog explains both what the team is doing to address the game's issues and how DLC will be released in a tiered system, with every major DLC update containing upgrades to the cash shop, a paid DLC component, and a free update for everyone. The first DLC is already en route, and its $10 paid component allows players to make a Castithan character, access a unique storyline, and gain some special vehicles and outfits. Even if you don't pay for the DLC, you'll have access to new Castithan Blades, and a new open world game mode called Siege, and can earn new Charge Weapons. The game's store, meanwhile, will allow you to tint your Castithan Blades, buy new lockboxes or vehicles, and re-customize your character. There's a little something for everyone playing the game, and that's the ultimate goal. Get some Defiance DLC with a side of free updates originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Star Trek Online announces Tribble Test Weekend Posted: 09 May 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Expansions, Previews, News Items, Star Trek Online, Free-to-Play Star Trek Online's first expansion, Legacy of Romulus, is going to be launching in less than two weeks, and to build up some hype for the new addition, the folks at Cryptic have deemed this weekend a Tribble Test Weekend. Beginning tomorrow, players can log on to the Tribble test server and get their first look at the new content coming when Legacy of Romulus goes live on the 21st. But if that's not enough to enthuse you to play on the test server, Cryptic is sweetening the deal. Any players who log in and play on the Tribble server for at least one hour over the course of the weekend will receive a special to-be-announced reward after Legacy of Romulus is released. For the full details on this Tribble Test Weekend, just head on over to the game's official site. Star Trek Online announces Tribble Test Weekend originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: How do assassins work in League of Legends? Posted: 09 May 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: PvP, Opinion, Free-to-Play, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook In case you didn't notice, the title of this week's column is a question. It's not because I know the answer; it's because I've been thinking a lot about it lately and don't have a really good answer. Assassins are in a strange state when it comes to teamfights. In League of Legends, there's a period when teams tend to group up to fight over objectives. This marks the midgame in Summoner's Rift, it happens after altars unlock in Twisted Treeline, and it occurs anytime both teams know where the other team is on the Crystal Scar. We've discussed teamfights a lot already, but what is troubling is the presence of assassins in these fights. Assassins are best when they're able to jump in and kill an unprepared target, ideally before a teamfight starts. Once that's done, their team can jump in with a numbers advantage and take the objective or wipe out the enemy. When both teams are grouped up ahead of time, assassins lose a lot of their might. Assassins can't kill without exposing themselves to heavy risk, which makes them a liability to their team until they jump in. After they jump in, they're still likely to be the first ones to get focused down. What do we do about this? What's the solution? I don't have a clear answer -- but I can still share my observations. Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: How do assassins work in League of Legends? The Summoner's Guidebook: How do assassins work in League of Legends? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Diablo III auction house down for 'at least another 24 hours' Posted: 09 May 2013 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Bugs, News Items, Diablo III Diablo III's auction house continues to be the stuff of legends. You may remember that a couple of days ago, the Diablo III auction house went down for a time due to a gold duplication bug that was being rampantly exploited by players. Thankfully, a patch was deployed in a nice, timely manner, and everything ended up all right. Or did it? Rather than performing a server rollback, which would set all Diablo III players back, Blizzard has decided to perform a complete audit of the transactions made on the auction house in order to find players guilty of utilizing the gold duplication exploit. Unfortunately, Blizz was a bit conservative in its estimate of how long the auction house would be down. While there's currently no new ETA for the auction house's return, a post by Blizzard CM Lylirra states that the studio anticipates the AH being down for "at least another 24 hours" while the audits are in progress. Diablo III auction house down for 'at least another 24 hours' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Atlantica Online goes to West Atlantis Posted: 09 May 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Patches, Free-to-Play Atlantica Online is in the middle of a three-patches-in-three-months cycle right now, starting with Awakening, moving on to Ascension, and finishing up with Judgment. The Ascension patch has gone live with a host of additional content for the game including the journey to West Atlantis. The new zone of West Atlantis is a former technological haven turned centaur refuge and offers plenty of mysteries and adventures for the daring player. It's there that teams can tackle the Centaur Hero raid dungeon and hire a new merc named Chironia. Other changes that have come with the Ascension patch include an increased level cap to 160, the Transcendent Temple dungeon, and an array of new talents. You can watch the update trailer after the jump! Continue reading Atlantica Online goes to West Atlantis Atlantica Online goes to West Atlantis originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Neverwinter teases module 1 update Posted: 09 May 2013 01:00 PM PDT |
| Ask Massively: Trailers, emulators, and 'skill caps' Posted: 09 May 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO Industry, Opinion, Massively Meta, Legal, Humor, Ask Massively, Community Q&A, Miscellaneous, Crowdfunding, Player-Generated Content It's time for a grab bag edition of Ask Massively! A reader named Nicholas is up first: I was wondering if you could help me remember a game studio that was developing a new Korean action- MMORPG game engine (and it wasn't Bless, Blade and Soul, or ArcheAge). In the tech demo, no environment was being shown; it focused on the combat aspect of the engine. All the combat took place against a white background, and it was combo-based and reactive to hits. I remember a slow motion scene with an NPC being punched in the face and the face distorting. At the time, there were no announced games using the engine; the video was just showing what tech the game studio had developed. If it helps any, I remember the comments saying that the engine was just going to be vaporware. I think we might! Massively's Lis pegged it as NetEase's Dragon Sword trailer. +1 to Lis. Continue reading Ask Massively: Trailers, emulators, and 'skill caps' Ask Massively: Trailers, emulators, and 'skill caps' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| RuneScape coming to tablets this year Posted: 09 May 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Expansions, MMO Industry, RuneScape, Free-to-Play, Browser, Mobile RuneScape 3 is an ambitious project, especially for an MMO series as old as RuneScape's, but Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard told IGN in a recent interview that they're ready to take the wildly popular MMO to the next level. This not only means the previously announced change from a Java-based platform to HTML5, but it also means that the game will be coming to tablets by Q4 of this year. Gerhard also added that the possibility of a smartphone connection is there as well, but only as an addition to the overall game experience. Where else can Jagex go from here? Smart TVs? Consoles? Both are possibilities, according to Gerhard. RuneScape coming to tablets this year originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 09 May 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Compared to last year, Nvidia is moving in the right direction.
How high can Intel's Core i7 4770K go?
Smart device shipments are booming.
