| Jukebox Heroes: Tracy W. Bush opens up about WoW, Dungeon Runners, and DCUO Posted: 17 Sep 2013 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Interviews, DC Universe Online, Miscellaneous, Jukebox Heroes, Music Odds are that even if you don't know who Tracy W. Bush is, you've allowed him to pipe music from his mind directly into your ears at one point or another during your MMO gameplay. Bush has contributed to tons of MMO soundtracks over the past decade-plus, including World of Warcraft, Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners, Auto Assault, and DC Universe Online. It was actually this column's discussion of the Tabula Rasa soundtrack that prompted Bush to write in (fun fact: Blue Turns to Grey was the first track he wrote for the game, but the team held off putting it in until the very end), and I asked him if he'd be open to chatting about his collective work here. That didn't take much arm-twisting, no sirree. So with that, I'm going to turn the mike over to Tracy Bush and let him share with you what it's like to create soundscapes that echo so powerfully in your memories. Continue reading Jukebox Heroes: Tracy W. Bush opens up about WoW, Dungeon Runners, and DCUO  Jukebox Heroes: Tracy W. Bush opens up about WoW, Dungeon Runners, and DCUO originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Guild Wars 2's Tequatl Rising is live today Posted: 17 Sep 2013 09:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Patches, News Items, Guild Wars 2, Free-to-Play Any players planning on a journey in Tyria today had better watch their step; Tequatl the Sunless is back and is none too happy. Undead dragons have never been known for taking defeat well, and this one has evolved and returned to devour and destroy all who cross its path as Guild Wars 2's latest chapter of living world content, Tequatl Rising, goes live. This new update offers players a new group-combat experience as they band together to try and defeat this threat again. Victory, however, is far from assured, and failure is a very real option. So to help increase your odds, devs offer the following combat walk-through video from PAX Prime that might just have enough hints to help you hone your tactics. You can also join the devs for a livestream on Friday the 20th at 3:00 p.m. EDT on the official GW2 Twitch channel. [Source: ArenaNet press release] Continue reading Guild Wars 2's Tequatl Rising is live today Guild Wars 2's Tequatl Rising is live today originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Soapbox: Maybe it's time to admit that you don't like MMOs Posted: 17 Sep 2013 09:00 AM PDT |
| MechWarrior Online launch-day roundup Posted: 17 Sep 2013 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Launches, News Items, Free-to-Play, MechWarrior Online Many mech pilots may have already been duking it out on the battlefield during the soft launch open beta. But if anyone was waiting for MechWarrior Online to officially launch before getting really serious, today's the day. From here on out, MWO loses the beta tag and forges ahead as a fully launched title. Will that fact make the battles any more intense? You'll have to be the judge of that, so slip into your favorite mech and take to the battlefield to find out. And to help you gear up for those battles, we've assembled a collection of updates, tutorials, trailers, interviews, and hands-on experiences here for you. Continue reading MechWarrior Online launch-day roundup MechWarrior Online launch-day roundup originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Battle your inner demons in Age of Wushu's Possessed Encounters Posted: 17 Sep 2013 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Patches, PvE, Free-to-Play, Age of Wushu Age of Wushu will soon be introducing a new game mechanic that pits you against... yourself. The Possessed Encounter is a triggered event that will teleport you to an instance where you'll fight against a random Manifestation of Evil, complete with mirror counterparts of your character and any players with you. These encounters can be triggered by normal NPC battles, through collecting life skills, or even by an act of Jianghu (suicide). Each character can only activate a Possessed Encounter once per day, but you can join your friends in their trials twice. The Possessed Encounters -- as well as more promised winter content -- are coming soon. Battle your inner demons in Age of Wushu's Possessed Encounters originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Daily Grind: Who's your favorite villain? Posted: 17 Sep 2013 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, Lore, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous Sometimes villains are individuals, sometimes they're simply faceless armies. Sometimes they're major antagonists, sometimes they just harass you a bit in low-level zones. But every game has antagonists, even if they're no more organized than "those animals milling outside of the front gates." In EVE Online they might be other players, in World of Warcraft they change with the expansion, and in Guild Wars 2 they arrive gift-wrapped with two-week bursts of content to accompany their arrivals. In some games all you can do is kick them around a bit, while in some games your favorite villain has likely been met, matched, and defeated, never to rise again. So today we ask you: Who's your favorite villain? Is it a group of villains, like the Freakshow in City of Heroes? A single figure like Gaius van Baelsar in Final Fantasy XIV? Or is it just a group you personally hate, like every roaming aggressive animal on Voss in Star Wars: The Old Republic?  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: Who's your favorite villain? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Sep 2013 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| EverQuest Next's producer letter asks for more community feedback Posted: 16 Sep 2013 09:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Lore, News Items, EverQuest Next, Sandbox The development of EverQuest Next isn't meant to be sterile. Just as the game is meant to draw in players with a hankering for creative play patterns and original ideas, the development team wants to draw upon community involvement to help shape the path of both Landmark and the core game. So the first video producer's letter from senior producer Terry Michaels is as much about asking for more community interaction as it is talking up plans for development. Michaels states that the team will be discussing two major parts of Landmark in the near future: globetrotting and item creation (which he refers to as "break it, take it, make it"). The core game will also be expanded with the addition of a new lore story homing in on one of the new areas found in EverQuest Next. On both points, the need for community input and feedback is stressed. But you don't need to take our word for it -- view the full video just past the break. [Thanks to Tony for the tip!] Continue reading EverQuest Next's producer letter asks for more community feedback EverQuest Next's producer letter asks for more community feedback originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Chaos Theory: Twenty-plus outfits you can get by questing in The Secret World Posted: 16 Sep 2013 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Horror, Sci-Fi, The Secret World, Guides, Chaos Theory, Buy-to-Play Just about everyone I know in The Secret World is a total fashion junkie. My cabal meets once a week to allegedly run dungeons and other difficult content, but really we're just there to show off our spectacular and creative outfits. And because statted gear is completely removed from your character's visuals, there isn't that typical pull to balance looks and numbers. Everyone is free to look the way that he wants, provided he's picked up enough costume pieces to do so. MJ did a terrific job the other week outlining the myriad of ways that you can assemble your wardrobe in The Secret World because she is a fashion junkie. And because I am also a fashion junkie, I'm going to pick up the topic and focus on just those quests that reward you with an item or two that pops into your dressing room. I'm always paranoid about overlooking a quest (or side-quest) because it might be one of the rare ones that gives you a cool article of clothing. So to help any fellow paranoid players out, here is a list of over 20 clothing items that you can get from quests. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Twenty-plus outfits you can get by questing in The Secret World Chaos Theory: Twenty-plus outfits you can get by questing in The Secret World originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $19M, Elite's trailer, D3 datamining, and LoL's World Championship Posted: 16 Sep 2013 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Trailers, Video, Business Models, Expansions, Game Mechanics, Patches, PvP, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, Dev Diaries, Not So Massively, Sandbox, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III, Crowdfunding, Star Citizen, Elite: Dangerous, Infinite Crisis, Path of Exile Following the release of the Star Citizen ship hangar module, one fan has taken it upon himself to create some awesome atmospheric videos of the ships in planetary environments like jungles and caves. The game continues to climb toward its ultimate funding goal and has hit the $19 million mark. And if you love sci-fi games but haven't really been paying attention to Elite: Dangerous, it's definitely time to start keeping an eye on it. An incredible new trailer showing a potential vision target for the game's art design and gameplay has absolutely blown away fans and given us a first glimpse at what the studio is aiming for. League of Legends' World Championship got underway this weekend with its first series of 10 qualifying matches, and Riot Games is now trying a new strategy to battle antisocial behaviour. Third-person MOBA SMITE has also finally released the lightning-wielding uber-god Zeus as a playable character. On a less positive note, Guardians of Middle-Earth players on PC are now badly struggling to find other humans to play with as the average daily player count has dropped to around 50. Red 5 Studios laid off 10% of its staff and announced that Firefall's PvP portion will be shut down soon pending a complete revamp at an unspecified point in the future. Diablo III fansite DiabloFans has been data-mining the latest game update for clues about what might be in store for the game's upcoming Reaper of Souls expansion, including a ton of changes coming to existing skills. And Path of Exile is celebrating its popular Skin Transfer microtransaction with a new Well-Dressed Exile fashion competition. Continue reading Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $19M, Elite's trailer, D3 datamining, and LoL's World Championship Not So Massively: Star Citizen hits $19M, Elite's trailer, D3 datamining, and LoL's World Championship originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Firefall's Red 5 Studios lays off 10% of staff in 'pre-launch reorganization' Posted: 16 Sep 2013 05:30 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-Fi, Events (Real-World), MMO Industry, News Items, MMOFPS, Firefall The Twitterscape is abuzz tonight about fresh layoffs at Firefall's Red 5 Studios as current and former Red 5 employees have announced that they're now on the market. A formal statement from the company calls the layoffs a "reorganization": Red 5 Studios announced today that the studio is being reorganized prior to the launch of Firefall. "As Firefall matures, we must transition our priorities and our development strategy to focus on streamlined operations and live product support," said Mark Kern, CEO and founder of Red 5 Studios. As part of the reorganization, Red 5 Studios confirms that it has released about 10 percent of its staff, the majority from Red 5's video internet entertainment channel, Stage 5 TV. Development of Firefall is unaffected by the reorganization and Open Beta Stage 2 is well underway with a major patch scheduled for later this month. Last week, Red 5 shocked players by announcing it was temporarily disabling and retooling Firefall's PvP mode, on which it had based its e-sports platform; apparently, only 3% of the beta playerbase participated in it. [Source: Red 5 press release] Firefall's Red 5 Studios lays off 10% of staff in 'pre-launch reorganization' originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Elder Scrolls Online taunts us with heavy armor designs Posted: 16 Sep 2013 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Lore, News Items, The Elder Scrolls Online, Subscription Stop me if you've heard this one: A Redguard, a Wood Elf, and a Dark Elf walk into a bar, all wearing badass platmail armor. There's no punchline because hello, badass platemail armor. ZeniMax Online thinks you'll want to see its new Elder Scrolls Online armor concepts in high detail on representatives from all three of these races, so it's posted them up on the official site along with a request to pick a favorite and fight it out on Facebook because armor is serious business. The Redguard's armor might not remind you much of Hammerfell fashion, but the Bosmeri kit has a touch of feral nature in its horns and spikes and fur. And we can't help but notice hints of Redoran style in the Dunmer's attire. Or are we just imagining that in an attempt not to think about Sauron or the Lich King? We've included the full-size image after the cut! Continue reading The Elder Scrolls Online taunts us with heavy armor designs The Elder Scrolls Online taunts us with heavy armor designs originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Borderlands bloodlust in Guild Wars 2's World vs. World Posted: 16 Sep 2013 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Patches, PvP, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries, Buy-to-Play Changes are coming to Guild Wars 2 in tomorrow's Tequatl Rising patch, and not all of them have to do with dragons. ArenaNet's Devon Carver has written a blog post to let fans of World vs. World know what they can expect to see after the implementation of the new Borderlands Bloodlust buff -- and what they can expect not to see. The lakes in the center of the Borderlands maps are being replaced with Ruins of Power, which will provide benefits to the world that manages to capture and hold them. Players must capture three of the five ruins to access one rank of Borderlands Bloodlust, which will provide players from that world with a significant boost to stats. The downside is that the ruins must be defended from nasty, off-world Mist invaders (otherwise known as your fellow players) to prevent them from capturing your ruins and stealing your buff. Carver also discusses the philosophy behind the changes, which are meant to give players fun reasons to fight each other instead of krait and quaggan NPCs. Borderlands bloodlust in Guild Wars 2's World vs. World originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| New Bless clip shows off boss transformation Posted: 16 Sep 2013 03:00 PM PDT |
| No pain, no gain: Bungie on cross-platform development Posted: 16 Sep 2013 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, News Items, Consoles, MMOFPS, Miscellaneous, Destiny Bungie has pushed live another lengthy edition of its long-running Mail Sack feature, this one covering questions from the community about board games (the team likes them), podcasts (Bungie's shall return), Destiny's best moments (all too spoilery to reveal), and the reveal date for the release date of the studio's upcoming next-gen shooter-MMO hybrid (totally sometime in the future, maybe). Also discussed? The reason Bungie built Destiny as a multi-platform release. According to the studio, creating a game that isn't exclusive to one console gives the Bungie community an opportunity to "welcome new players who may have never experienced a Bungie game before." Bungie contends, "Developing a cross-platform game is hard, but the perks outweigh the pain." The other likely bonus of going multi-platform, in which a developer practically doubles the potential install base of a title, was left unsaid. No pain, no gain: Bungie on cross-platform development originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| Square Enix resumes Final Fantasy XIV online sales Posted: 16 Sep 2013 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, New Titles, News Items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV, Subscription, MMORPG In the wake of server issues, queue struggles, and player complaints, it looks as though Square Enix is feeling a little better about the operational state of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn -- so much better that the game is once again available for purchase in digital form from the official Square Enix store. Sales were halted soon after FFXIV's re-launch due to server instability and quite a few other problems. Those who were lucky enough to snag a copy before sales went offline have been suffering through login restrictions and other emergency measures put in place to help even things out and keep the servers from exploding. With sales back online and more people rushing into the fray, Final Fantasy XIV seems to finally be moving forward, one Chocobo-sized step at a time. [Thanks to everyone who sent this one in!] Square Enix resumes Final Fantasy XIV online sales originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| The Nexus Telegraph: Inspirational paths for WildStar Posted: 16 Sep 2013 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Culture, Game Mechanics, Opinion, WildStar, The Nexus Telegraph, Subscription, Buy-to-Play I've gone on record as frequently saying that I think WildStar's paths are pretty awesome in concept. The idea that you can have two characters with identical classes and races but two separate paths who explore totally different sections of the game is really compelling to me, especially when I expect that I'll have approximately nine million alts anyhow. Unfortunately, it's also a concept that winds up feeling kind of amorphous. American readers who try to convert to the metric system know that sense. You grow up with a certain basis of comparison, and trying to wrap your head around a completely new one without any foundation is a bit tricky. But I want to help. See, I come from video games. I play a lot of video games. And I think there are parallels to be drawn between existing games with certain mechanical structures and what each of the paths is trying to accomplish. So let's see if we can't fit WildStar's paths into more familiar frameworks before smashing them all into one game. Continue reading The Nexus Telegraph: Inspirational paths for WildStar The Nexus Telegraph: Inspirational paths for WildStar originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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| PlanetSide 2 hosts pre-season territory control event Posted: 16 Sep 2013 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-Fi, Events (In-Game), News Items, Free-to-Play, MMOFPS, Promotions, PlanetSide 2 The competition in PlanetSide 2 is all in good fun, assuming that you consider crushing your opponents in a bid for global dominance to be "good fun." But starting today the game is being ramped up a notch with the World Domination Series pre-season event. It's a contest to see who can actually control the most territory for the longest period, running a weekly competition from now until October 21st. And to the winners go prizes. You might think domination of the world is the prize, but no, the prizes are experience boosters and special decals. How do you win them? You earn more points than the other empires. Fight on the side of the winning empire in a given week to help earn points. A captured small outpost is worth 1 point, a captured large outpost is worth 2 points, a facility is worth 5 points, and a full territory is worth 3 points per hour that it remains under the empire's control. At the end of the week, values will be tallied, and the next week will give everyone a chance to fight it out again. PlanetSide 2 hosts pre-season territory control event originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Sep 2013 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A BIOS with a built-in immunity system
Building a better Bing
Psst Rockstar, don't forget about the PC!
Systems start at $1,069
