MMO Updates |
- The Game Archaeologist: Going forward by looking back at the past
- WRUP: Happy non-panicked-shopping weekend edition
- Archlord sunsetting on January 1st
- The Daily Grind: Do you prefer games available on multiple platforms?
- More Star Citizen features mean more devs, Roberts says
- Betawatch: November 30 - December 6, 2013
- Destiny launches on September 9, 2014
- Storyboard: Why am I still here?
- Inferno Legend begins closed beta on December 10th
- Developers respond to Riot's streaming restrictions for pro players [Updated]
- Massively's exclusive sneak peek of RIFT 2.6: Dreamweaving, Fae Yule, and the state of the game
- Star Citizen's first round of guild functionality scheduled for January
- The Stream Team: Building stuff in Trove with Beau
- MMObility: Windows 8 tablets help MMO fans go mobile
- New video explores EverQuest Next Landmark's world and features
- Lime Odyssey to shut down in Korea... again
- Prime World launch impressions
| The Game Archaeologist: Going forward by looking back at the past Posted: 07 Dec 2013 09:00 AM PST Filed under: Opinion, The Game Archaeologist, Miscellaneous  The Game Archaeologist has always advocated that the past can influence our present and future in surprising ways. It sometimes irks me that current developers have shown a lot of ignorance for past ideas when coming up with new content, although that irritation has lessened recently now that I'm seeing a growing movement to embrace and incorporate what's come before, both ideologically and aesthetically. So what does the past have to offer the future of MMOs and how can game developers capitalize on it? As usual, I have all of the answers. Continue reading The Game Archaeologist: Going forward by looking back at the past
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| WRUP: Happy non-panicked-shopping weekend edition Posted: 07 Dec 2013 07:00 AM PST Filed under: Massively Meta, Miscellaneous  Think fondly on this later when you search for the last gift you must buy in a shredded wasteland, with songs praising sharing and togetherness amidst a mass of screaming people fighting over commodities. Anyway, it's WRUP time, so that means you want to hear about what we'll be doing for the weekend (which may or may not include shopping). Check out our plans past the break, and let us know what you'll be up to down in the comments! Continue reading WRUP: Happy non-panicked-shopping weekend edition
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| Archlord sunsetting on January 1st Posted: 07 Dec 2013 06:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Free-to-Play, Sunsets  The company announced the closure of the fantasy title on the official site: "Unfortunately, we have come to a difficult decision to end this long journey we have enjoyed and cherished together. We understand that this will disappoint many of our players. We will be disabling client downloads and cash shop for the game on the 11th of December. The game will be closed on January 1st." There is a silver lining to this, however. Webzen will be throwing a 400% XP and drop event from December 11th until Archlord's closure. In addition, the company urged the community to transfer interest to Archlord 2. [Thanks to Skurvel for the tip!]
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| The Daily Grind: Do you prefer games available on multiple platforms? Posted: 07 Dec 2013 05:00 AM PST Filed under: MMO Industry, Opinion, Browser, Mobile, Consoles  Most MMOs launch for the PC and that's it. A small number go on to develop a native Mac client, some are available on consoles or mobile decides, and so forth. You can argue that developing these extra clients takes time and resources away from improving the main game, but you can also argue that these extra clients allow people who would otherwise have never played the game to experience something awesome. So how do you feel? Do you prefer games available on multiple platforms, do you prefer development focused on just one, or do you not really care?  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!
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| More Star Citizen features mean more devs, Roberts says Posted: 06 Dec 2013 05:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Interviews, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  Cloud Imperium founder Chris Roberts spoke with Ten Ton Hammer recently and addressed the backlash. "Feature creep doesn't mean quite the same with Star Citizen as it might in other games. In other games, it's a concern because they have a hard release date and as you add new stuff it gets to a point where other things have to be rushed or dropped," Roberts said. "We add new people to the team to cover the new features and because everything is so modular, it has minimum impact on the rest of the game."
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| Betawatch: November 30 - December 6, 2013 Posted: 06 Dec 2013 05:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, MMO Industry, News Items, Betawatch, Miscellaneous  League of Angels entered its beta testing this week, complete with events for testers to take part in. War Thunder also kicked off the testing of its Ground Forces expansion, expanding its previous world full of planes to include a few more... what's the word for those other things? Like cars, but with turrets and treads? Rhymes with pranks? Whatever it is, there will be a world of them. Oh, yes, and there is a full list of betas past the cut, just as there is every other week. If something sneaked a cash shop in without our noticing, please, let us know down in the comments. Continue reading Betawatch: November 30 - December 6, 2013
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| Destiny launches on September 9, 2014 Posted: 06 Dec 2013 04:30 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Launches, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Consoles, Destiny 
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| Storyboard: Why am I still here? Posted: 06 Dec 2013 04:00 PM PST Filed under: Culture, Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous  I ran into the problem recently in Final Fantasy XIV. As a player, I enjoyed what was going on with one of the many organizations my character belongs to. The problem is that she wasn't enjoying it, and she didn't have any reason to keep subjecting herself to it. She didn't like most of these people, she didn't need money or resources from them, and she wasn't really deriving any benefit from it any longer. Obviously, I wanted her to stick around. But every so often you find yourself in situations where your character isn't happy and wants to leave... and has both reason and opportunity to do so. Two weeks ago I talked about getting someone out of your life; now it's time to talk about keeping a character in the mix. Continue reading Storyboard: Why am I still here?
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| Inferno Legend begins closed beta on December 10th Posted: 06 Dec 2013 03:00 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, New Titles, Free-to-Play  The company said that it was inspired by the movie Avatar in the creation of Inferno Legend's air island world. Players will explore these islands brick by hexagonal brick, finding out what's on each when they step on them. The unpredictability that each brick brings, from a battle event to a treasure boon, is what Gearbox hopes will intrigue players. Inferno Legend has five classes: Vampire, Cyclops, Ghost Knight, Fairy, and Mummy. Battles take their visual cues from the comic books, and there's a demon summoning system that gives alternate skills and buffs for players foolish enough to toy with the underworld. You can check out the preview video of Inferno Legend after the break. [Source: Gamebox press release] Continue reading Inferno Legend begins closed beta on December 10th
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| Developers respond to Riot's streaming restrictions for pro players [Updated] Posted: 06 Dec 2013 02:00 PM PST Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO Industry, PvP, News Items, Free-to-Play, MOBA, League of Legends, Hearthstone  News of the contract broke earlier this week. Since that time, a couple of developers associated with games on the banned list have responded to Riot's rules in letters to website OnGamers, which broke the original story. Here's a clip of the lengthy response from Awesomenauts co-creator Jasper Koning: We are disappointed to see Riot impose restrictions on the spare time of its LOL Championship Series players. It's understandable Riot as a company wants to protect its interests, but the way they're doing it now is decidedly unsportsmanlike, anti-competitive, and it sets a bad precedent.And here's S2's (Heroes of Newerth) Marc DeForest: We view eSports differently - it is a platform for competition, growth, and the collective celebration of video gaming passion. We do not view it as a leveraging tool for anti-competitive and monopolistic practices. S2 Games will continue to support the eSports idea as a whole, not just our own specific interests in it.Riot has confirmed the terms of the contract but has not responded to further updates or fan criticism. [Update: Riot has announced that it is changing LCS players' contracts due in part to community feedback. Under the new rules, players will be able to stream any games they want as long as they are not accepting sponsorship from other studios to promote those titles.]
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| Massively's exclusive sneak peek of RIFT 2.6: Dreamweaving, Fae Yule, and the state of the game Posted: 06 Dec 2013 01:30 PM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Patches, Previews, Free-to-Play, RIFT, Crafting  RIFT 2.6 -- there is no official title as of yet -- is a ways out still. Trion is targeting early February for its release, primarily because so many employees are taking time off for the holidays to be with friends and family. That said, 2.6 should arrive on the public test server in January, and the devs promise that it will be well worth the wait. So what's coming with 2.6? Dreams, crafts, and conclusions, my friends! Let's dig into it.
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| Star Citizen's first round of guild functionality scheduled for January Posted: 06 Dec 2013 01:00 PM PST Filed under: Sci-Fi, Game Mechanics, Guilds, MMO Industry, New Titles, News Items, Sandbox, Star Citizen, Buy-to-Play  Are you itching to form a private military company in the world of Star Citizen? Maybe you're more partial to some sort of syndicate, squadron, or even a for-profit corporation. Whatever your particular guild slant may be, Cloud Imperium wants to tell you about its plans for Star Citizen's Organizations as well as introduce all the related web-based functionality that will go live well before the game launches. Each SC player Organization will get a customizable public page on the Roberts Space Industries web site. CIG is including a ranking system with user-definable names and roles (i.e., if Spaceman is more to your liking than the default Lieutenant, knock yourself out). Organization names will not be unique, so don't worry about taking a day off work to reserve Browncoats. CIG says that "an unlimited number of players can form groups named Red Squadron," for example, but each of those groups will have a unique ten-character alphanumeric SID designation to facilitate gameplay. Public testing of Star Citizen's Organization system begins later this month, with a planned rollout scheduled for early January. Future functionality additions will include private forums for every Organization, an Org Blog with a shoutbox and news update capabilities, and interactive visual charts showing divisions, jobs, and members. Cloud Imperium is also upgrading its current web chat capabilities, so say goodbye to the 500-user chat roll limit. Finally, the firm wants you to know that you can now apply upgrades to your existing ships and packages. "Upgrading a package will change the overall value and will allow you to see the enhanced ship in your hangar," CIG says. Continue reading Star Citizen's first round of guild functionality scheduled for January
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| The Stream Team: Building stuff in Trove with Beau Posted: 06 Dec 2013 12:55 PM PST Filed under: Betas, Video, Game Mechanics, New Titles, Previews, Hands-On, Casual, Livestream, Sandbox, Crafting, The Stream Team, Trove  Game: Trove Host: Beau Date: Friday, November 6th, 2013 Time: 4:00 p.m. EST Enjoy our Steam Team video below. Continue reading The Stream Team: Building stuff in Trove with Beau
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| MMObility: Windows 8 tablets help MMO fans go mobile Posted: 06 Dec 2013 12:00 PM PST Filed under: Video, Business Models, Opinion, Mobile, Miscellaneous, MMObility  In one of the stranger turns of recent events, I've watched as Windows 8, RT, and 8.1 have slowly crept into the market in an attempt to pull people back to the desktop... sort of. This is all possible simply because the desktop PC has reimagined itself in a smaller form, something that I am fond of seeing. Even though I predict that gamers will one day do everything on a tablet (with an optional dock or larger-screen connection), I have to admit that I am surprised at how fast Windows tablets are moving into the spotlight. Sure, they are claiming just a single-digit percentage of the marketplace according to this report in April, well behind Android and iOS, but the numbers continue to rise. That's pretty startling. What does this mean for MMO gamers? Continue reading MMObility: Windows 8 tablets help MMO fans go mobile
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| New video explores EverQuest Next Landmark's world and features Posted: 06 Dec 2013 11:30 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Video, News Items, PvE, Free-to-Play, EverQuest Next, Sandbox, Crafting, MMORPG  The video also shows off some of Landmark's powerful building tools with time-lapse videos of houses, towers, arches, furniture, and more being built in the game engine. Check out the full video after the break to see Landmark in action, and take a look at MJ's latest Some Assembly Required for a closer look at how Landmark might affect the future of player-generated content. Continue reading New video explores EverQuest Next Landmark's world and features
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| Lime Odyssey to shut down in Korea... again Posted: 06 Dec 2013 11:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, News Items, Free-to-Play, Sunsets  What does this mean for the game's English version? That's unclear, although official statements seem to indicate that Aeria Games plans to release the English version after the launch of Aura Kingdom. Whether or not that release will come to pass remains to be seen, but based on the game's history to date odds are not favorable. Our condolences to the players and developers affected by this shutdown.
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| Prime World launch impressions Posted: 06 Dec 2013 10:00 AM PST Filed under: Fantasy, Game Mechanics, Previews, Opinion, Hands-On, Miscellaneous, MOBA  While studio Nival calls the game a beta, the Steam page lists it as released, so if you haven't tried the game yet, bear in mind that's it a bit of both. Continue reading Prime World launch impressions
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