DVD rental company Redbox will be adding a select lineup of videogames to its kiosks beginning tomorrow.
As originally announced last week, the company will kick off its renewed efforts to move into the world of videogame rentals with prices double that of a DVD. For $2 plus tax, you can rent a game for one day. It might seem a bit pricey, and it certainly would be if you intend to hold on to a title for an extended period. But as a way of trying out a demo-less game for a day or two, it seems like a very convenient option. Some Redbox kiosks had been previously offering games, but it now appears to be a much larger point of emphasis for the company.
With retail rental stores like Hollywood Video going out of business and Blockbuster shutting down many of its stores, rental-by-mail service GameFly has become the most popular way to rent games in the United States. It allows subscribers to keep games for as long as they wish, but it's not entirely ideal because you're forced to wait while games are shipped back and forth. The immediacy of Redbox -- which operates out of kiosks located inside and outside of stores -- is sure to appeal to some.
Update: Vostu is denying the allegations Zynga has brought against it. In a statement sent to 1UP, company spokesman Davidson Goldin said, "Zynga has been accused of copying so many games that they've sadly lost the ability to recognize games like ours that are chock full of original content and have been independently created. Vostu has 500 brilliant employees working night and day making hand drawings and writing proprietary code for online games that our 35 million users worldwide enjoy.
"Zynga's anti-competitive effort to bully us with a frivolous lawsuit -- especially when we have some of the same key investors -- is pathetic. While Zynga plays games with the legal process we will continue focusing on using our substantial resources to create games that entertain our customers."
Original Story: Zynga has sued Brazilian social game company Vostu, accusing it of copyright infringement. The massively successful FarmVille developer alleges Vostu has copied nearly everything about its games and, in the process, "continue[s] to harm Zynga irreparably."
A rumor last year suggested a multiplayer-focused Mass Effect game was in development before a separate report said that Mass Effect 3 would include a multiplayer component. The possibility remains unconfirmed by BioWare, but two new reports today reaffirm that multiplayer is coming in ME3.
Eurogamer reports a four-player, online co-op mode is included. It's a "standalone" component and has "competitive elements." The story refers to the possibility of something similar to Gears of War's Horde mode or Halo's Firefight as a possibility. Both of those examples see players working together to fight off increasingly difficult waves of AI-controlled enemies.
BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka told Eurogamer last week, "We haven't talked at all about multiplayer in the Mass Effect franchise, but we're exploring multiplayer in all of our games and all of our franchises." He added, "It's always an idea we're interested in."
In a breach that's being called "extremely limited" in scope, the accounts of about 18,000 Neverwinter Nights forum users have been compromised.
According to EA, this is a "very small percentage of total users," and among the information potentially exposed were e-mail addresses, account usernames, passwords, countries, and birth dates. Any account that was connected to an EA Account opens the door for any information connected with the latter (such as a mailing address and billing address) to have also been accessed.
EA and BioWare became aware of the breach on June 14 and began securing the servers for BioWare Edmonton's NN forums. Legacy BioWare accounts have been disabled and any affected EA Accounts have had their password reset, which is one indication that your account was affected. E-mails have also been sent out to those users who are involved. If your EA Account password still works and you didn't receive an e-mail informing you of the situation, you should be safe.
Down the rabbit hole once more! The twisted tales of American McGee's take on the classic Alice in Wonderland continue as Alice grabs her Vorpal Blade for more mayhem.
We'll be giving away copies of the game all day, so catch up on how to play and make this a very scary un-birthday:
The Wii U developments kits that developers have been working with are reportedly "underclocked." Third-party games are, as a result, not looking much better than what's current available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and due to that, Nintendo apparently opted to not show them last week at E3.
This is all according to a report by Hit Detection, the consulting firm founded by former Newsweek writer N'Gai Croal. It states, "However, due to titles not looking much better than what is currently available on Xbox 360 and the PS3, Nintendo decided late in the game to not show those titles and focus instead on tech demos."
During its E3 press conference, Nintendo showed a sizzle reel of third-party games -- including Ghost Recon Online, Ninja Gaiden 3, and Darksiders II. They looked just as good as anything on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360; as it turned out, that's because the footage came from the games running on those systems. According to Hit Detection, Darksiders II "could have been shown" as it was up and running on the Wii U's dev hardware.
Wonderland has always been near and dear to my heart, probably owing in large part to me sharing the same name as the little girl who fell down that rabbit hole oh so very many years ago. But the story of Alice traveling into her imaginary world is so full of beautiful imagery; it's a rich breeding ground from which to take creative liberties, and Alice: Madness Returns does a good job of twisting the existing material into something new and interesting, yet still instantly recognizable.
Alice's movements are smooth and effortless, which makes both platforming and combat feel fluid and easy. Switching between her arsenal of weaponry is seamless, and allows you to chain swipes from her Vorpal blade with hits from her Hobby Horse or a barrage of pepper-bullets from the Grinder without fuss. Her abilities to jump (triple jump, even), twirl, float, and dash (in a burst of butterflies) over obstacles, and to avoid enemy attacks are a treat to make use of while working your way through the expansive levels. Alice is even able to shrink down (drink me!) to either enter small keyholes, or reveal hidden platforms and messages painted on walls that can only been seen while tiny.
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has an acting role in an upcoming Brad Pitt movie.
You read that right.
As seen in the trailer above, Kotick plays the role of the Oakland Athletics owner in Moneyball, a film starring Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill that's based on the book of the same name. The book tells the story of how Billy Beane, the A's general manager, was able to build a successful baseball team through the use of advanced metrics and statistics despite having a relatively small amount of money to work with.
You can clearly envision what the pitch for Hunted: The Demon's Forge sounded like: "It's the depth and addictive replay ability of Diablo, but with the visceral camera and controls of Gears of War." On paper, that doesn't sound half bad. But with an abundance of broken elements, and a notable lack of polish on the ones that do work, the game comfortably settles for mediocrity.
The story revolves around a pair of mercenaries that traverse the standard litany of fantasy environments in search of the Mayor's daughter. If you think that plot sounds like Final Fight with magic missiles, you'd be right. Unless you are a Lucy Lawless aficionado, the story will most likely bore you. Even the most diehard of fantasy fans will groan at the pure barrage of clichés and stereotypes that appear at every beat of the campaign. And for a game that hinges on cooperative play, the relationship between the two leads might just be the weakest aspect of the story. At its best, their banter is acceptably pithy. The rest of the time, it's a mute-worthy affair, with your given partner either sexually harassing you, or mocking you for not being able to find your way out of a poorly designed labyrinth.
On the heels of a leaked GameStop promotional poster showing a new map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Activision officially announced the Annihilation DLC pack today.
This is the third map pack to be released for Black Ops, matching the number received by Treyarch's previous CoD title, World at War. It'll include four new competitive multiplayer maps carrying the names seen in the leak: Drive-In, Silo, Hazard, and Hangar 18. It also includes a new Zombies "experience" called Shangri-La, described by Treyarch boss Mark Lamia as "an exotic and mysterious map filled with deadly traps, dark secrets and innovative gameplay that will challenge even the most daring Zombie hunters."
As with the previous two map packs, it'll be coming to Xbox 360 first, presumably at the same 1,200 Microsoft Points ($15) price. It's scheduled for a June 28 release, followed by a double XP weekend event starting on July 1. PlayStation 3 and PC versions will follow a later time; no specific date for either platform was specified.
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According to its official Facebook page and website, Family Guy Online is now open for registrations. According to the Facebook page, Family Guy Online will head into closed beta soon and is expected to go live later this year. You can register for the Family Guy Online newsletter and sign up for closed beta testing on the game's site.
MapleStory Adventures is the new 'tie-in' Facebook game based on the MMORPG, MapleStory. MapleStory Adventures has entered its closed beta phase of development. According to press information, on completion of the limited closed beta, the open beta will feature additional areas, new quests, additional customization options and more.
GamesCampus has revealed new information about the four character classes that will be featured in Scarlet Legacy. The four are: Warrior, Assassin, Monk and Mystic. Information about each class can be found on the official Scarlet Legacy site.
Gamania has announced that the open beta for the North American version on Lucent Heart is coming to -all- players on June 21st. Early access players are already enjoying the open beta. The team behind Lucent Heart has a lot of events planned to celebrate the anime styled, zodiac inspired game.
Nexon has deployed the latest Vindictus update that brings a new pain bringer into the game. Called "Karok", he is a specialist in the delivery of pain to those who choose to take him on. The update also removes tokens by popular demand. The decision allows players to enjoy the game as long as they wish without incurring any cost.
(Source) Korean MMO developer, Naru Entertainment revealed some new information about its latest online game, Estar Online in a press conference yesterday. As usual, Korean gaming portal This Is Game is there with the latest news. The biggest feature revealed so far will be the Flying Battle Ships, with them known as AMOS. You can see the system in action in the 2nd half of the trailer below.
It is actually the guild base for all guilds and once they are airborne, opposing guilds are able to dock mid-air beside each other and carry out Guild Vs Guild battle on-board both ships. Have you seen how pirate gangs fight each other? That is basically the idea here. Except it takes place in the skies. And ships are piloted manually with the ability to bomb each other down into smithereens. Apparently, the losing guild members will crash onto land together with their ship, like a meteor.
Other early features include an active Day and Night system, causing NPCs to relocate themselves while some quests will only be activated at different times. For example, there is a quest happening at night which needs players to use a torch and seek out items. A card-based skill system is implemented in Estar, hence players must choose which skills are more functional during different situations and equip them. The game's first Focus Group Testing is scheduled to being in September.
For the past few months, I have been posting about the saga between Red 5 Studios and Korean MMO company Webzen over the publishing rights for Firefall. Today, Webzen finally admitted that the company has ran into serious financial problems due to lack of funds and is going through heavy restructuring. The company hence does not have the ability to publish and market Firefall.
However, Webzen insisted that as the company poured much development funds for Red 5 Studios, Firefall's publishing rights will be decided by Webzen on which other company to obtain it. Webzen also confirmed that it is looking to let other companies publish their games in Korea rather than doing it themselves. A Webzen spokesperson added that they will not entertain the idea of passing Firefall's publishing rights to Red 5 Studios Korea. Earlier, Webzen has already canceled the development of MU Online 2 and focused on SUN Online 2 instead due to financial hiccups. Please note that Firefall for North America and Europe remains unaffected.
As announced, Ground Zero, a brand-new online FPS game developed by Korea-based CJ E&M's subsidiary Ani-Park and published by CJ E&M's game portal Netmarble, will perform its first CBT from June 16 to 19, and the game servers will be open to players between 3:00pm to 10:00 pm during this period.
Asiasoft Online ("Asiasoft") today announces the launch of the new Xtreme Survival Mode for RayCitySEA (Official RayCitySEA website: http://RayCity.PlayPark.net) in June 2011, a new content update set to ignite players' desire to become the top racer in this new mode.
Pikachu costumes pictures and videos. An overload of Pikachu. Cute Pikachu, sexy Pikachu,funny Pikachu, fat Pikachu... Click the pictures to look clearly.
THQ has confirmed Warhammer 40k Dark Millennium Online will be playable next year's E3 trade show. As far, little is known about the game, but Bilson said work is progressing well. It may come earlier than expected. Bilson confirmed Dark Millennium will launch during
We are celebrating our 6th anniversary with our citizens and our partners all over the world! Your friends and plenty of awesome prizes are waiting for you! You won't want to miss it!
THQ Germany today announced it is bringing the gritty action of Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, the highly anticipated Roman mythology MMO game, to PC owners in Germany with the game's retail release on June 24, 2011. THQ secured the distribution rights from Heatwave Interactive, the Austin, Texas-based publisher and developer of online games.
It has been a while since we last saw a new race introduced in Guild Wars 2. In the latest ArenaNet blog, Jeff Grubb gives us a detailed description about quaggan, the normally peaceful race in Guild Wars 2. The article delves into the biological and social aspects of quaggan and the recent history and faith of the race as well as how the dev team designed quaggan as a whole.
Runes of Magic today launched its fourth chapter, "Lands of Despair." This new chapter offers four brand new areas full of unknown enemies and dark dungeons.
Valve always seems to be able to find a way to remind everyone that they do, in fact, love video games. This time they're doing so with an announcement that F2P MMO titles are now available for download on their Steam platform.
First of all, here are some tips for Karok to win the Clash easily. When in a Clash with a Boss, DON'T keep pressing the button Grapple. The Clash is influenced by Grapple, Normal Strike and Smash.
In terms of endgame gameplay what these 2 MMORPG's offer and how enjoyable are overall in terms of combat and so on. I would like to get some feedback before I rush with conclusion, thx.
It is reported that NHN's next-gen MMORPG TERA will officially provide 4 kinds of premium services starting from June 30th, including: rename characters, change appearances, change genders and change races. The corresponding modification vouchers can be purchased from now on.
World of Warcraft patch 4.2 will offer hardy adventurers an opportunity to turn the tide in the Firelands, a huge outdoor raid of the highest difficulty, with 10-person and 25-person normal and Heroic modes. It will be a scorching opportunity to delve into this Elemental Plane, where six unique bosses stand between you and the reinvigorated Ragnaros.
C&C Media released the info about the MMORPG Forsaken World's pet system on June 13, 2011 (3 days after the game's OBT launch). The pets in Forsaken World are classified into two types, i.e. mounts and fighting pets, both of which play an important role in players' adventures. Now, let's check out the pet types and the way to obtain them!
According to EA CEO John Riccitiello, Star Wars: The Old Republic currently has entered mid-scale beta phase. Game testing has started due to John Riccitiello's conference call. He stated that SWTOR will enter high-scale beta phase at the end of June.
Share your games here and I think some players might need help about the game recommendation for their 3 months vocation. In another hand, you can also find someone to play with. Cant you?
PitchBlack Games has officially unveiled its new upcoming title, Prime: Battle for Dominus. The game takes a departure from the omnipresent high fantasy genre, opting instead for a futuristic science fiction approach. Built on the HERO engine, Prime is named for the element that is the key source of contention in the game's world. This so-called "prime element" is used to power all of the game's advanced technology, and players will find themselves fighting tooth and nail for control of this precious commodity.
Players can choose to join one of three playable factions: the Humans, the genetically modified Rodon, or the young race of the Salent. Developers boast that the game will include 11 seamless, fully-explorable worlds, each with its own secrets for players to uncover. Players can establish control of these worlds by constructing bases from which to push back invaders who will come in search of precious prime. As one might guess, PvP looks to play a large role in the game, with each faction fighting for dominance over valuable resources with which to advance their own ends. Players looking to make a profit can take up the mantle of the bounty hunter and sell their services to the highest bidder. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the game, however, is GM-run events. Prime will offer live events to provide an unprecedented level of player engagement. If you want to find out more about this promising new title or if you'd like to apply to test the game, head on over to the game's official site.
The Harry Potter fan base was abuzz yesterday as a mysterious new website was launched. The site itself is rather bare, merely sporting the words "Pottermore: Coming Soon" and J.K. Rowling's signature underneath, but there's reason to believe that this may be connected to an online game.
Providing multiple-user access to a global computer information network; providing on-line chat rooms and electronic bulletin boards for transmission of messages among users in the field of general interest; providing on-line communications links which transfer the web site user to other local and global web pages; providing on-line facilities for real-time interaction with other computer users concerning topics of general interest.
The Guardian notes that Pottermore could stand for "Potter Multiplayer Online Role-playing Experience," among other things. An editor at HPANA was one of the few to get a glimpse of the full site, commenting, "It is breathtaking in scope, detail and sheer beauty." Meanwhile, on YouTube's JKRowlingAnnounces channel, a timer is counting down to an announcement as to why "the owls are gathering" sometime on the 23rd.
Of course, a Harry Potter MMO has been heavily rumored for some time now, perhaps in association with Turbine (which is owned by WB). It's a tenuous connection -- but a possibility as well, so we'll be keeping our eyes on the site to see what transpires!
Today's a big day for Runes of Magic fans, as Runewaker and Frogster are launching the long-awaited Chapter IV: Lands of Despair update. The patch brings four new explorable regions to the realm of Taborea, new monsters and dungeons, server-wide battlefields, over 300 new quests, and a level cap increase (67).
In story terms, Chapter IV introduces Demon Sismon, a new baddie who is fond of trailing disease, pestilence, and various forms of yuck in his wake, and players will need to discover his true motives in order to save Taborea and its citizens.
The Chapter IV launch also features a new community event. Frogster is running a sightseeing contest and giving players the chance to win prizes including Logitech gaming mice and in-game items. Check out the new Chapter IV trailer after the cut and head to the official website to download the game!
The last issue of Champion's Online'sAftershock comic series, Hang On, saw our valiant heroes returning to Camp Lantern, where UNTIL's Major Okonkwo and her troops were trapped in a bunker with a legion of UNTIL and VIPER troops possessed by some eldritch power. Against all odds, the heroes were able to reach the Major before she met an untimely demise, but this small victory was short-lived as the Major reported the presence of Operation Demonflame veteran Sergeant James Collins as well as a number of arcane Qliphothic artifacts. Do the artifacts have some connection to the strange occurrences at Camp Lantern? Will our heroes make it out alive, or are they doomed to meet the same fate as the possessed soldiers?
Well, Champions Online players can find out now, as issue 3 of the Aftershock comic series is now live. In this issue, the entire fortress in which our heroes are currently trapped has been transported to the Qliphothic realm, described as "a dimension of chaos and destruction." Players must contend with the unspeakable horrors of the Qliphothic realm while they search for a way home. The fate of Major Okonkwo, the Champions, and perhaps the universe rests on the shoulders of our heroes in Aftershock issue 3, A Long, Long Way From Home!
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising is only a few days away from release, and THQ Germany has just announced that it will be publishing the Roman mythology MMO in, you guessed it, Germany when the title hits retail on June 24th.
"Gods & Heroes offers an outstanding MMO experience and is the perfect fit for our THQ Partner's distribution portfolio in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. We're very excited to be able to send MMO fans on an unforgettable journey to ancient Rome," said THQ managing director Stefan Krings via press release.
Gods & Heroes was developed by Heatwave Interactive and features personal ancestral estates, 130 unique minions, and traditional MMO combat. You can learn more, as well as pre-order the game, at the official website.
Eurogamer reports that THQ is committing to this time frame. Danny Bilson says that WAR40K will be the highlight of the company's display: "Next year, I promise you, next E3. I've already got plans for what the booth is like. The centrepiece of the booth will be that MMO."
"It looks fabulous. I like it. I can't speak to it now, or people will kill me. But, I'll tell you what, it plays differently. A little bit... This thing is gonna be special," he said. "We're going to come out when we come out in a big way. I feel like we're fully competitive with the other guys. It'll be seven years in the making when it comes out. We're competing with the best games in the world. You can't mess around with this thing."
Between licensing issues and the general way of the internet, we've gotten used to the idea that MMO services outside of the company don't cost anything. World of Warcraft players might rely on Wowhead's database services, but that's free to anyone who knows where to look. But with the recent EVE Onlinemove to allow third parties to make money on applications and services, there are some interesting questions to be asked about the way things work now.
On the one hand, charging money for services means that it's possible for good services and databases to go professional, helping to ensure a higher level of quality. On the other hand, no one likes paying money for something that used to be free, and the idea that said free services may not always be free is a bitter pill to swallow. So what do you think? Are you happy with the idea that independent developers can make money off of a game, or does the EVE Online change fill you with apprehension?
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!
It's extreme makeover time for Dark Age of Camelot's website, and it's a good thing too. The game launched in late 2001, and while its former web portal wasn't quite GeoCities-awful, let's just say it was time for an update in terms of aesthetics and layout.
The new version of The Herald is leaner, meaner, and much easier to navigate, though it does come with an "under construction" caveat. DAoC producer Stuart Zissu provides users with a brief introduction to the new site via an embedded video on the front page, and he also hints at the long-running title's 10th anniversary celebration currently scheduled for October.
Head to the official website to, er... check out the new official website.
If you're running a service in EVE Online at the moment, you're running it for free. If you're developing an application for the game, you're doing it for free. This isn't unusual, really -- pretty much any fan-developed application or service is done free of charge. But that's soon to change for fans of CCP's cutthroat game, as a new developer blog outlines upcoming changes that will allow developers to charge for services, applications, and website access.
For a $99 license fee, developers and service providers will be able to sign up and start charging money for their products while having full access to the EVE Online API. The entry itself goes into more details on the restrictions of the program and what it will mean for non-commercial sites (which will not be required to pay any sort of fee). It's an interesting move, one that means that the game will be able to develop a more robust real-world economy to complement the in-game activities.
Imagine taking MTV and turning it into a physical place and mixing in the internet and the circus -- the biggest, noisiest (and surprisingly non-smelly) one of all -- then throw in millions of dollars in hardware, and you have a good idea about E3. I don't like noise much anymore, especially after playing drums as hard as my stick arms could let me for nearly 24 years. My ears are tired. My eyes need rest. I can walk forever, but information overload can drain me.
So I designated each of the two major show floors as "noisy" and "less noisy." Still, it wasn't as though I was being forced to walk on fire or to stab needles into my eyes. Let's be honest: This was the greatest assignment any game writer could ask for. Still, I wanted to find the games that no one was talking about. The booths that were tucked somewhere near the bathrooms. And find one I did.
It was a cool little booth that represented games from Taiwan. As soon as I saw that, I pounced. Granted, one of the games was not an MMORPG, but they were all intriguing. I walked around the entire collection of publishers and asked questions. I found some pretty neat stuff, too.
Click past the cut and I'll tell you what I found.
If you've been playing DC Universe Online on the PlayStation 3, you've probably either experienced or heard of the freezing problems experienced on the platform. Executive producer DeadMeat has posted an update on the situation to the game's official Facebook page, and while it's not a fix, it does help explain what the issue seems to be from the development side. In short, the issue is less a matter of not being able to fix it and more of an issue of nailing down the precise problem.
According to the update, the common out-of-memory error that's causing console freezes requires a very specific set of conditions to be met, and while the team is doing its best to replicate the conditions for freezing, the live environment is very different from the in-house testing environment. DC Universe Online players who are trying to enjoy the game on the console might not be mollified by this update, but it's a clear sign that the developers are trying to keep an open line of communication.
I have to begin by saying that I really enjoyed Justin's column last week about the "no quest" challenge. It's actually a philosophy that I've subscribed to for almost a decade now, going back to my first time grouped with a somersaulting Dwarf in EverQuest who advised me to stand against the zone wall in West Commonlands while he chain-pulled spiders and skeletons over to me to kill for experience.
Ironically, I've quested more in RIFT than I have in any other MMO. It's not that I find it faster to level; it's that I actually enjoy the lore behind the quests, another area that I have tended to ignore in other MMOs. Questing can be extremely frustrating for me, though, because I'll almost always bump into someone else doing the exact same quests as me, and yet he won't group up and join forces, even with the luxury of the public quest button. So when I reach my limit in trying to politely suggest to people that we group only to get a few grunts in reply, I decide to take a breather from questing and find an outlet for my frustration. PvP would be the natural choice except that I'd get my rear handed to me on a platter, adding insult to injury.
Luckily, there are lots of fun little mini-diversions in RIFT that give me an opportunity to burn off some steam and have fun at the same time. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, we'll look at a few of them, from prize fighting to centaur racing.
Massively Speaking Episode 153 returns this week with Shawn and Rubi reminiscing on E3 through this year's awards. Other topics include the LulzSec DDOS attacks and Fallen Earth's acquisition by GamersFirst. They also read through a listener email and clarify their annoyance at kill-10 quests.
Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to shawn@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air! Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly. Listen here on the page:
Read below the cut for the full show notes.
Massively Speaking is the official podcast of Massively.com. Hosted by Editor-in-Chief Shawn Schuster and Community Manager Rubi Bayer, Massively Speaking takes on the week's biggest news and dev interviews with plenty of opinion, rants, and laughs thrown in for good measure. Join us every Wednesday afternoon to listen in and see what we'll say next!
After last month's announcement by GamersFirst that the company is taking over the hardware side of Fallen Earth, most of us made the obvious connection that the post-apocalyptic MMO would be heading into free-to-play territory. Even while hinting at it in a recent E3 interview, GamersFirst never really came out and said anything definitively.
Well, it has now. Today, GamersFirst has given us the exclusive news that it will be taking over the operations of Fallen Earth immediately. Of course, following all other games in the GamersFirst library, Fallen Earth will also adopt a F2P business model.
But what does this mean for the development of Fallen Earth? Will GamersFirst take over production and content design? Just how free will the game be? Follow along after the jump for answers to those questions and more.
If you haven't been paying attention to Age of Conan lately, Funcom has just sent out a handy newsletter designed to catch you up on all that's new and exciting in the realm of Hyboria. The mailing covers the recent AoC Unrated free-to-play announcement as well as some of the new content that takes the form of the Breach and Forgotten City solo dungeons.
Don't forget about the Savage Coast of Turan content coming later this summer (and coinciding with the Conan feature film reboot), and of course there's the Blood & Glory hardcore PvP server ruleset (also coming soon). If you're a former AoC subscriber, check your email for the newsletter, and stick with Massively for more exclusive AoC coverage throughout the summer.
Look at that guy up there? Isn't he just the cutest thing ever? Oh, ignore the teeth -- Quaggans are big softies, really.
ArenaNet is back with another exposé on the races of Guild Wars 2. This time the studio's focusing on the Quaggan, which it calls "our most cuddly race." But what do cuddles and creatures that look as though they should already be sold as plushie dolls through the ArenaNet gift shop have to do with the rough-and-tumble fantasy world of Guild Wars 2?
While the peaceful and polite race wouldn't normally make waves, the Quaggans have an interesting ability to "hulk out" and go on rampages when they get mad. As the saying goes, "Do not make Quaggan angry. You would not like Quaggan when Quaggan is angry." Therefore Quaggans have to be mellow to avoid a non-stop WWE battle royal -- although at times, unleashing their inner aggression can save their hides. It's this dynamic ArenaNet latched onto while fleshing out the race's place in the world.
The APB: Reloaded playerbase may be a lot of things, but "shy and retiring" is not one of them. Today's guild week screenshot for One Shots comes to us courtesy of clan Quality Control:
We are a clan in All Points Bulletin. We stream on Justin.tv all week! We are very event-oriented; this pic was taken at an event on Memorial Day!
Are you ready to show off your guild? Gather up your best group shots of you and your guildmates. Whether you're hanging out, enjoying guild housing, taking out a huge enemy, or throwing a party, send a screenshot of your guild in action to oneshots@massively.com along with your name and the name of the game, and tell us about your guild!
I admit it: I stick with my games for a long time. When I step into an MMO, I make it home for a while, and it takes a lot of effort for me to move along. That's part of the reason the games I'm actively playing are generally on the older side -- I've already got a history there. Unfortunately, it also means that there are a lot of games, new and old, that I just haven't had the time to play just yet. So to kick off my tenure on Choose My Adventure, I'm going to kick that straight to the curb with a poll I'd like to call the Should Have Played It By Now Edition.
But which game I'll spend the next several weeks playing isn't up to me; that task lies in your hands, folks. So what's it going to be? Should I stop being the only person in the world who hasn't played RIFT? Will I dive into the free-to-play domain of Runes of Magic? Should I break my usual conventions and take a shot at Global Agenda or get some solid aggression out of my system with Warhammer Online? All of these are games I've only had a little playtime with at best, and in most cases, I haven't even touched them. So click on past the break and let me know what I'll be playing, and I'll see you back here in a week to find out more about my next destination. (But make sure to vote by 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 19th!)
With less than a week remaining until the biggest game update in RIFT's short history, Trion Worlds is upping the excitement ante with a new press release detailing the extensive features coming with Waves of Madness.
The official unveiling will happen courtesy of a world event on June 22nd, and RIFT's 1.3 version update will subsequently include guild bank functionality, new item sets, new character accessories, new artifacts, free character transfers, and Hammerknell. This last is a 20-player raid that Trion says "will challenge even the most practiced players."
The encounter boasts three wings, 10 bosses, and a gaggle of gross-out monsters designed to make life more fun for Telara's endgame players. If we've piqued your curiosity, have a look at the official website for all the details.
The issue under discussion today is not something that will make or break City of Heroes. It is not a massive problem or a huge threat to the game's continued operation. But it is an issue, and in many ways it's the same sort of issue that led to the development team finally granting us the Fitness set as an inherent power set more than six months ago.
And just like that, it requires a bit of a history lesson, some conceptual nattering, and an understanding of what relevance gameplay restrictions had in the past and have in the present.
See, today I'm talking about travel powers. The fact of the matter is that we've gone from having travel powers as an important milestone at level 14 to having those powers be more or less irrelevant in their restrictions. There are arguably bigger issues that have to be attended, more pressing areas of the game in need of updates or cleanup... but it's important to look at these issues as well. In the wake of the (singularly awesome) Steampunk Pack, it's as good a time as any to look at what the game is doing now and ask whether there are pieces of complexity that aren't really necessary.
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 
