MMO updates

Transformers Online (CN) - Closed Beta scheduled for August
Kingdom Under Fire Online - Under fire in Korea
Rusty Hearts - Closed Beta begins July 27

Transformers Online (CN) - Closed Beta scheduled for August

Posted: 25 Jun 2011 05:59 AM PDT

NetDragon, the developer for the upcoming Chinese online shooter, Transformers Online, announced that the game will see its first Closed Beta phase begin soon in August. The game will be a third person shooter (TPS) with RPG elements and infused with the lore of Transformers Prime, the most recent cartoon series. And yes, it has apparently been confirmed that players will be able to create and customize their own robots. Below are 5 weapons available in the game.

↑↑ The single hand axe. The best melee weapon found in the game packed with tons of damage. It is suitable for all Transformers in the game. It even got Megatron as the model!

↑↑ The two handed sword. It is not only used as a weapon of destruction, but can also be used as a shield to block damage.

↑↑ According to the report, this is the double-hand machine gun. While heavy, emptying the bullets into a crowd (perhaps during mass PvP) will yield highly positive results.

↑↑ The magnetic cannon. With its high critical rate, this weapon can be used to send an enemy back to the scrapyard pretty quick.

↑↑ Bumblebee here is the model for the plasma cannon. The most basic ranged weapon has balanced range, damage and is the easiest to use.

Kingdom Under Fire Online - Under fire in Korea

Posted: 25 Jun 2011 05:15 AM PDT

Korean MMO developer, Dragonfly, is most well known for its online shooter titles, including Special Force and Karma Online. With Kingdom Under Fire Online, the company has basically added a new genre, called AOS (Aeon of Strife), into its stable. The AOS genre basically refers to games similar to Warcraft's DOTA mod, with a full 3D example being Land of Chaos Online (LOCO). However, despite the franchise's brand identity, the Closed Beta phase for KUF Online left many players with a bad taste in their mouths.

Similar to games like League of Legends, players will be able to choose from different heroes and separated into 2 opposing teams, Human Alliance and Dark Legion. This is in accordance to the original storyline. New heroes can be bought using in-game or cash points, but if you happen to select the Dark Legion to play in, characters from the Human Alliance will not be available for choosing for that game.

So why are the Korean players giving tons of negative feedback? Being an AOS genre, there is really not much content and storyline players can enjoy, given the lore of Kingdom Under Fire. The gameplay is really monotonous and nothing can be said to be "outstanding" when compared to other games. While this is still the Closed Beta phase, it is handled by the developers themselves, so I am confident some sweeping changes will be made. I will most probably give this game a swirl during Open Beta as I am really too busy these few weeks. Stay tuned!

Rusty Hearts - Closed Beta begins July 27

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 11:54 AM PDT

Perfect World Entertainment Inc is gearing up to begin Closed Beta Testing (CBT) for Rusty Hearts . The ultimate hack and slash dungeon-crawler and multiplayer online game adds new elements to Perfect World Entertainment's existing diversified game portfolio by offering players cel-shaded anime art style, fast twitch combat, and controller support. Rusty Hearts CBT phase is scheduled to launch on July 27, 2011.

"Many fans are anxiously waiting to play Rusty Hearts and we are very excited that we will soon be able to welcome players into the fast paced action game," said Mark Hill, Product Manager for Rusty Hearts . "We've been working hard to ensure a smooth closed beta launch for Rusty Hearts and aim to continue raising players' expectations for free-to-play games."

In closed beta, players can anticipate a thrilling gaming experience and epic dungeon crawling fights led by the unique heroes of Rusty Hearts , each with their own compelling backstory. Among the many features that the game has to offer, players will get to challenge themselves with multiple difficulty modes, complete quests, level up and customize their characters, gear up with wicked weapons, and find a PvP experience that suits their taste.

General gaming

Yu Suzuki Leaving Sega Job in Favor of Advisory Role
Brink to Offer its DLC Free for Two Weeks
The (Original) Star Wars MMO Shutting Down in December
Sony Fired Network Security Employees Prior to PSN Breach, Lawsuit Claims
Xbox Live Getting Free-to-Play Games - Report
PS3 Price Drop to be Announced in August - Report
PSN Store Remains Down in Japan, Sony Apologizes
Dial Other M for Murder: Is the Metroid Series Dead?
Rich Outer Life: The Evolution Samus Aran
Other Missteps: Sequels That Disappointed Fans

Yu Suzuki Leaving Sega Job in Favor of Advisory Role

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 06:34 PM PDT

Shenmue creator and longtime Sega employee Yu Suzuki has revealed he'll be leaving his current position within Sega in favor of an advisory role later this year.

"I'll be leaving my current job at Sega this September, and after that point I'll remain on as an advisor," he told Gamasutra. Suzuki formed his own studio, YS Net, in 2008 before changing his role at Sega in 2009. He retired from his job as research and development creative officer in favor of working in what was described at the time as a "diminished capacity." It was recently announced that he had taken on a producer role at Premium Agency, a developer that's working on smartphone games and a fighting game for Kinect.

"So I've formally been with both companies from 2008 until September 2011," he continued. "With the new company [YS Net], I've been doing pretty much what I personally want to do myself."

Brink to Offer its DLC Free for Two Weeks

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 05:52 PM PDT

Brink has faced an uphill battle since release. Regardless of how you feel about its merits as a game, online play -- a major attraction for a shooter like Brink -- has faced serious issues with lag. A patch was released last month to fix them and another is on the way that will further address those problems, improve bot AI, and tweak weapon balance. As a gift to players, Bethesda has announced that the first downloadable content pack will be made available for free to players for a limited time.

The Agents of Change DLC had been planned for release this month but is now expected to be out in early July. For its first two weeks of availability, it'll be completely free on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Steam. Anyone who downloads it during that period will have free access to it forever; after that period, those who want to download it will have to pay.

Included in the DLC are two new maps, new player abilities (including napalm grenades and pyro mines), new weapon attachments, and new outfits.

The (Original) Star Wars MMO Shutting Down in December

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 02:30 PM PDT

Sony Online Entertainment today announced its plans to shut down Star Wars Galaxies before the end of the year.

The long-running MMO first launched in 2003 and has undergone some big changes over the years. It received several expansion packs, but one update in particular, known as 'New Game Enhancements,' ditched the game's profession system and allowed anyone to play the role of a Jedi. It was widely criticized, though it apparently wasn't bad enough to drive all of its players away as the game has continued to operate for more than five-and-a-half years.

The upcoming shutdown, taking place on December 15, 2011, will put an end to both the MMO and Trading Card Game, which was an aspect of the game released as a part of an update in 2008. The official site describes it as a "very difficult decision, but SOE and LucasArts have mutually agreed that the end of 2011 is the appropriate time to end the game."

Sony Fired Network Security Employees Prior to PSN Breach, Lawsuit Claims

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 01:09 PM PDT

Was Sony negligent in ensuring that its networks' security? That's what a new class action lawsuit alleges, pointing out that network security employees were fired just before the PSN breach.

After the PlayStation Network was attacked in April, Sony was criticized for not informing users more quickly that their personal data had been compromised. There was a gap of at least one week between when the hack occurred and when the public was alerted to the incident. Sony says the delay was because it was unaware of everything that happened as a part of the breach; Congress and various Attorney Generals expressed their displeasure nonetheless. Another criticism was that Sony's security simply wasn't what it should have been to prevent the attack from happening. Whether or not that's the case, this new lawsuit presents some compelling evidence that Sony perhaps didn't do all it could to ensure security was up to snuff.

"Sony sought to cut its costs at the expense of its customers by terminating a significant number of employees immediately prior to the security breach, including personnel responsible for maintaining the security of the network," the class action lawsuit reads.

Xbox Live Getting Free-to-Play Games - Report

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 12:05 PM PDT

Reinforcing what we've previously heard, a new report states that free-to-play games are coming to the Xbox 360.

Develop says multiple sources have indicated Microsoft is talking with developers about bringing F2P titles to its home console. Xbox Live will add a microtransaction service that would allow in-game items to be bought "on the fly." That likely means items could be accessed immediately without having to restart the game, a process that would otherwise severely inhibit such games from catching on.

Free-to-play games traditionally rely on microtransactions (and sometimes advertisements) to support themselves. Anyone is able to play the game for free, but players are encouraged (but usually not forced) to make purchases of things like additional levels, cosmetic items, new weapons, etc.

PS3 Price Drop to be Announced in August - Report

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 10:50 AM PDT

Sony will announce a PlayStation 3 price drop during Gamescom in August, according to a report.

Trade insiders are expecting a cut that could see the PS3 be priced at 199.99 GBP ($319) in the United Kingdom, according to MCV. That's obviously more than the PS3 currently retails for in the United States, and it's unclear if the price drop would only be for Europe or if the price would be slashed worldwide.

The most recent PS3 price cut came alongside the announcement of the PlayStation 3 Slim in August 2009. The cheapest new PS3 is the 160GB model that retails for $299.99 in the U.S. (A limited time Call of Duty: Black Ops bundle is now available for the same price and includes the game and a free map pack.)

PSN Store Remains Down in Japan, Sony Apologizes

Posted: 24 Jun 2011 10:01 AM PDT

For many PlayStation Network users around the world, the PSN downtime is now a distant memory. After suffering more than three weeks of downtime following a security breach that resulted in millions of users' personal data being leaked, the service came back up in North America more than a month ago, on May 14. The PlayStation Store followed on June 1. For those in Japan, however, the PlayStation Store remains offline in what's been an excruciatingly long, two month-plus wait.

After not addressing the situation in recent weeks, Andriasang reports Sony has published a brief note today apologizing for the Store (and Qriocity) downtime. According to the translation, Sony says it needs more time "to make adjustments with the various related parties." It didn't offer up any time frame for when services might be brought back online or what parties it's referring to.

It's possible the holdup is connected to what we heard last month, that Japanese authorities were blocking PSN's return in Sony's home territory until specific security measures were shown to have been implemented. Hopefully for those in Japan that will happen soon, though you would think Sony would have offered some indication of that if it is indeed the case.