MMO Updates

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• Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 dungeons and dungeon talk
• Black Prophecy says good-bye today with parties
• Celebrate Luvinia Online's first anniversary with events
• Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival
• PlanetSide2 Command Center video highlights Engineer class, new livestream, and more
• World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launch-day roundup
• Raph Koster reminisces about Ultima Online 15 years later
• The Daily Grind: Which band fits with your favorite MMO?
• Not So Massively: Torchlight II free demo, Diablo III's Ubers revealed
• Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide
• Everything you wanted to know about Neverwinter's Foundry but haven't asked
• Mists of Pandaria is now live in Europe, Blizz posts a new video [Updated]
• Leaderboard: MMO most worthy of resurrection
• Former Meridian 59 dev pens essay on community management
• Blizzard has 'no particular fear' of Windows 8
• Captain's Log: The state of Star Trek Online
• Star Trek Online producer: Current game ratings don't do MMOs justice
• Black Desert's housing system detailed
• Rumor: DUST 514 launching in October

Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 dungeons and dungeon talk Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Endgame, Opinion, Guild Wars 2, Flameseeker Chronicles, Dungeons I finally had enough time set aside to head into a dungeon this weekend. We made it through the Ascalonian Catacombs story mode with considerable grace, and I'm hoping to progress through each story mode before doubling back to start on explorable versions. Having made more than 60 silver in coin and drops (and only losing a small handful to a single armor repair after the dungeon), I feel a bit better about the currency gain throughout the game. I've heard plenty about people giving up on certain explorable branches of certain dungeons because they were effectively losing gold due to armor repair costs, but I can't really speak to that yet. Continue reading Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 dungeons and dungeon talk Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 dungeons and dungeon talk originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Black Prophecy says good-bye today with parties Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Events, in-game, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Black Prophecy At the end of last month, Reakktor Media announced that the free-to-play space MMO Black Prophecy would be closing down for good on September 26th. Today, the studio posted a message on its Facebook page reminding players of the good-bye parties and invited them to join with devs during the game's final hours to send it off into the sunset. The parties will be held tonight, first on the two EU servers Shinava and Kemmura at 3:00 p.m. EDT (9:00 p.m. PM CEST), and then they will move to the US server Altair at 9:00 p.m. EDT. The servers are scheduled to shut down permanently in the morning. Black Prophecy says good-bye today with parties originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Black Prophesy Facebook

Celebrate Luvinia Online's first anniversary with events Posted: 25 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Endgame, News items, Free-to-play, Anniversary If age were determined by expansions, Luvinia Online would be four. In years, the free-to-play fantasy MMORPG is celebrating its first birthday. And from now through October 3rd, players can join in special in-game events and earn prizes during the celebration. Events include a scavenger hunt, slicing up a giant pastry, and new PvP guild wars; prizes include mounts, fashions, and gems. All players can also take advantage of a daily XP buff and new players will get a free fast-travel teleportation book for joining the game. To download and play Luvinia Online for free, visit the official site. [Source: Outspark press release] Celebrate Luvinia Online's first anniversary with events originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival Posted: 25 Sep 2012 08:30 AM PDT Filed under: Horror, Interviews, MMO industry, Massively Interviews, Post-Apocalyptic, Miscellaneous, Sandbox Thanks to viral content, word-of-mouth praise, and a passionate, growing fan base, Arma II mod DayZ has become one of the most talked about games in the industry. We sat down with Bohemia Interactive's Matt Lightfoot to get an idea of how exactly this game came to be, why it has exploded in the way it has, and how he'd attempt to survive a real-life zombie apocalypse: Massively: Could you give us some idea as to how DayZ came to be? What was the inspiration for the game? Matt Lightfoot: DayZ was created by Dean Hall, a former soldier in the New Zealand Armed Forces. He originally came up with the inclination to make a survival game when he was doing survival training in Brunei. The zombies come from Dean's discussions with his brother Richard, who is a world expert on influenza. Dean created it in his spare time after moving to the Czech Republic to work for Bohemia. Continue reading Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival Massively Interview: Bohemia's Matt Lightfoot on DayZ, modding, and zombie survival originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

PlanetSide2 Command Center video highlights Engineer class, new livestream, and more Posted: 25 Sep 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Video, Classes, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, New titles, News items, MMOFPS, Dev Diaries, PlanetSide 2 In the fifth episode of Command Center, PlanetSide 2 devs Tramell Isaac (Senior Art Director) and Matt Higby (Creative Director) discuss various aspects of the upcoming MMOFPS. At over 22 minutes, the video is full of information, including a a beta update, a report on PAX 2012, information and a video on the Engineer, and a preview of SOE Live. They also highlighted fan-made movies and fan art. Maggie Krohn, game designer, also joined the show to explain the new weekly livestream special, Friday Night Ops, that will have interviews, community spotlights, and more every Friday from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m. PS2 is currently in closed beta. Players who want to get in the beta can obtain guaranteed access by purchasing the Alpha Squad package for $39.99 USD, which also comes with 40 bucks worth of Station Cash, a six-month XP boost, a buddy key, and more. Continue reading PlanetSide2 Command Center video highlights Engineer class, new livestream, and more PlanetSide2 Command Center video highlights Engineer class, new livestream, and more originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Command Center YouTube video

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launch-day roundup Posted: 25 Sep 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, Game mechanics, Launches, MMO industry, News items World of Warcraft's long-awaited fourth expansion is finally here, and whether you're looking to see through the Mists of Pandaria for yourself or poke fun at your panda-playing friends, WoW Insider has everything you need to know. Our sister site has been busy interviewing Blizzard devs, testing new five-man dungeons, and parsing the class and mechanical changes and adjusting guides accordingly. Join us after the break for the best expansion coverage on the internet. Continue reading World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launch-day roundup World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launch-day roundup originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Raph Koster reminisces about Ultima Online 15 years later Posted: 25 Sep 2012 06:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Ultima Online, Anniversary Fifteen years of any MMO is a legitimate enough excuse to wax nostalgic, so we can't blame original Ultima Online developer Raph Koster for writing down a few thoughts about the game's 15th anniversary. His article is a collection of early behind-the-scenes vignettes, including how a player from one of his previous MUDs followed him to UO to sue the game, how the architecture presented challenges, and the pain of cutting unfinished content prior to launch. Koster is bluntly honest about the middling reception of the game at the time of its launch, although he said he reveled in the positive press: "The EA lawyers were very unhappy with me over a quote from that newspaper article in the pic. I ended by saying Ultima Online was 'a grand experiment.' They said, 'Don't you realize that's the sort of thing they will use in court against us?' But it was. Grand." Raph Koster reminisces about Ultima Online 15 years later originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Raph's Website

The Daily Grind: Which band fits with your favorite MMO? Posted: 25 Sep 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous I'm a big fan of MMO soundtracks -- heck, of game soundtracks in general, really. It's rare that I turn off the in-game tunes in favor of my own playlist, but I've been doing just that recently when it comes to The Secret World. No disrespect meant to composers Marc Canham and Simon Poole, of course; I bought the soundtrack, and I love that creepy main title riff. A modern setting goes well with modern music, though, or in my case, the sonic stylings of Pink Floyd. I can't put my finger on why David Gilmour's soulful guitar solos and Roger Waters shrieking vocals go so well with the TSW, but they do. What about you, early risers? Assuming you play your own music while playing your favorite MMO, which artist fits your game best? 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: Which band fits with your favorite MMO? originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Not So Massively: Torchlight II free demo, Diablo III's Ubers revealed Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Game mechanics, New titles, Patches, PvP, News items, PvE, Free-to-play, Not So Massively, MOBA, League of Legends, Diablo III, Firefall It's been a long time coming, but Torchlight II is finally here, and you can play a demo version of it completely free. Diablo III fansite Diablofans has been digging around in the test realm patch files to find out how the game's new Uber bosses works and what awesome rewards can be found by fighting them. Path of Exile celebrates its fourth successful public stress test weekend and looks at an interesting character build that lets players kills monsters by setting themselves on fire. League of Legends released details of its next champion this week, the stealthy insectoid Kha'Zix, who can evolve his abilities in the middle of a game. Dota 2 officially released classic champion Meepo The Geomancer this week, and upcoming MOBA Prime World announced an odd new "PvEvP" game mode. Upcoming FPS Firefall came under fire from some beta testers this week for the unpolished state of its current beta client, and Blacklight: Retribution released the winning video of its bolt-action rifle montage contest. Continue reading Not So Massively: Torchlight II free demo, Diablo III's Ubers revealed Not So Massively: Torchlight II free demo, Diablo III's Ubers revealed originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide Posted: 24 Sep 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Events, in-game, News items, Ultima Online, Livestream, Anniversary Ultima Online has a big anniversary today, one that you can only really celebrate if you're the first graphical MMO on the market. This marks the game's 15th anniversary, and that's definitely the sort of thing that merits a celebration. So the staff has decided to celebrate by deposing the current ruler and ushering in a new king. (We admit that the plot may not actually involve regicide, but kings are not usually known for their calm and peaceful surrender of power.) The changing of the king is the culmination of a seven-month plot arc, with the actual coronation of the new ruler sparking a major in-game event. If you're a former player, it's well worth jumping back in to check out what happens when power changes hands. You can also jump on past the break to see our own Beau Hindman livestreaming with the Ultima Online development team in celebration of the 15-year anniversary. [Source: Electronic Arts press release] Continue reading Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide Ultima Online celebrates 15 years with regicide originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Everything you wanted to know about Neverwinter's Foundry but haven't asked Posted: 24 Sep 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Previews, News items, Free-to-play, Neverwinter Neverwinter has some pretty big shoes to fill. More accurately, it has some pretty elaborate shoe-making tools that it needs to allow players to fill. After all, it's part of a franchise that's legendary for its player-created content. The Foundry system is aimed at giving players all of the user-generated content they could ask for, all of the tools necessary to make great missions, and all of the possible options to get players into player-made content quickly. How will all of this happen? Why, it's outlined in this new development blog! Players will be able to incorporate missions into the overall game world seamlessly or place them in instanced areas depending on the creator's intent. The system will also give players several means of getting into these missions, both from a UI feature showing off popular player-made missions and NPCs highlighting player-made content in any given area. Creators, meanwhile, will receive all the necessary tools to create new maps and new missions even with a minimum of experience. Time will tell how successful the system is in implementation, but it's certainly aiming in the right direction. Everything you wanted to know about Neverwinter's Foundry but haven't asked originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Foundry development blog

Mists of Pandaria is now live in Europe, Blizz posts a new video [Updated] Posted: 24 Sep 2012 04:30 PM PDT Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, Previews, News items Are you still on the fence about purchasing Mists of Pandaria? Really, the game comes out tomorrow; you should have made up your mind by now. But if you're still conflicted about buying World of Warcraft's fourth expansion, you can take a look at the newest development video that shows off everything players can expect from the update. And it's not just a quick list of updates. If you have any lingering questions about what the expansion will contain or any features that you've missed hearing about, this video will put all of that to rest. Previews of the new zones, previews of new scenarios, previews of the new Monk class in action -- you can get a full rundown of the expansion's features in seven minutes. So click on past the break to see everything that's in store for players tomorrow, whether or not you've decided to jump in. [Update: Pandaria is now live in Europe! Check out the parade Blizzard threw for the game in London, and as always, visit WoW Insider for the full scoop on the expansion.] Continue reading Mists of Pandaria is now live in Europe, Blizz posts a new video [Updated] Mists of Pandaria is now live in Europe, Blizz posts a new video [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: YouTube

Leaderboard: MMO most worthy of resurrection Posted: 24 Sep 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Polls, Opinion, Miscellaneous, Leaderboard I had an interesting revelation this past week. While it seems that we've had so many MMOs shutting down over the year, when I look at the big picture of all of the major titles that have been released, the vast majority of them are still in operation. It made me realize just how resilient and strong this industry is. Yet there are those games that have seen their final days and exist now only in our memories and dusty screenshot folders. Some might be good riddance to us; others are still painful wounds. We've all harbored fantasies of MMOs coming back from the great beyond for a second lease on life, but if you had to choose just one, what would it be? That's the topic for today's poll, so look at the following list and think long and hard about your choice. Resurrection isn't something that happens every day in MMOs, after all. Continue reading Leaderboard: MMO most worthy of resurrection Leaderboard: MMO most worthy of resurrection originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Former Meridian 59 dev pens essay on community management Posted: 24 Sep 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Miscellaneous Have you ever been curious what, exactly, a community manager does from an insider perspective? Here to help you with that is Brian Green, who's developed for both Meridian 59 and Storybricks. Green wrote an essay on how community management is often misunderstood and how it can be both effectively and ineffectively handled. Green went through the daily process of a CM's job to provide information for both developers and players, citing the difficult balance in handling that two-way street. He said it's important to keep PR as divorced from community management as possible, otherwise it damages the communication "loop" between CMs, players, and developers. He finishes by examining the recent instance of ArenaNet's CM team using Reddit to discuss players' behavior and names. "The problem is that this was quite obviously a PR exercise and not really proper community management," he noted, going on to say that this might have set the wrong tone for the community's in-game behavior and caused a "toxic allowance" to build up for later on down the road. Former Meridian 59 dev pens essay on community management originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Psychochild's Blog

Blizzard has 'no particular fear' of Windows 8 Posted: 24 Sep 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous Blizzard might be coming around to Windows 8, if only for practical business reasons. Blizzard Senior Software Engineer Darren Williams told CVG that the studio will support Windows 8 and expand to the OS in the future. "We put our games on platforms our players are already on, so yeah, it will be available on Windows 8," Williams said. "There's no particular fear we have of Windows 8." This past July, Blizzard Executive Vice President Rob Pardo said that Microsoft's upcoming operating system and its features were "not awesome" for the company. Blizzard has 'no particular fear' of Windows 8 originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: CVG

Captain's Log: The state of Star Trek Online Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Free-to-play, Captain's Log, Dev Diaries, Neverwinter This week saw the release of a new State of the Game blog from Star Trek Online Executive Producer Daniel Stahl. Much of what he said gave players hope for the future of Star Trek Online, including remarks that the game is "thriving at a time when many MMOs have kicked or are about to kick the bucket." The blog also featured some additional comments about the future of the game and how the company planning for 2013 and beyond. Join me as I discuss his blog post and the poll results that were generated over the past couple of weeks. I'll also take a look at the future of the game, the expanding STO team, The Foundry, and the Klingon Empire. Continue reading Captain's Log: The state of Star Trek Online Captain's Log: The state of Star Trek Online originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments

Star Trek Online producer: Current game ratings don't do MMOs justice Posted: 24 Sep 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items, Star Trek Online Are launch-day reviews of MMOs accurate over time? Dan Stahl, producer of Star Trek Online, doesn't think so. In a recent interview, Stahl stated that the current method of reviewing MMOs only at initial launch is not truly reflective of a genre that, by design, continually evolves. Stahl would like to see something that takes a title's major releases into account, stating, "There are plenty of MMOs that have made huge strides since days one and some that have even gotten worse." Until more progressive reviews come along that give players an up-to-date view of games, Stahl's recommendation to players is to try a game out and decide for themselves. Star Trek Online producer: Current game ratings don't do MMOs justice originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: [a]listdaily Via: Gamesindustry.biz

Black Desert's housing system detailed Posted: 24 Sep 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Sandbox, Housing Curious about Black Desert's sandbox pedigree? We are too, and it looks as if the newly announced Korean import from Pearl Abyss isn't skimping when it comes to player housing. The game's Facebook fanpage revealed that players will be able to purchase all of the houses in the game's cities and towns. That's not all, as you can also turn part of your humble abode into a shop or a crafting area as well as create furniture and cabinets to store your valuables. Pearl Abyss seems to be aiming for lively cities and towns, as it will not allow players to build houses anywhere in the open world, though temporary tents are an option. Black Desert's housing system detailed originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Facebook Via: Steparu

Rumor: DUST 514 launching in October Posted: 24 Sep 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, MMOFPS, Rumors, DUST 514 Sony Computer Entertainment America President and CEO Jack Tretton may have given away DUST 514's launch window. The EVE Online shooter sidequel has been slated for a 2012 release for some time now, but developer CCP has remained coy regarding the details. During a recent FOX Business interview, Tretton said the sci-fi title is "coming out next month." DUST 514 is a free-to-play PlayStation 3 exclusive that allows its users to interact directly with pilots in EVE. Check out our first impressions of the DUST beta, and stay tuned for more info as launch day draws near. Rumor: DUST 514 launching in October originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds. Permalink | Email this | Comments Source: Strategy Informer Via: PSX Extreme

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Latest Gaming and MMORPG Updates

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Bragging Rights: RunCore's Kylin III PCIe SSD Rated at 3,000,000 IOPS Posted: 25 Sep 2012 02:20 AM PDT It’s not really fair to pit an enterprise grade PCIe solid state drive (SSD) against a typical consumer grade model sporting a SATA interface, like Samsung’s 840 Series announced earlier today, but that doesn’t mean we’re any less impressed with the fact that RunCore’s new Kylin III SSD manages 3 million random read IOPS and [...]

Review: Palo Alto Cubik Posted: 24 Sep 2012 06:30 PM PDT If you haven’t been able to tell by the fairly large number of headphone reviews I’ve done for this site, I have a thing for audio equipment. It’s probably the single biggest investment I make beyond my daily caffeine intake. As a result, I have a tendency to care quite about about how my things [...]

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MMORPG News

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• Shaiya: Mystery Box Giveaway!
• World of WarPlanes: Beta Key Handout!
• Age of Conan: Unchained: Live Devcast with MMORPG.com on September 26th
• PlanetSide 2: New Command Center Video Diary Arrives
• Elsword: Gates of Darkness Returns
• Torchlight 2: Beating Blizzard at its Own Game
• General: GDCO 2012 - Game Narrative Summit

Shaiya: Mystery Box Giveaway! Posted: 23 Sep 2012 06:51 PM PDT MMORPG.com and Aeria Games have partnered up to give out some cool in-game items for Shaiya in celebration of the just announced Trinity Artifact expansion. We'll be giving away codes good for both the game's Phoenix and standard servers.

World of WarPlanes: Beta Key Handout! Posted: 24 Sep 2012 03:04 PM PDT MMORPG.com is very excited to announce that we have been given 25,000 beta test keys for World of Warplanes! This is the exciting follow up to the hugely successful World of Tanks tank combat MMO - now you can take to the skies for head to head dog fighting action! Get your beta key now while supplies last!

Age of Conan: Unchained: Live Devcast with MMORPG.com on September 26th Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:58 PM PDT Want to get inside the minds of an MMO designer when design a dungeon? Bill Murphy will be joined by members of the Age of Conan development team, who will share some of the secrets behind what it takes to craft a dungeon experience for a modern MMO. This exclusive live video stream will also be the first reveal of a new playable dungeon coming to Age of Conan with the new Secrets of the Dragon's Spine free content updates. You will get the first look at one of the great new dungeon areas.

PlanetSide 2: New Command Center Video Diary Arrives Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:37 PM PDT The PlanetSide 2 team has posted the latest Command Center video. This time, we get a recap of PAX Prime, a bit of new information about Friday Night Ops, a beta report and some information about what fans can expect to see in October's SOE Live convention in Las Vegas.

Elsword: Gates of Darkness Returns Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:26 PM PDT Elsword Awakened is going through a complete overhaul of major game systems and is turning out to be something special. We've partnered with the dev team to bring our readers exclusive first information about what's coming. Check out the latest developer diary and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

Torchlight 2: Beating Blizzard at its Own Game Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:05 AM PDT With last week's release of Torchlight 2, the proverbial gauntlet has been thrown down between Runic Games and Blizzard to find the reigning King of ARPGs. We take a look at Diablo 3 and Torchlight 2 to see how the battle fares. Read on and then let us know what you think.

General: GDCO 2012 - Game Narrative Summit Posted: 22 Sep 2012 09:12 PM PDT With GDC Online coming up, we took the opportunity to chat with two of the industry's biggest names, Microsoft's Tom Abernathy and Ubisoft/Redstorm Richard Dansky about industry trends. See what they had to say and then leave us your thoughts in the comments.

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General gaming

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• The Adventure of a Lifetime
• The Console That Wouldn't Die
• Cover Story: A Stella Anniversary: 35 Years of Atari 2600
• Atari's Immortal Legacy
• A Revolutionary Walkabout in Assassin's Creed III's Impressive World
• Assassin's Creed III: Liberation's Reach Might Exceed Its Grasp

The Adventure of a Lifetime Posted: 24 Sep 2012 11:04 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24 | 35 YEARS OF ATARI 2600 The Adventure of a Lifetime Cover Story: How a secret message in an Atari game unlocked a world of discovery. I n the summer of '82, my family took a trip from our home in Iowa to central Arizona for a visit with our extended family. My dad was going to drive our AMC Hornet the whole way, with planned stops at the Petrified Forest, Mesa Verde National Monument, and The Grand Canyon. He draped maps marked with red pen over the dining room table and showed my sister, mother and I the different routes we would take. Touching the map, we followed his finger as it twisted over the flatlands of Kansas, climbed up and over the Rockies and then meandered through miles of cactus-strewn Arizona desert. My dad was overjoyed. My mother was excited. My sister was enthralled. And me? I was sad.

The Console That Wouldn't Die Posted: 24 Sep 2012 07:23 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24 | 35 YEARS OF ATARI 2600 The Console That Wouldn't Die Cover Story: Fans and enthusiasts have added decades to the Atari 2600's 15-year lifespan. T ake a look at that game console perched under your television set, and consider its future. It may have been state-of-the-art when you first purchased it five years ago, but will it still be there five years from now? How about in the near future, after the next generation of consoles has launched? If you're like many gamers, you may have already retired your Nintendo Wii to the closet, where it will spend the rest of its life buried under last year's fashions. Here one day and gone the next: That's the fate of modern game consoles in this age of rapidly evolving technology and planned obsolescence. However, one system has managed to buck that trend, bearing fruit for more than three decades. The Atari 2600 was the uncontested leader of the video game industry throughout the late '70s and early '80s, but when Atari planned to phase out the aging machine in 1982, a funny thing happened. Its successor, the questionably designed Atari 5200, floundered next to its rival, the ColecoVision. One year later, the entire video game industry was snuffed out, the victim of Atari's hubris and an overcrowded market.

Cover Story: A Stella Anniversary: 35 Years of Atari 2600 Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:25 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24 | 35 YEARS OF ATARI 2600 A Stella Anniversary: 35 Years of Atari 2600 This week, 1UP commemorates the console that took video games into prime time. Not long ago, I put out a call for feedback from 1UP readers: What memories do you have of the Atari 2600? As you've seen from our recent "oral history" features, when we ask the 1UP community for feedback, we get it in abundance. Except... that wasn't the case with the Atari 2600. On the contrary, your responses were few and far between; we saw more apologies than reminiscences. And then it struck me: We're celebrating the 35th anniversary of the 2600 -- it launched in the U.S. in October 1977 -- and 35 years is a long, long time. Longer than most of our readers have been alive. And while Atari supported the 2600 into the '90s, if you can believe that, for most consumers the system's life effectively crashed to an anticlimactic end in 1983 when Warner (who owned Atari at the time) reported that its games division had overextended itself and lost billions of dollars. The U.S. video game industry reeled from those losses and didn't recover until Nintendo performed triage a few years later with the NES -- the system that a large percentage of 1UP readers regard as their entry into the medium.

Atari's Immortal Legacy Posted: 24 Sep 2012 01:07 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 24 | 35 YEARS OF ATARI 2600 Atari's Immortal Legacy Cover Story: Though its time in the limelight is long over, the 2600 left an indelible mark on the game industry and gaming culture. H indsight has a way of making landmark designs seem inevitable. We look at the Atari 2600, and it seems to tick all of the "console" checkmarks like interchangeable cartridges, replaceable controllers, and a slick appearance. Yet it's easy to lose sight of the fact that no system had ever done all these things at once before. The minds behind the 2600 didn't know what they were doing would define a multi-billion-dollar industry for decades to come. They didn't even know if it would survive on store shelves past its first Christmas. It wasn't even called the 2600, originally. Its initial christening was as the Atari Video Computer System (VCS), a Trojan Horse of a name designed to make parents think it might be good for more than playing games (and to steal attention from the recent release of the VCR). The system's aesthetics followed suit: Black with metal switches, radiator-like fins, and a wood veneer that made it seem more like a piece of high-end electronics than previous, more toy-like home game systems. A later revision of the system would abandon the wood veneer for solid matte black throughout, and a third revision (the 2600 Jr) reduced its size, traded the matte finish for a glossy one, and added chrome accents and aggressive angles.

A Revolutionary Walkabout in Assassin's Creed III's Impressive World Posted: 24 Sep 2012 09:00 AM PDT There was something initially unnerving about being given permission to roam around the world of Assassin's Creed III at my leisure. No one from Ubisoft was looking over my shoulder, ushering me on to the next objective. There was no timer hanging in the air to warn me of when my play session was coming to an end. In an era rife with handholding and tutorials, I was free to pick up one of 2012's most anticipated titles and simply indulge in the act of playing. Ubisoft awarded me with a wealth of freedom, leaving me to explore the world of colonial New England on my own accord. After a few hours, I realized that this freedom to take on the world as you see fit is exactly what ACIII is all about. For the past few months, it's been common knowledge that the historical franchise has now moved forward in time to the American Revolution. Our demo began just past the halfway point in the game at the Homestead of Connor, ACIII's new protagonist. The Homestead acts as an analogue to Assassin's Creed II's Villa system, in that the player's actions can help forge and ultimately grow a sort of home base for your hero. From here, we were given the freedom to venture forth into the world and do whatever we desired. As I ran forward into the lush greenery of the frontier, an absolute truth dawned on me -- ACIII once again reaffirms the series status as the king of video game movement.

Assassin's Creed III: Liberation's Reach Might Exceed Its Grasp Posted: 24 Sep 2012 08:58 AM PDT Assassin's Creed III: Liberation is a wildly impressive feat; there's honestly no other way I could possibly begin this preview. The Vita title, launching on October 30 alongside Assassin's Creed III, isn't some shoddy port or strange offshoot -- it's an original title featuring a new story, protagonist, and location. You simply have to be impressed by Ubisoft Sofia's ability to cram true Assassin's Creed game onto the portable platform. But with that being said, I can't help but feel like the Vita and 3DS excel when developers create with mobility in mind, and not try to emulate experiences that you can have in front of your television. Set during the French and Indian War, Liberation places you in the role of Aveline, a former slave in New Orleans who finds herself in the middle of a simmering revolution. Desmond isn't featured in the game, the developers were coy in mentioning how Liberation fits in with the rest of the series. Regardless, New Orleans is vast, the mechanics and systems all work as they do on console, and Aveline's athletic prowess matches any of her previous assassin brethren.

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