MMO Updates |
- Newest LotRO screenshots tempt what awaits in Rohan
- Perfect World hosting Neverwinter Panel at NYCC, Foundry screens released
- League of Legends claims title of 'most played video game in the world'
- New Black Gold trailer features fly-through footage, combat, and more
- GDC Online 2012: Ethics panel roasts freemium, labels it 'entertainment socialism'
- The Daily Grind: Are you sick of gear resets?
- Linden Lab preps four releases for November
- War of the Immortals: Titan's Fury releases October 30th
- The Guild Counsel: The ethics of gaming
- SWTOR's Game Update 1.5 hits the public test server
- EVE Online dev blog discusses Bounty System revamp
- GDC Online 2012: F2P is the platform of the future
- DUST 514 claims five-year roadmap with expansions
- Former EVE Online bigwig now producing Defiance for Trion
- The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL's World Championship fiasco alienates fans
- GDC Online 2012: John Smedley's keynote on MMO trends and the future of gaming
- Chaos Theory: Reticles and roleplay in The Secret World
- The Perfect Ten: Worst expansion names of all time
| Newest LotRO screenshots tempt what awaits in Rohan Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Launches, News items, Free-to-play  Get your fix of Rohan this weekend with the screenshots in the gallery below. To learn more about what's coming, check out Massively's hands-on experience, and watch tomorrow for our guide to Rohan as you prepare for your own adventures! [Source: Turbine press release]
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| Perfect World hosting Neverwinter Panel at NYCC, Foundry screens released Posted: 12 Oct 2012 10:00 AM PDT Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Galleries, Screenshots, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play, Neverwinter  It's all happening at 1:30 p.m. EDT in room 1A23 of the Javits Center. Perfect World has also released new screenshots to mark the occasion, including a couple of images focused on the title's Foundry player content toolset. Check them out in the gallery below. [Source: Perfect World press release]
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| League of Legends claims title of 'most played video game in the world' Posted: 12 Oct 2012 09:00 AM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends  LoL has also declared itself the most played video game on the planet, averaging over one billion monthly hours world-wide. Other facts highlighted include comparisons of daily active players (12 million) and peak concurrent players (three million). Check out all of the stats compiled in the infographic after the cut. [Source: Riot Games press release] Continue reading League of Legends claims title of 'most played video game in the world'
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| New Black Gold trailer features fly-through footage, combat, and more Posted: 12 Oct 2012 08:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Trailers, Video, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Free-to-play  The game has been announced for territories including China, Russia, and North America, but thus far no beta phase has materialized. Check out the three-minute gameplay clip after the cut. Continue reading New Black Gold trailer features fly-through footage, combat, and more
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| GDC Online 2012: Ethics panel roasts freemium, labels it 'entertainment socialism' Posted: 12 Oct 2012 07:00 AM PDT Filed under: Business models, Culture, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous  The sit-down featured a handful of developers including representatives from Amazon, Bobber Interactive, and Immersyve. "This whole concept of freemium play, in my opinion, is the most radical form of entertainment socialism since Obama got elected," said Bobber's Scott Dodson. "You've got a whole bunch of one-percenters paying for a bunch of freeloaders." Senior Amazon designer Nik Davidson likened the industry to a gold rush and also poked fun at the supposition that big spenders are acting responsibly. "We like to think that the ones spending vast sums on these games are sons of Dubai oligarchs, but we have the data to prove that they're not, and that they probably can't afford to spend what they're spending," Davidson said. "We're saying our market is suckers -- we're going to cast a net that catches as many mentally ill people as we can!" Immersyve's Scott Rigby chimed in as well. "What do we call our best customers these days? I'm not sure I'd want to be called a whale by anybody. Sticky is not, generally, a good quality. I think we have this subtle language of control for our customers, and when paired with our ability to collect data, it raises some interesting ethical questions," he said.
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| The Daily Grind: Are you sick of gear resets? Posted: 12 Oct 2012 06:00 AM PDT Filed under: Expansions, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Endgame, PvE, Opinion, Massively Meta, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous  The Daily Grind crew has discussed gear resets in relation to raid progression before, but even games without raiding face this problem. If a game has any kind of scaling gear or levels, then the addition of new content, like an expansion, is bound to generate growing pains. So where do you stand? Are you sick of gear resets, of having to effectively start over at the dawn of every expansion? Or do you see gear resets as a good thing, as a way to bridge the gear divide between players and re-experience what you loved about the game originally? And since you're going to tell us anyway, here's a bonus question: Which MMOs have successfully avoided this problem and how?  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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| Linden Lab preps four releases for November Posted: 11 Oct 2012 07:00 PM PDT Filed under: New titles, Second Life, Browser, Mobile, Miscellaneous  We've already heard about the first, which is the Minecraft-wannabe Patterns, but the others are just now being revealed. The second is the iPad-only (for now) Creatorverse, which allows users to draw shapes, have them interact via physics, and then share them on the cloud. The final two are Dio, a room creator, and Versu, a storytelling toolset. Linden Lab CEO Rod Humble affirmed that Second Life will remain important to the studio, but it will need to make room for all of the new children coming into the family.
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| War of the Immortals: Titan's Fury releases October 30th Posted: 11 Oct 2012 06:00 PM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Video, Expansions, Patches, Free-to-play  Titan's Fury's key feature is a pair of instances -- Titan's Temple and the Titan Dungeon -- that will be unlike anything players have seen to date. The expansion also adds new zones, daily events, pets, and gear. There's a little something in it for both solo- and group-oriented players, says Product Manager Thang Phan. We've got the trailer for Titan's Fury sitting pretty behind the jump, so why don't you go give it a look-see and let us know if you'll be booting this title back up for the latest and greatest? [Source: Perfect World Entertainment press release] Continue reading War of the Immortals: Titan's Fury releases October 30th
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| The Guild Counsel: The ethics of gaming Posted: 11 Oct 2012 05:00 PM PDT Filed under: Business models, Culture, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, Guilds, MMO industry, Opinion, The Guild Counsel, Miscellaneous  There's a scene in the film where Ian Malcom questions the rationale behind cloning extinct species of dinosaurs and then building a theme park to make a fortune. As he points out, you spent so much time figuring out whether you could that you didn't stop to think whether you should. In other words, the ethical questions of Jurassic Park weren't addressed until the last boat left the dock and Newman had corrupted the system and was hopelessly lost in the jungle with a shaving cream can of dino DNA. When it comes to MMOs, there are ethical questions that the industry needs to consider, and some of them are questions that MMO guilds also need to address. In this week's Guild Counsel, we'll look at the ethics of gaming in MMOs, before there's a Jurassic Park catastrophe. Continue reading The Guild Counsel: The ethics of gaming
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| SWTOR's Game Update 1.5 hits the public test server Posted: 11 Oct 2012 04:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, Star Wars: The Old Republic  Game Update 1.5 introduces us to Section X, a fresh area to explore on the prison world of Belsavis. You can also earn the final pieces of the Dread Guard gear set in the new Operation: Explosive Conflict. And of course, what update wouldn't be complete without the addition of a new buddy? HK-51 is an assassination droid companion available to those who explore the derelict ship wreckage beneath the icy surface of Belsavis. Take note that character cloning and full support are not available with this update, so BioWare encourages all players to use the Public Test Server forum with any questions or concerns you may have with the new content.
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| EVE Online dev blog discusses Bounty System revamp Posted: 11 Oct 2012 03:00 PM PDT Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, PvP, News items, Sandbox  It takes some impressive cojones for a game developer to come right out and say that one of its game's systems is broken, but that's exactly what CCP has done in the latest EVE Online dev blog. "The bounty system is broken!" reads the opening to the post, which -- surprise! -- focuses on all the ways the game's current bounty system is borked, and more importantly, how CCP plans to go about fixing it in the upcoming Retribution release. CCP's main goal with the bounty system revamp, according to the post, is to "give people faith that money they put into the bounty system has a fair chance of actually leading to their target crying tears of fear and frustration." Lovely! CCP also wants to "support bounty hunting as a career choice, preferably in a way that makes it possible for newer players as well as older players to get involved." To top it all off, the studio is expanding the bounty system to cover corporations and alliances as well, so if you've got a grudge against a corp and the money to put all its members six feet under, you're in luck. The full list of changes coming to the system is mind-numbingly extensive, but if you'd like all of the fine details, you should head on over and give the official post a read-through.
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| GDC Online 2012: F2P is the platform of the future Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:30 PM PDT Filed under: Business models, Events, real-world, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous  During the presentation, titled Free-to-Play Market Trends and Metrics, Dr. Joost van Dreunen explored the recent market performance of the free-to-play genre and shared predictions about the future. As Managing Director at Superdata Research (a company that specializes in research on entertainment media and consumer technologies), van Dreunen has a wealth of market data at his disposal. He also teaches a course in media theory in games at NYU and will be adding economics for game developers next term. These are his thoughts on the state of free-to-play today and in the future. Continue reading GDC Online 2012: F2P is the platform of the future
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| DUST 514 claims five-year roadmap with expansions Posted: 11 Oct 2012 02:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Consoles, MMOFPS, PlanetSide 2  "The whole way that we're doing our development process is so that we can push out expansions on a regular basis," Lander said. "We're not going to ship a unit and then in six months it's off the shelves and people have stopped playing it." Lander said the team's been working closely with Sony to overcome technical challenges and make sure that it's as stable and accessible as its EVE Online counterpart. DUST 514 is currently exclusive to Sony's PlayStation 3. Of course, the big unknown is what will happen to that exclusivity if DUST 514 outlives the console's lifespan.
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| Former EVE Online bigwig now producing Defiance for Trion Posted: 11 Oct 2012 01:00 PM PDT Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Defiance  Now we know that Richardsson jumped ship to sign on with Trion, where he is currently serving as both the Vice President of Development and as the Executive Producer on Defiance. "Defiance is the future of entertainment, and the collaboration between Trion and Syfy means you have two powerhouses blazing a trail that will fundamentally change the way both gamers and viewers consume entertainment," Richardsson says of the third-person shooter and its television series tie-in. "It's amazingly ambitious and exactly the kind of immense challenge that I've been looking for." [Source: Trion press release]
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| The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL's World Championship fiasco alienates fans Posted: 11 Oct 2012 12:00 PM PDT Filed under: Events, real-world, PvP, Opinion, Free-to-play, MOBA, League of Legends, The Summoner's Guidebook  I would expect more from Riot Games, which creates and publishes League of Legends and which has a vested interest in fostering competition for the game. However, the studio seems to have learned absolutely nothing from very successful e-sports tournaments such as the Evolution Fighting Championships, the GOMTV Star League, and OGN's The Champions. All of these tournaments have better seeding structure and better venues, which contribute to a better overall event. Why can't Riot learn from these very successful events? Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: LoL's World Championship fiasco alienates fans
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| GDC Online 2012: John Smedley's keynote on MMO trends and the future of gaming Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:30 AM PDT Filed under: Business models, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Free-to-play, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous  At GDC Online this week, SOE President John Smedley gave a keynote address titled Free-to-play: Driving the Future of MMOs. In it, he explains SOE's (and other studios') shift toward a free-to-play model lets MMOs keep up with an ever-changing industry. But the talk actually went beyond the notion of free-to-play and into the larger picture of how SOE is reinventing its games to include more emergent gameplay and take advantage of new trends in media. Read on for a broad look at the past decade of trends in the industry and a glimpse of what the future holds for SOE titles. Continue reading GDC Online 2012: John Smedley's keynote on MMO trends and the future of gaming
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| Chaos Theory: Reticles and roleplay in The Secret World Posted: 11 Oct 2012 11:00 AM PDT Filed under: Fantasy, Horror, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Patches, News items, The Secret World, Roleplaying, Chaos Theory  The newly minted Game Director dumped a wall o' text on us that hinted at a couple of exciting developments in store for everyone's favorite horror/conspiracy MMO. Let's chat them up after the cut. Continue reading Chaos Theory: Reticles and roleplay in The Secret World
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| The Perfect Ten: Worst expansion names of all time Posted: 11 Oct 2012 10:30 AM PDT Filed under: Anarchy Online, City of Heroes, Dungeons and Dragons Online, EVE Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Final Fantasy XI, Lineage 2, Star Wars Galaxies, Ultima Online, Humor, RIFT, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous  Homophones aside, Rain of Fear is hardly the worst expansion title I've ever seen. The industry has had its share of bad names, from the confusing to the downright unpronounceable. Sure, we get used to these titles, and perhaps it's nit-picky to lug them out at such a late point in many of their lifespans, but petty is my middle name. My first name is Tom. And these are 10 poorly named expansions. Deal with it. Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Worst expansion names of all time
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