Archives for Aug 31st, 2011
Perfect World Entertainment confirms Star Trek Online going F2P this year
File this one under "Stuff we Missed from Last Week": Thanks to the keen eye of reader The First Avenger, we've learned that Perfect World Entertainment plans to turn Star Trek Online free-to-play by the end of this year. "And also Star Trek Online, after the acquisition, in fact Cryptic is wo...
Bethesda's Todd Howard not interested in an Elder Scrolls MMO
Whenever the subject of untapped RPG franchises that could make the jump to MMOs comes up, Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series is almost always mentioned. After all, if Blizzard and BioWare made the jump, why not the folks behind Oblivion? In talking with our sister site Joystiq at PAX, Bethesda's...
City of Heroes Freedom invaded by Hamidon again
Hamidon is returning to City of Heroes Freedom in a big way. How can you get bigger than a gigantic gelatinous blob like the first Hamidon? In this latest dev diary, Jeff "Arbiter Hawk" Hamilton gives us all the slimy details. The zone-wide encounter starts with a new monstrosity called the Se...
GamersFirst states All Points Bulletin had huge future plans
By now, we are all familiar with the sad story of All Points Bulletin by Realtime Worlds. RTW's closing down shop ended not just APB as it was but also the future plans for the game as well. According to GamersFirst, which picked up and relaunched the failed title, Realtime Worlds had ambitious p...
Champions Online celebrates two years
It's hard to believe that Champions Online is about to celebrate its second anniversary, but it's true: Cryptic Studios just sent out the invitations to the game's anniversary party! On Thursday, September 1st, our favorite super-heroine Sapphire takes center stage at the Renaissance Center at...
Massively Speaking Episode 163
Massively Speaking Episode 163 is back this week with your hosts Shawn and Rubi bringing you the latest MMO news and word back from PAX Prime. Topics include Wurm Online's new PvE server, Star Wars Galaxies' player-driven ending, The Secret World's and Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming betas...
Mythos content update includes 23 new dungeons, skill tweaks
The last time we profiled Mythos on Massively, it was in service of some new content. It's no surprise, then, that Frogster is once again expanding the free-to-play hack-and-slash MMO. This time the new bells and whistles can be found on the Fog Island of Horror, and in case the name didn't drive...
Choose My Adventure: Invasion
My time was short this week in the world of Telara because of work and other obligations. However, I did several hours of RIFT-streaming this week; I hope you check out the stream at the end of this article. Although the video is kind of laggy, the inspiration for this article was captured in one...
One Shots: Invisible horses are all the rage
We're sensing a trend here on One Shots this week. It's not just the bugs-and-glitches theme, but uncooperative mounts. RIFT player Danielle shared this with us today: Most stealthy Rogues need to go on foot to slip through the shadows unnoticed, but this particular evening, my horse decided to...
Enter at Your Own Rift: Finally 50
As an MMO player, I'm generally behind the curve when it comes to leveling and cutting-edge content exploration. Pushing myself to level quickly is far less fun to me than taking my time and exploring all the nooks and crannies, and my available playtime is far less than it used to be. Ergo, whil...
Free for All: The end of physical media
In my ongoing journey to find my next laptop, I have begun to suffer from tunnel vision. After all, there are only so many ways to package a processor, some RAM and a graphics card or chip. Sure, sure, I can become an obsessed overclocker and work hard to squeeze the most power out of a PC possib...
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: PAXflop
It's been anything but a quiet weekend in my neck of the woods. I'm currently writing this with no real ETA on when I'm going to have power back, which is a bit of an issue considering that my job sort of requires a functional internet connection and a computer to type and play things on. Also, t...
Uncharted Waters Online adds shipbuilding
MMO shipbuilding is a time-honored tradition that's shown up in titles as wide-ranging as Wurm Online, Vanguard, and even Star Wars Galaxies (hey, spaceships count!), to name but a few. The latest game to take the plunge is Uncharted Waters Online, and the free-to-play title from CJ E&M is lo...
Lore-masters tune up their hogs to cruise the mean streets of Isengard
Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard is bringing plenty of class changes, tweaks, and updates to the table, and the hybrid Lore-master class is waiting for the dev love with arms wide open. While Turbine's talked about the class' increased ability to be a reliable off-healer, word is coming...
The slippery slope: Analysing the decline of World of Warcraft
It's the word on the street these days: World of Warcraft is no longer quite the king that it used to be. The massive title has lost around one million subscribers over the past year, even with Cataclysm releasing last December. Gamasutra sat down with Blizzard for a frank talk about why the titl...
PAX 2011: Hands-on with Firefall
It's no secret that I like my games with more of a skill-based flavor. I enjoy games that reward player skill above superior gear or higher levels. In light of that, I was quite excited to get some hands-on time with Firefall, the new massively multiplayer shooter coming from Red 5 Studios. Th...
Age of Conan dev update talks new content, crafting revamp
Yeah, you read that right, Age of Conan fans. Funcom is planning on remaking the game's much-maligned tradeskill system. While the exact nature of the changes has not been revealed, and the deployment date is pretty far in the future (sometime in 2012), it's a big step for what has thus far been ...
Star Wars Galaxies fan site hacked, 23K passwords stolen
Talk about kicking a game's community when it's down. VentureBeat reports that Star Wars Galaxies.net, a major SWG fan site, was hacked yesterday. Star Wars Galaxies.net is part of a LucasArts fan site network, and apparently was not being actively maintained, as the last update was in June of...
Trion extends RIFT half-birthday bonuses because of Hurricane Irene
"Trion, you should extend the birthday celebrations due to Irene," one East Coast player wrote on the forums. "They did," came the next reply. The many, many half-birthday bonuses that came with RIFT's kooky in-game party were set to end tomorrow, September 1st, but are now being extended u...
SWTOR launch date hinges on fan beta reaction
Speculation about Star Wars The Old Republic's launch date is reaching a fever pitch lately, with fans hanging on every word from BioWare and Electronic Arts staffers and chomping at the bit to experience the title's September beta weekends. The latest release-related blurb comes courtesy of E...
PAX 2011: Massively's hands-on with WildStar
I'll confess, I didn't want to like WildStar. I was interested to hear that NCsoft and Carbine Studios would be unveiling a new MMO at Gamescom, so I took a look at the trailer as soon as it was released to see what it was all about. At my look of the wasp-waisted, big-eyed bunny girl with the...
PAX 2011: Funcom discusses The Secret World's PvP, ARG, and more
Funcom had an impressive presence at PAX Prime 2011, and along with that presence came a wealth of information about its upcoming horror MMORPG, The Secret World. In addition to showing off the Polaris five-man instance, the team also highlighted a new solo mission demo and revealed some new info...
PAX 2011: Hands-on with TERA
At this year's PAX, I had the distinct pleasure of being able to get a hands-on preview of TERA at En Masse's own studio (which has the most amazing view I've ever seen, by the way). After a short presentation featuring TERA's healer trailer, we (Rubi, another journalist, and I) were tossed into ...
The Daily Grind: Would you play an MMO made by Rockstar Games?
I think its safe to say that most of us reading this have our own favorite MMO studios and developers, but when I'm dabbling on my console or in the single-player PC gaming realm, I find myself constantly attracted to all games made by Rockstar Games. Red Dead Redemption, GTA IV, L.A. Noire, and ...
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