Archives for Dec 8th, 2011
EverQuest II grandfathers in established characters
EverQuest II players got a pleasant surprise today, as Executive Producer Dave Georgeson announced that any and all characters created prior to Age of Discovery's launch would be grandfathered into the game. This means that any characters that were locked due to a player going from, say, subscrip...
War of the Immortals' Slayers rock out with their blades out
As War of the Immortals continues the epic journey through beta, Perfect World Entertainment is trying its darndest to show that it plays no favorite among children. And by "children," we mean "classes." On tap for today is a spotlight on the Slayer class, which recently gave up knitting in fa...
Spacetime announces industry-first cross-platform implementation
If you've ever wondered about the feasibility of cross-platform MMOs, Spacetime Studios is here to tell you that it's a reality. The company announced an industry first earlier today when it removed the barriers between players who use different devices and operating systems. The company's Poc...
Win a life-size Cylon statue from Bigpoint and Battlestar Galactica Online
Bigpoint's in the news again this week, and for once the company is steering clear of microtransaction controversies. It seems as if there's a giveaway afoot, and Battlestar Galactica Online fans will be pleased to note that they have a chance to win a life-size Cylon statue (settle down guys, it's ...
The MMO Report: Hangover edition
This week on The MMO Report, Casey stumbles in from the office Christmas party to report on Ubisoft's rumored triple-AAA Wii-U MMO, Marvel Universe Online's endless parade of character art, and the politics of Minecraft's design (psst... Minecraft -- sandbox? Yes. MMO? Not really!). He also jokes...
Final Fantasy XIV adding market and player search improvements
As the release of Final Fantasy XIV's next major patch approaches, more previews continue to go up for the various improvements it will bring. Two of the major promised features are the improvements to both the market wards and the introduction of a proper player search feature, both of which hav...
The Guild Counsel: Stop teasing me!
Let's face it: As thrilling as it can be to slay a dragon or blow up a spaceship, MMOs all have their fair share of dull moments at times. And when guildies get together, they can often resort to pranks, teasing, and all sorts of jokes in order to liven things up. That's often when you have some ...
MapleStory adds the Cannoneer
Are you ready to solve all of your problems with the application of cannons? Up until now, MapleStory has allowed players to solve maybe a fifth of all your problems via the application of cannons. But the newest character type in the game, the Cannoneer, solves the vast majority of his problems ...
APB retail edition to hit store shelves tomorrow [Updated]
Would you buy a box set for a free-to-play game? It might seem like an odd question, but GamersFirst is hoping that the answer to that question is "yes" once you see what's being offered with the APB: Reloaded boxed edition. With a suggested retail price of $29.99, the box is set to go on sale st...
End of Nations' Warfront 02 details large-scale battles, new comic
In this week's End of Nations Warfront, Cole Marshall takes a close look End of Nations' massive scale and the new End of Nations comics from DC. It even gives the community an opportunity to interrogate Community Manager Myll_Erik. Players are given a glimpse at the large-scale battles of End ...
Ask Massively: Inappropriate recollections edition
I have to be honest here -- the Templars destroy The Secret World for me -- not because they don't look cool (I'm kind of a sucker for this sort of thing) but because they remind me an awful lot of The Grail from Preacher. They've got the same color scheme, the same pseudo-military sense of thing...
First Impressions: Jagged Alliance Online
A short time ago, I posted my thoughts on UFO Online, one of the most exciting titles I found while at E3 this year. While I was there, I was given a tour of Jagged Alliance Online during the same sitting. Both games were thrilling in a "tiny army" sort of way, and both seemed to finally get what...
Blizzard talks Mists of Pandaria talent tree tweaks
Blizzard lead systems designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street has penned a small novella on the official World of Warcraft website. The subject of the text dump is talent trees, and more specifically, how they'll be affected by the game's upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion. Street addresses 10 o...
LotRO gains +500 faction with players due to improved reputation system
Among the many quality-of-life improvements coming to Lord of the Rings Online with Update 5 is a significant change to the game's reputation system. Previously, players would assemble entire stacks of items to turn into vendors for point boosts, but this will soon change. Starting with Update 5,...
Behind the Mask: What does unbalanced even mean?
One of the major criticisms of Champions Online is a lack of game balance. People claim that the phrase "your own hero, your own story" doesn't cover the fact that your hero might be a gimp compared to someone else's. Although archetypes have their own balance issues (even among themselves), this...
DUST 514 dev blog shows off guns, lots of guns
First-person shooters are nothing without guns -- lots of 'em -- and CCP's upcoming DUST 514 is no exception. Today the company has released a new PlayStation blog update that zeroes in on a handful of infantry weapons in the far-future sci-fi opus. Said weapons are broken down into light, hea...
Trickster Online updates with new Chaos Tower content
Did you know that Trickster Online has a story, and that story concerns Don Cavalier, "founder and former leader of [...] the world's biggest and best game company?" Yeah, we didn't either (and no, we're not kidding). Be that as it may, the real reason for this post is to inform you that Trick...
Lord of the Rings Online's Update 5 invading Dunland next week
Turbine's asking you out on a very special date next week -- December 12th, in fact. That's when the studio will show up to your door dressed in a sharp-looking tux, bearing flowers, and eager for you to head out on a magical tour around Middle-earth on a carriage ride. It's on December 12th t...
World of Tanks tops its own Guinness World Record
If your hard-won Guinness World Record has to be beaten one day, it's best that you do it yourself. That seems like Wargaming.net's philosophy, as the studio just announced that it's already broken World of Tanks' previously established record for Most Players Online Simultaneously on One MMO ...
Goblinworks CEO: 'There's a whole new way to make MMOs affordably'
Pull up a chair, sandpark fans, and while you're at it you might want to grab a large cup of your favorite caffeinated beverage. Goblinworks has published the first in a series of dev blogs designed to give starving sandbox fans a peek into the world of Pathfinder Online, and it's quite a lengthy...
The Daily Grind: What game do you wish you had time for?
There's no shortage of MMOs, and whether your tastes include big budget titles like The Secret World or EverQuest II or small-scale niche products like Glitch or Darkfall, these are the salad days in terms of choice. While you probably won't find many folks complaining about the genre explosio...
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