Archives for Aug 2nd, 2012
The MMO Report: Updates on updates edition
This week's installment of The MMO Report is an update on the news around the MMO industry, as it is every week. The first item on host Casey Schreiner's agenda is the The Secret World's first major update. So if you want to make a joke in the comments about getting some updates in your updates, ...
The Summoner's Guidebook: Is League of Legends' grind too much for a competitive game?
League of Legends has had one of the most meteoric ascensions of any current e-sport. From the first tournaments of season one to tomorrow's MLG Summer Arena, LoL has made a bigger splash in the e-sports community than any title launched since StarCraft II. However, the long grind to get to su...
Jukebox Heroes Extra: Five exclusive DDO music tracks for your listening pleasure
I'll be honest: Part of the reason I'm doing this column is to get my grubby mitts (and ears) on as much MMO music as possible. So while it's great to talk with composers about their projects, I'm even more interesting in hearing the finished result. For a companion piece to my Chance Thomas i...
The Perfect Ten: Goosebump trailers
I love trailers. Man, I love trailers. I'm almost embarrassed to admit it, but sometimes I'll spend a shameful hour just flipping through all of my favorite movie and game trailers. When the editing is tight and the music spot-on, my spine becomes infused with epicness and I feel a heady buzz tha...
Lord of the Rings Online posts a new developer diary on Champions
The development staff behind Lord of the Rings Online has a chance to make several sweeping changes to the game with the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion, starting with trimming up and improving the game's classes. A new developer diary outlines the changes coming to the Champion class concurre...
World of Warcraft has 9.1 million subscribers, down by a million since May
World of Warcraft remains the reigning titan in terms of subscription-based games... but the titan is looking just a little bit leaner at the moment. The most recent subscriptions numbers for the game were released today in the Activision Blizzard earnings report for Q2 2012, and the game has dro...
The Guild Counsel: Gender choice and guild drama
There are many reasons for guild drama, but one of the most challenging comes from a single choice that we make before our characters even see the light of day. In MMOs, character creation can consist of full customization, or it can simply be a choice among some pre-sets, but the majority of gam...
Ask Massively: Welcome to here edition
If you follow MMO news at all, you probably caught the fact that Star Wars: The Old Republic is going free-to-play this fall. This is news only in the most abstract sense of the word. Seriously, it's been three years since Dungeons & Dragons Online made the switch. Basically every title in th...
Dawn of Fantasy's been invaded by Dwarves
Things may have seemed quiet for the siege-based Dawn of Fantasy until now, but the thundering sound of cannon fire and Dwarven boots marching on the three realms is breaking that silence. Reverie World Studios has announced The Dwarven Invasion, a new game-changing mini-expansion event that will...
EVE CSM 7 meeting minutes published
It's time for more EVE Online serious business courtesy of the meeting minutes from the most recent Council of Stellar Management sit-down. The CSM is CCP's stab at a representative democracy, as EVE players vote for their brethren to sit on the council and said brethren parley with EVE's deve...
Shadowrun Online coming to Ouya and Linux
We don't know much about Shadowrun Online, but we do know that it's theoretically coming to the new Android-powered Ouya console as well as Linux-based PCs. We say theoretically because Cliffhanger's Kickstarter project has yet to reach its halfway point with 12 days remaining. Nevertheless, comp...
ArenaNet's Chris Lye talks about the impending death of the subscription model
In a recent interview, ArenaNet's global brand manager Chris Lye sat down and talked about the future of payment models in MMORPGs. Lye advised up-and-coming businesses to avoid the assumption that the subscription model is the best as that model is past its prime and on the decline. Guild Wars 2...
Arabian-themed Nadirim now available through Aeria Games
Nadirim, the Hungarian-made browser-based free-to-play game inspired by the myths and fables of the Arabian desert, is now available through the Aeria Games network. Aeria added the Arabian-themed fantasy game to its vast array of other free-to-play titles. Players looking for something a bit ...
Chaos Theory: The Secret World's one-month checkup
Huh, has it been a month already? Time flies when you're having fun, I guess, and yep, I'm still having quite a bit of it in The Secret World. Yesterday brought us the big 1.1 patch, the one patch to rule them all (thus far), and the first post-launch content drop. Funcom has famously promise...
World of Battleships rechristened World of Warships
In a move to make the title more congruent with the entire Wargaming universe, the game formerly known as World of Battleships has been redubbed World of Warships. The studio, however, emphasizes that the change is in moniker only; nothing has changed gameplay-wise for the upcoming free-to-play n...
Guild Wars 2 provides a visual overview of World vs. World
If you felt disappointed that ArenaNet left Guild Wars 2's World vs. World out of its video splurge last week, consider this: Maybe the studio was saving the best for last. In any case, today we're finally treated to an overview of the WvW system in the game, narrated by the devs. World vs. Wo...
WildStar shows off its housing system
Carbine Studios' WildStar has yet to leave the starting gate, but already this filly looks to have legs. The studio announced that not only will the sci-fi fantasy title have a housing system, but it will be a major component of a player's experience in the game. According to Carbine, WildStar...
KingsIsle discusses Wizard101, pet upgrades, PvP, and pirates
If you've found yourself going crazy over raising pets in the hugely successful Wizard101, worry no longer! We called up Fred Howard, KingsIsle VP of Marketing, to discuss some of the upcoming changes en route to one of the most popular activities in Wizard101. These pet changes are underway than...
The Daily Grind: Will you play SWTOR when it's F2P?
So Star Wars: The Old Republic going free-to-play is about as surprising as Tatooine's twin suns rising over the Dune Sea. The game has bled a considerable amount of subs since its December 2011 launch, and while it's far from a failure, it's also not quite the success that some predicted. Is ...
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