Archives for Aug 5th, 2013
SOE Live 2013: The lore of EverQuest Next
In the lead up to the big reveal for EverQuest Next, one note that gave a number of fans pause was that the world will be re-imagined for this iteration of the EverQuest franchise. The next Norrath will be familiar, but definitely not the same. But just how different is different? That question was...
Camelot Unchained status update outlines weekly progress
Mark Jacobs has posted a new update to Camelot Unchained's Kickstarter page. It's quite an epic wall of text, but thankfully he's also included some new environmental concept art and a couple of shots from CityState's UI/web interface. There's also a bit of lore regarding the Stormriders and of ...
Not So Massively: Star Citizen's hangar module, Elite's black markets, and the Dota 2 world championship
Star Citizen fired a shot across the bow of game publishers this week as it hit $15 million US in crowdfunding. The game's hangar module has now entered code lockdown and will soon be available to owners of every ship type except the cutlass. Elite: Dangerous teased players with details of trading ...
WoW player levels Pandaren to 60 without picking a faction
As we all know, when a baby panda grows up to be a big-boy or big-girl panda, he or she leaves the roost and sides with either the Horde or Alliance. It's just the way things go. However, World of Warcraft player Doubleagent said "nuts!" to that and has refused to leave home. Since 2012, he's sl...
Massively Speaking Episode 258: EverQuest Next!
While there was plenty of exciting news coming out of SOE Live this past weekend, one story is dwarfing all of the rest: EverQuest Next. MJ joined us from Las Vegas yesterday to give us the first-hand scoop on all of the juicy details. Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot an email to podcast...
Chaos Theory: Advantages of The Secret World's contemporary setting
One of the greatest aspects of The Secret World that I love is the fact that it's set in today's world. Well, OK, it's some parallel universe version of Earth where every conspiracy, cryptozoological creature, and bizarre myth is able to simultaneously exist without a majority of the population kno...
Dark Relic wants to bring back classic roleplaying
If you're often yearning for the "good old days" when roleplaying actually meant something more than "making hit points disappear," then Triad Game Studios would like to make your acquaintance. The studio is working on bringing the spirit of classic RPGs back to MMOs with its upcoming sandbox Dark ...
The Phoenix Project developers talk passion, grieving, and moving forward
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade; when life kills your favorite game, you make a better one in its honor. That's the philosophy behind The Phoenix Project, and a recent interview with the team behind Missing Worlds Media talks about what it's like to try making a new game after the clo...
The Nexus Telegraph: Courting PvP in WildStar
PvP is pretty darn problematic for modern MMOs. Part of this is a balance issue. Creating a PvP environment that's actually fair is a challenge all by itself, and creating one that's unfair does not exactly foster a spirit of lively competition. But part of this is the nature of players. You hav...
Guild Wars 2 announces the winner of the Captain's Council Election
The votes have been tallied and Guild Wars 2 players have elected Ellen Kiel! Yes, that means that Evon Gnashblade will have to wait for another day for his time to shine. Whether you wanted Kiel in place because of the promise of new content or because you thought Gnashblade was kind of a jerk, vo...
Activision Blizzard facing lawsuit from shareholder over going independent
Last week's announcement of Activision Blizzard separating from Vivendi might have made you unhappy, but it didn't make you as unhappy as Todd Miller. He's filed suit against Activision, the board of directors at Activision, and former parent company Vivendi on counts of unnecessary waste, breach o...
LotRO connectivity issues outside of Turbine's control
Access denied? Some Lord of the Rings Online players have felt as though they were being kept out of the Middle-earth club lately as connectivity issues plagued the game. Turbine has been investigating log-in issues and came back to report that the problem is outside of the studio's direct control....
World of Warcraft sews together realms to solve population issues
Instead of simply merging some of its lower population servers, World of Warcraft is going a different way. Starting in patch 5.4, Blizzard will introduce connected realms: servers that are functionally joined together with other servers to share population and resources. While the affected real...
Massively Exclusive: Episode 6 of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria
Following the nail-biting fifth episode which followed the acclaimed fourth episode which followed the Emmy-winning third episode which followed the controversial second episode which followed the incredible first episode, the sixth episode of Mabinogi the Saga: Iria is here. And let me tell you so...
Infinite Crisis shows off what's going on behind the scenes
On one level, Infinite Crisis feels like an obvious premise. Take a setting that already gives players plenty of reasons to beat one another up as iconic heroes and villains, give those players plenty of iconic heroes and villains, enjoy the show. But according to the new behind-the-scenes video, t...
Captain's Log: Interview with STO's Daniel Stahl, wrap-up
Late in May I had the opportunity to head over to Cryptic Studios to meet and interview several members of the Star Trek Online development team. This week I will be finishing up my synopsis of my conversation with Star Trek Online' Executive Producer Daniel Stahl. We were able to touch on his h...
The Stream Team: Take my money already edition, August 5 - 11, 2013
Now's a good time to be a sandbox fan... if you can stand the wait, that is! So many more games in the pipeline are leaning towards virtual worlds than ever before, boasting exciting features like dynamic AI, construction, and hidden quests. The only problem is that few of them are out yet. It does...
PlanetSide 2 inches toward character transfers but can't make cross-platform play happen
It's time for another exciting episode of Good News, Bad News with your host, Mr. Matt Higby! PlanetSide 2's creative director had a few things to say at SOE Live about the challenges of running the game across multiple platforms. The good news is that SOE is looking into character transfers tha...
Massively's Guild Wars 2 Queen's Jubilee patch preview
It's party time again in Guild Wars 2! The young ruler of Kryta, Queen Jennah, is pulling out the stops to celebrate human resilience and ingenuity at the ten year anniversary of her reign. All of Kryta's allies are invited -- yes, even you. Yes, even after that unfortunate incident with the cake. ...
SOE Live 2013: EverQuest Next's mechanics and more
Anyone who attended SOE Live this year heard quite a bit about EverQuest Next. Even if the upcoming sandbox was not the reason you came, you couldn't help but learn a thing or two. And for those who braved the crowds to attend multiple panels focused on the game, chances are you are still trying t...
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite thing about EverQuest Next?
So, EverQuest Next. Huh. Wow. Sheesh. Jeeze. Dayum. I could go on, but you get the idea. It's safe to say that not many people expected what SOE delivered over the weekend, and even though it's a ways off, it's also safe to say that there isn't another MMO quite like EQN. After rewatching the...
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