Previews

I've had my fill of MMORTS games. I love them, and I mean love them, but after being asked to look at the 567,386th title from the genre, I am getting a wicked case of tunnel vision. Sometimes I wish I could hit a switch and see these games with the eyes of a brand-new player, to truly judge their quality without any preconceptions. That's not possible, unfortunately.

Luckily, once in a while there comes along a title that feels fresh or does enough with design to seem new and clever. Command and Conquer Tiberium Alliances stands out from the crowd with its interesting combat and a casual approach to hardcore gaming. I have to admit that, at first, I was a bit bummed at having to take a look at yet another epic strategy game that would probably not feel that epic, but my mind was changed after a solid week of playing.

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If you have wondered about what was going on in Spacetime Studios' Cinco Barnes' head while designing Dark Legends, wonder no more. I was asked to sit in on a Google + hangout, essentially a public video conference call, with Cinco, Carter Dotson from 148apps and Heidi Duran from GirlGamer. The event was moderated by Ashley Esqueda from G4TV. Cinco fielded some questions from us and fans of the game.

Want to see some cool concept art? Need to know if the energy mechanic in Dark Legends was created just to make fast cash? Have you heard about Spacetime's newly announced title Arcane Legends, but have no idea what might be involved with the game? Have you wondered about the images in the opening video, the appearance of top hats, and the possibility of obtaining all of those great costumes through in-game means? You can find out the answers to these and other important questions in the video, embedded just after the cut.

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So what's all this hullabaloo about The Secret World? Let's start with the basics.

The Secret World is a new MMORPG by Funcom, the studio that brought you Age of Conan, and way back when, Anarchy Online. It's also the brainchild of one Ragnar Tornquist, familiar to adventure gamers the world over thanks to Dreamfall and The Longest Journey. Like those seminal titles, The Secret World seeks to conjure an immersive, fantastical realm of myth, magic, and in some cases, horror. Unlike the adventures of April Ryan, though, The Secret World is your story, and it takes place in the video game equivalent of the real world (not to mention Hell, portions of a hollow Earth, and many other mythological settings).

There's an undeniable Lovecraftian influence, there are zombies and assault rifles, and there's a three-faction setup that asks players to join forces with noted secret societies like the Templars and the Illuminati (as well as the less-familiar Dragons). Did we mention battleground PvP, a Minecraft-inspired crafting system, and skill-based progression mechanics that depart from traditional MMORPG classes and levels in favor of player-made builds (drawn from a pool of nearly 600 distinct abilities)?

As you can see, Funcom is throwing everything at the wall, and luckily for you, Massively has been keeping tabs on the game's development for a number of years now. We've also managed to spend quite a bit of time in the beta of late. Click past the cut for a roundup of our best coverage, including guides, impressions, interviews, and basically everything you want to know about The Secret World.

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While 38 Studios remains in dire straits, fans are getting a bittersweet treat of Project Copernicus reveals. It's sweet because we've been dying to see more information on this game, but bitter because its fate is still up in the air.

Today fan site 38 Watch posted a trio of official-looking screens straight from Copernicus' world. In the screens, three races are revealed: the human-looking Almain, the dwarven Dverga, and the orcish Jottun. The game's art style and lush color palette are on full display, opting for more of a stylized than realistic approach.

We recently heard that Project Copernicus has a possible June 2013 launch window and got our first look at the game in a flyby video. You can scope out the new screens in the gallery below.

Curious how the makers of RIFT are going to turn a two-faction game into a three-faction PvP brawl? Us too! But Trion Worlds has a few clever ideas to capitalize on the best elements of PvP innovation and evolution with its upcoming Conquest system.

"With Conquest we're really trying to capture the essence of open-world PvP gameplay," shares Lead Designer William Fisher in a new developer video. "This is where realities collide." He goes on to say that this new system isn't Defiants against Guardians, but instead three brand-new factions from across the planes duking it out with player assistance.

Check out the new video after the jump, and when you're done with that, catch up with our very own Karen Bryan's hands-on experience with the Conquest system!

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Players might be exploring the world of Nexus in WildStar, but it's not their world. It belonged to the Eldan, and while the race itself might not be present, its technology is still everywhere. The newest installment of WildStar Wednesday takes a look at some of the automated robots left behind by the Eldan. They're not directly malicious, but they're also not particularly friendly, pursuing ancient objectives and antiquated functions with single-minded devotion.

While Probes are primarily meant for gathering information and surveillance, the floating eyes are equipped with shielding and directed-energy weapons to keep themselves safe. Protectors have a more direct combat function; the lumbering humanoid robots found gathered around important scientific sites. Last but not least, the Augmentors are rare but potent machines capable of injecting nanomachines into a subject to start a process of mechanical integration known as augmentation. Take a look at all of the machines on this week's installment of the preview column -- even if you don't necessarily want to blow these gadgets up, they don't have any such compunctions about you.

The Elder Scrolls Online has certain player expectations going in, such as an expectation of the sort of quest structure you usually find in the series. More specifically, it's the sort of structure in which you start off on some simple quest and wind up wandering off into some completely unrelated point of interest. A recent interview with creative director Paul Sage and lead content designer Rich Lambert reveals that the team is aiming for just that sort of model in the game.

As Lambert explains, the team wants to move away from the usual hub design in favor of several points of interest, each of which provides a little snippet of content and story. The points aren't meant to be structured as an A-to-B affair; instead, you have several points of interest in a given region which build into a large overarching story. Take a look at the full interview for more information about how quests will work in the game and how players will be guided through objectives as they play.

RIFT fans wracked their brains trying to decipher the cryptic message on the forums a few weeks ago, and it turned out they were right: RIFT is on the verge of seeing the arrival of three faction PvP, and the game took its first step toward that with a test session on PTS last week.

If you missed it, take heart because this week's Enter at Your Own Rift gives a recap of the event and a beginning look at how Conquest plays out. Read on for handy primer on three-faction PvP in Telara!

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The team at Red 5 Studios has been working hard on making Firefall the best game it can be, and as it turns out, that happens to be a game without traditional levels. A new video blog featuring lead designer Scott Youngblood and development VP James Macauley drops the news that the level system is being discarded and replaced with a much more organic system for player growth.

Under the new system, players still earn EXP. That EXP will be spent on specific upgrades at a player's discretion rather than marking off specific levels, allowing you to unlock the upgrades that feel relevant in the order you want them. It also places less emphasis on levels in head-to-head matchups, something Macauley stresses is important to the team.

There's more than just the removal of levels at work, however; the development team is also overhauling crafting to be more complex and rewarding as well as developing a new system of equipment tiers to keep players advancing. The full diary just past the break only gives brief glimpses of several new systems, but Firefall fans should be quite happy with what's over the horizon.

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You read that headline right: Star Trek Online will be introducing player starbases in its upcoming Season 6. For the first time in the game, fleets will be able to band together to build a virtual home in the icy blackness of space.

The project was spearheaded by Cryptic Lead Artist Jeremy Mattson, who was given the task of conceptualizing and designing this core feature of the path. Mattson sent us an exclusive developer diary to take us through this process, starting with his examination of starbases in Star Trek's canon all the way through the construction and finished product.

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A long time ago on a server far, far away, the Imperial forces BioWare prepared a Star Wars: The Old Republic update to rule the online world: patch 1.3. Called Allies, patch 1.3 will usher in a group finder, character transfers, and legacy perks.

The group finder will aid in banding together interested adventurers to tackle operations and flashpoints. Lead Designer Daniel Erickson said that the time is ripe for the feature, as players are spread out in levels and are rolling plenty of alts. Saying that BioWare wants to "respect the communities" that have formed, Erickson reports that the group finder will not be cross-server.

He also revealed some of the other key features for patch 1.3. Additional perks to the Legacy system will allow players to customize their experience; we'll see new ports, earlier access to mounts, and bonus XP modifiers for PvP. The patch will also change social gear to fit the armor type of the class using it, server transfers, and the ability to add augments to any crafting items. Looking past 1.3, Erickson promises a "return to big content" with patch 1.4.

If you're a fan of the SWTOR novels, you'll also be delighted to hear that Drew Karpyshyn announced that his next novel, Annihilation, is scheduled for November 13th.

You can watch the patch 1.3 preview video after the jump!

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