Sci-Fi

Just because you're playing a Romulan in Star Trek Online's first expansion doesn't mean every other Romulan is your friend. Empress Sela's Tal Shiar are a huge threat not just to the nascent Romulan Republic but to all sentient life throughout the galaxy, epitomized with their insectoid ships that fuse Romulan, Borg, and Elachi technology together. Needless to say, these ships are never good to see on the horizon. Unless you happen to open one in a lockbox, anyhow.

Yes, the newest lockbox in the game will give players a chance to earn the strange ships of the Tal Shiar, giving all captains a chance to fly some of the strangest ships yet seen in the game. The ships perform similarly to Romulan crafts with their built-in cloaks, but they exchange some of the active Romulan cloaking power for tactical weapons like Shrapnel Torpedoes. For more details on what awaits in the upcoming lockboxes, take a look at the full rundown of potential prizes.

It's a little strange to think that it's already been three months since the developers at Star Trek Online first teased us with the Legacy of Romulus expansion with the March Beneath the Raptor's Wings kicker at the end of the anniversary video. Even then there were many of us who sincerely doubted the teaser meant we would finally be able to play a Romulan character, let alone that the Klingon faction would be filled-out.

Yet here we are, on the eve of the release of Star Trek Online's first expansion and a flood of new material. Beware, I will be writing spoilers about the new content, but if you're not worried about that, feel free to join me as I touch on most of what we're going to see!

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The downside to writing about WildStar in this stage of the game's lifecycle is that because of the very nature of beta tests, I'm going to be spending a lot of time speculating instead of talking about certainties. Last week, I speculated. I was wrong on some points, as I found out when I got a letter from Carbine clarifying some things that had previously been ambiguous enough for speculation.

The upside to writing about WildStar in this stage of the game's lifecycle is that sometimes I get letters from development staff letting me in on valuable inside information.

Aside from being able to clarify my previous incorrect speculation, I also have for you a number of other important bits of information regarding the game this week, including a brief discussion of whether or not the game will allow for flight on a regular basis. So since that's well worth discussing, let's go ahead and just make this column another dialogue about movement.

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Last month saw the huge tenth anniversary EVE Online Fanfest, a three-day convention packed full of exclusive reveals, behind-the-scenes talks, and community events. This year's Fanfest was the biggest one yet, celebrating EVE's tenth anniversary with special guest speakers from the scientific community, the reveal of a new virtual reality dogfighter, DUST 514's launch, and details of the upcoming Odyssey expansion. Massively was there to bring you coverage of the big news as it happened, and CCP streamed some of the key talks and events live to viewers at home.

This year's Fanfest sold out so quickly that many people who wanted to go didn't get a chance to, and only a select few talks were shown on the public livestream. With such a packed event schedule, even players in attendance couldn't be there for every interesting talk. Thankfully, CCP recorded over 30 of the most anticipated events and has now uploaded the videos to YouTube. Highlights include the Make EVE Real videos, the EVE keynote, the CCP Presents Keynote, and the talks on how DUST 514 integrates with the EVE economy.

In this week's EVE Evolved, I round up all of the EVE Fanfest videos in a handy list.

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I was talking with a gaming buddy recently who missed the whole space sim experience in the 1990s. He's a Star Wars fan and a real-life pilot pushing 40, so it surprised me to learn that he'd never heard of Wing Commander, Freespace, X-Wing, and the like. My jaw really hit the floor as our conversation turned to current games and I began to evangelize about Star Citizen and Chris Roberts.

"Who's Chris Roberts?" he asked, with a straight face.

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Klingon Defense Force players who have been crying out for years for a significant update to their unfinished faction will have their prayers answered when Star Trek Online's Legacy of Romulus expansion releases next week. Cryptic posted a blog telling these gamers that they have not been forgotten but will be vindicated with a complete experience from level 1 to 50.

"It was always promised that if Star Trek Online was ever going to add a third faction, we would make sure that Klingons would get expanded content first (or at the same time). With Legacy of Romulus adding Romulans as a playable faction, it was a matter of honor that the Klingons get their own content from level 1 to 50," Cryptic wrote.

The devs give slight spoilers to the new, reworked, and revised content that Klingons will be experiencing, such as how players will get their first starship and what iconic locations they'll be visiting (hint: a certain prison planet from Star Trek VI will come into play). The studio is also adding a pair of new KDF ships to the store when the expansion hits.

The Gree starship Grey Secant is returning to Star Wars: The Old Republic's planet Ilum. BioWare's website has updated with all the details on the event's return engagement, which starts May 21st and runs through the 28th.

Players can earn reputation, rare armor, vehicles, and pets, and BioWare says that "this is a great time for players at level 45-plus to jump into the event before the event returns at level 55 in the future." More info is available via the Relics of the Gree event blog.

Were you waiting for Trion to drop Defiance's $59.99 launch price point before taking a look? That day has arrived, as the B2P shooter MMO is now available for $29.99 for some users. The promotion runs through Sunday, May 19th, and it applies to the PC version of the sci-fi title.

Defiance is also available on the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, but as of press time the console versions still feature launch-day pricing. You can learn more about the PC version via our launch week diary series and our livestream channel.

[Thanks fueldbygin!]

[Updated: We have clarified that the promotion is available only for those whose accounts have been flagged for it by Trion. A second sale on Steam should help those who aren't eligible for this sale.]

I was this close to saving myself a lot of time by finishing this article with only a few simple words: Why do I play PlanetSide 2? Because it's fun. I'm pretty sure my boss would want me to expand on it just a bit, however, but let me drive those three words home: Because it's fun. I think we are all familiar with the word "fun," but it's something that we really don't hear enough about in MMOs. I don't think we play MMOs mainly because they're fun; I think we play them because they pull out other emotions in us, emotions like wonder or awe. They might help fill in social needs that are sometimes hard to fill out in real life. These are all positive and worthy reactions, but they're different from sheer fun.

I have oodles of fun in PlanetSide 2. Gobs of it. Barrels of fun. The fun is powerful in this one. You get the point. PlanetSide 2 actually makes me laugh to myself, makes me yell at the screen -- you know, those noises you hear from someone who is having a blast. Of course, there are a few other reasons I play PlanetSide 2 as well, so I'll fill you in on those.

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"Dawngate is a new MOBA, built from the ground up to look and feel familiar while offering a whole new way to experience MOBA gameplay." These are the opening words of a new website for Dawngate, developed by Waystone Games and published by EA.

Joystiq notes that the Twitch, Twitter, and YouTube links on the site are either inactive or private, leading us to believe that this game wasn't exactly meant to be public knowledge just yet. There is also speculation that Waystone Games is a dev studio reborn from the ashes of Dead Space 3's Visceral Games, which dissolved last year.

You can register for the upcoming beta through your EA Origin account.

Cryptic is pumping out the Star Trek Online dev blogs as the game's Legacy of Romulus expansion draws near. The latest comes to us from content designer Sean "Commander Ander" McCann, and it's all about the Nimbus adventure zone.

Nimbus is a crime-ridden locale currently lorded over by the Orion Syndicate. The new episode series Wasteland takes gamers all over the planet, from the run-down fugitive haven of Paradise City to a destroyed ship that doubles as an Orion stronghold to a Gorn-filled canyon that houses some sort of mysterious project.

Nimbus also boasts dailies, open missions, and accolade rewards for said missions and for exploration. More details are yours at the official STO website.

"This is going to be the best game most of us have built in our lives," Carbine Studios Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney said bluntly.

The game in question, of course, is WildStar, and it represents Gaffney's 10th or so trip through the beta development chute on the way to release. There's an undeniable note of pride and calm confidence in his voice as he talks about the baby that's growing inside Carbine's womb right now, and he was definitely not shy in opening up about all of the decisions and work the team's made as WildStar heads into its second trimester... er, closed beta test.

Before that, however, Gaffney provided a recap of the first closed beta test. He said that it was pretty limited, with only 2,000 players testing out the lowbie Exile zones. The team moved some of the elder game content down in level so that people could test it out, and developers spent some time doing impromptu Q&A sessions with players in the field. As a result, Carbine is ready to shift over to the Dominion side and greatly expand the beta in size and content. Read on for the full scoop on what the next step will entail.

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Want to be a part of EVE Online's 11th annual Alliance Tournament that starts on July 20th, 2013, but not from the cockpit of your ship? You can apply to be one of the PvP commentators who will discuss the tourney, tactics, and teams involved live on air with developers as well as providing commentary on matches as they unfold. Yes, live means you'll actually be in Iceland for this gig! Qualifications include having a valid passport, being over 21, having a sharp wit, and being well-versed in PvP. Full details for the application process are available on the official site.

If you'd prefer to participate in the battles themselves, note that there will be a few changes to the tourney from years past. To start, Alliance Tournament XI will run over only three weekends, not four. Second, qualifying rounds and group stages have been replaced by double elimination from the get go. Next, from the second weekend onward, two ship types will be banned from the match by team captains. And finally, to fly with an alliance you had to have been a member since downtime this morning. Dev blogs covering all the rules, the broadcast schedule, and sign-up details will be coming soon.

[Update: CCP has been busy today! The official site has now also been updated with a dev blog announcing that dual character training will ship with the Odyssey expansion next month.]

Playing EVE on my couch is bizarre. I know, technically it's called DUST 514, but let's be serious. DUST is basically the beginnings of a massive EVE Online expansion if you subscribe to the notion that EVE is a virtual world as opposed to merely a strategy game featuring internet spaceships and internet drama.

I've played EVE in some strange places prior to this. In an airport terminal, for example. On my toilet, even (yes, nature occasionally calls in the middle of a fleet fight and thank God for laptops). But DUST marks the first -- OK, technically the second -- time I've ever played in New Eden with a controller.

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DC Universe Online's latest DLC, Origin Crisis, allows players to fill the shoes of some of their favorite -- and not so favorite -- heroes and villains and fight to keep reality as it is. Thanks to yesterday's update, players will actually be traveling through time in order to stop a chain of events that might result in entirely new universes and timelines. You'll be bamming and powing your way through content in the hopes that history remains intact.

We sat down with Jens Andersen, Creative Director of DC Universe Online, to discuss this special DLC, a pack that has been in planning since the game's conception.

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