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In the year 20XX, Mega Man Online is cancelled

Matt Daniel — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO Industry, News Items, Miscellaneous

It's been quite some time since we heard anything about Mega Man Online, which we first heard about in May 2010. Unfortunately for fans of the Blue Bomber, it looks as if we've now heard the last of it, as Korean website This Is Game has received confirmation from the game's developer, Neowiz, that the project was officially canned last November.

The studio's representative stated, "Both companies have continually discussed to find agreeable points on quality, development time, communication and etc. Ultimately, both companies have agreed to stop the development of Rock Man [Mega Man's Japanese name] Online [early last] November." It's sad news for fans who were looking forward to going Maverick-hunting with some of their closest friends, but if the much-requested Mega Man Legends 3 can't even get through the pipeline, it shouldn't be too surprising that this didn't, either.

In the year 20XX, Mega Man Online is cancelled originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 14 Mar 2013 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EverQuest Online Adventures slays its final dragon

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Events (In-Game), Everquest Online Adventures, Consoles

EverQuest Online Adventures, the console spinoff of SOE's EverQuest franchise, is counting down the hours until the server is switched off at midnight tonight. In addition to EQOA, SOE is shuttering three other underperforming titles today: Cosmic Rift, Infantry, and Star Chamber: The Harbinger Saga.

Instead of spending its final days in sorrow, the EQOA community joined the dev team for a series of epic battles against marauding dragons this past week. Players have filled the forums with posts about their favorite in-game memories over the past nine years of gameplay. To compensate players for the loss of their game world, SOE gave EQOA subscribers three months of gold-level status in EverQuest and EverQuest II.

EQOA came out in 2003 on the PlayStation 2 and was one of the first generation of console MMOs. For those Massively readers feeling nostalgic or curious about it, definitely check out our series on the game: part 1, part 2, and part 3.

EverQuest Online Adventures slays its final dragon originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What would make you cancel a pre-order?

Shawn Schuster — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Game Mechanics, New Titles, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

These days, MMO pre-orders are commonplace. They're used to allow early access to the game so you can grab that Legolas or Lord Stark name before anyone else. Throwing your money down is a risk we must take in order to secure that early status, and the developers usually mix in some extra goodies to sweeten the deal.

But sometimes we get word of a before-the-bell game mechanic or design implementation that ruins the game for us and makes us cancel the pre-order on the spot without giving the game a chance to speak for itself when we've finally gotten our hands on it.

So let's get specific here. What could a game developer do to ruin a game for you before it launches? And have you ever canceled a pre-order? Why or why not?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

The Daily Grind: What would make you cancel a pre-order? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 23 Mar 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, Stellar Dawn

Word to the wise: Don't put "dawn" into any part of your MMO's name, or else it will get hit by the curse of breaking dawn. Just ask Dawntide, DAWN, and now, Stellar Dawn.

Yes, unfortunately it's true. Jagex announced that it's suspending development on Stellar Dawn to make sure the company is in the best position possible by concentrating on Transformers Universe and RuneScape. While the studio was able to shuffle most of Stellar Dawn's team around to new positions, the decision still resulted in the loss of 12 jobs.

In a prepared statement, CEO Mark Gerhard was highly complimentary of Stellar Dawn's team and progress. "Jagex has always been committed to developing the highest quality games and services. This is not a decision we have taken lightly; the Stellar Dawn team has achieved a great deal developing the game and should rightly be proud of their achievements so far."

Stellar Dawn fans might find hope in the language being used by the team in the forum announcement, as the title's development is described as being "paused" and a "temporary move" instead of being outright cancelled.

Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Mar 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GAME announces exclusive SWTOR CE contract, Walmart accidentally cancels 'nearly all' pre-orders

Justin Olivetti — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, MMO Industry, Star Wars: The Old Republic

Whenever a major MMO nears launch, tensions and anxieties grow to a fever pitch among players -- particularly in regard to their pre-orders. There are worries that a game won't install right, ship on time, or allow proper access to one's account. Today, there are a few more issues to be concerned with in regard to Star Wars: The Old Republic if you've pre-ordered it.

Over in the UK, GAME (and Gamestation) has announced that it will be the sole retailer for SWTOR's physical Collector's Edition in the region, even though EA previously said that companies such as Amazon, Play.com, Zavvi and ShopTo were going to be selling them as well. UK players can also purchase non-CE versions of the game through EA's Origin service.

In other news, several players who secured their copy of SWTOR through Walmart found that their orders -- both regular and CEs -- were canceled over this past weekend. A Walmart customer service representative appeared on the SWTOR forums to say that this happened due to a "data error" that forced the company to nix most of the pre-orders. SWTOR's Stephen Reid said that BioWare is investigating the situation, but he confirms that any players who have already added their pre-order codes into their accounts will have locked in early access for the launch.

GAME announces exclusive SWTOR CE contract, Walmart accidentally cancels 'nearly all' pre-orders originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Are other game studios taking countermeasures against RIFT? [Updated]

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Launches, Patches, Warhammer Online, Opinion, Mortal Online, RIFT, Promotions

If you didn't know, today is the head start launch of RIFT and the beginning of many strained household relationships as players finally dive into Telara for real. While we've known for some time that Trion Worlds' creation was going to be a major player in the MMO field, it seems as though RIFT's release has caused other MMO studios to step up and take countermeasures.

In the past 24 hours, there have been a few significant developments that seem suspicious in regard to timing, at least. The first is that Blizzard dropped World of Warcraft's next content update, Patch 4.1, on to the public test server in the middle of the night. Mortal Online's announced that its free 14-day trial program is now active for any interested parties. ~~We've also received numerous tips that EA Mythic disabled the cancel subscription option for Warhammer Online.~~

Although we obviously can't be certain that all of these events are due to RIFT, timing, as they say, is everything. Have you seen any other MMO studios stepping up their game today as a distraction from the new shiny?

[Update: The Warhammer subscription option was a bug that should be resolved today, according to the devs.]

Are other game studios taking countermeasures against RIFT? [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The end of Exteel

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, MMO Industry, News Items

Set the flags to half-mast, put on your blackest mech armor, and raise a glass with us: As of September 1st, Exteel is shutting its doors and powering down its giant fighting 'bots. NCsoft announced the game's cancellation with a bittersweet consolation prize in the form of a late August event where all parts and mechs will be sold for one NCcoin apiece.

Exteel has been around since December 2007, a mere month after Massively itself opened its doors. While it was never a title to garner a huge amount of attention, Exteel's combination of a mech-based setting, PvP-centric play and microtransaction funding made it unique to the MMO genre.

NCsoft said that the game was no longer "financially viable," adding, "We know that we have many loyal players who love Exteel. Although this decision was a painful one, in the end it was a business decision that had to be made. We encourage everyone to play and have fun with the game that you love in the time you have left."

The end of Exteel originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jagex cancels MechScape at significant cost, restarts anew

Kyle Horner — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-Fi, New Titles, News Items, Mechscape, Stellar Dawn

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard has indeed confirmed the cancellation of MechScape, although you wouldn't quite know it from his comments, which seem excited to be working on a different title with a new direction. This isn't the first time an in-development MMO has been rebooted in favor of a completely new direction, although Tabula Rasa at least kept its original name.

Why the sudden decision? According to Gerhard, MechScape wasn't able to avoid the same pitfalls of RuneScape. Of course, making such a move is going to cost Jagex millions, but their current financial success will be shouldering the weight. The new game -- known as Stellar Dawn -- should be coming in 2010 and will be based on the MechScape graphics engine.

The big changes planned for Stellar Dawn are content and combat focused, although no specifics were given by Gerhard. It's a bold move, no doubt, and sometimes this industry favors such decisions -- other times it punishes them significantly. Whether you look at this as stalled (Tabula Rasa) or prolonged (everything Blizzard) development, you have to admit it creates a notable amount of interest in Jagex's 2010 game.

Jagex cancels MechScape at significant cost, restarts anew originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Leaving your last love behind

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Roleplaying

Let's face it - we invest a lot in our characters over time. Maybe you have that one devoted main that you come back to, no matter what happens. Perhaps you've spread your love over a series of alts. Whatever the case may be, the truth is that many of us tend to get emotionally invested in our characters as time passes. We've worked hard, gotten them nice gear, picked up a nice mount, gotten an in-game house, etc. (depending on game). So, when the shine has worn off your old favorite game, and you're at the point where it's time to move on, how do you say goodbye?

The team here have done everything from visiting favorite zones one last time; logging out in a particularly pretty area; throwing a party with friends as a way to burn off back-stocked food/drink; or logging out in the place where we felt we had the most fun in the game. There again, others on the team just logged out and didn't really care, although it seemed like more often than not, that was the case in games we didn't really click with anyway. This morning we thought we'd ask you - when you've moved on from game to game, retiring your old adventuring 'friend' as it were, did you do anything special before you signed out and shut the account down? Or did you just sign out without a second thought? If you did something special, what did you do?

The Daily Grind: Leaving your last love behind originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 16 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another blogger flees Age of Conan...

Seraphina Brennan — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, PvP, Endgame, Opinion

...and this time it's Peter Smith of the Dragonchasers blog.

Citing a waning ability to have fun with the game, item statistics that really don't help with anything, and a lack of variance in armor and items, Smith is calling it quits with Age of Conan. His comments seem to mirror the comments of many others, but one particular subject stands out in his blog from the others: the much touted and praised player vs. player endgame.

Smith brings up the point that he feels like "another cog in the wheel" of his large guild. In order to see the content of the endgame cities and city sieges, he joined a very large guild and is expected to provide materials to help with the construction of the guild city. But, without player housing, any type of city mini-games, and lack of bonuses offered by the city itself, he just feels like another faceless voice instead of a heroic city builder.

His article touches on the ability to stand out inside of a game where a person may not be able to stand out in the world itself and how it links back to his decision to cancel the game. If you're interested, be sure to drop over by to the Dragonchasers blog and check it out for yourself.

Another blogger flees Age of Conan... originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: When will you be done with WoW?

Akela Talamasca — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Culture, Events (In-Game), Game Mechanics, Endgame, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Who knows if/when World of Warcraft will ever end? While I'm by no means a power player, if WoW disappeared tomorrow, I'd be a little saddened by all the things I hadn't gotten to experience in it. At the same time, however, no matter how often I drop in, I eventually reach a burnout state before the month is up, and I cancel service until the next time I get the urge.

So, for me, it's just a general malaise that sets in that makes me quit WoW. For those of you who've quit, even briefly, what did it? And what would make you stop playing, forever?

The Daily Grind: When will you be done with WoW? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 25 Feb 2008 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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