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TERA hits the #1 spot for Amazon downloads

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 04 May 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, Launches, New titles, News items, TERA

Whenever a game launches, there's always a question of whether it will sink or swim. MMOs don't necessarily live or die on the basis of their launches, but it takes a lot more effort to recover from a bad launch. TERA seems to have gotten off on the right foot, as it hit the #1 download spot for Amazon during its launch week, and all projections point to it hitting the top spot next week as well.

If you're tempted to jump on the bandwagon, now is definitely the time. Through the 31st of the month, players who purchase the game will receive discounted subscription rates as well as a special Golden Dragon weapon skin. The Digital Collector's Edition from Amazon also features a special mount and two necklaces to help improve your journey through the game world. If you like little added bits of value, now might be the time to give the game a shot.

[Source: Amazon press release]

TERA hits the #1 spot for Amazon downloads originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Valve's Steam forum security compromised

Jef Reahard — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous

Valve is the latest gaming company to suffer a security breach during the hackathon that is the year 2011. What's that got to do with MMOs, you say? Well, the company's Steam digital download service offers access to a ton of our favorite virtual worlds, and it has thus far seemed relatively secure.

Kotaku reports that the Steam forums were hacked last night, with the paper trail leading to a cracker website known as Fknowned.com. The gentlemen in question are of course denying all responsibility for the mischief, and thus far Valve has offered no comment on the situation. It's worth noting that the Steam forum account info is separate from the actual Steam service account info, but it's also likely that some users employ identical sets of credentials. We'll keep you posted as we learn more.

Valve's Steam forum security compromised originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: Do you prefer digital copies or boxed copies of games?

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Opinion, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous

Long ago, you had one way of obtaining a new game -- you went to a store that carried video games and brought it home. The advent of digital distribution has changed that, however -- it's quite easy to pick up a new game on Steam or via download, with certain games like Global Agenda primarily seeing distribution via digital outlets. Considering that most games offer a client download and patches will frequently update the entire game anyhow, getting a box almost seems quaint.

Of course, if you're used to having a hard copy on hand, it might not even be an issue of whether or not it's worth buying a boxed copy. You want a game, you go out and buy it. So when you have the option, do you head out to the mall and pick up a boxed copy to have a physical representation of the game? Or do you just download and not fuss about with what amounts to sentimental clutter?

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: Do you prefer digital copies or boxed copies of games? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 24 Jun 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alganon expands to Impulse distribution

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, News items, Alganon

Alganon isn't necessarily the darling of the MMO world at the moment, with a large number of people drawing conclusions about it before even setting foot in the game. So, really, more or less par for the course. But it has launched, it's developing its content, and it's clearly making moves to get itself noticed as something new and good. And if recent moves are any indications, one of the best ways to get yourself noticed is expanding on to the much-beloved digital distribution sources. The game has just been made available on the Impulse service, run by Stardock.

Those of you with acute memories may recall that it wasn't so long ago that Alganon had an exclusive setup with Direct2Drive. However, expansion is always a good thing, especially for a smaller studio looking to improve their visibility. There's no word on any exclusive giveaways a la the plethora of Fallen Earth bonuses for different services, but that's all right -- it's good enough to know that if you have a want for the game, there are more ways to go about getting it.

Alganon expands to Impulse distribution originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atlantica Online speeds up download with new Lite client

Eliot Lefebvre — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Launches, News items, Free-to-play, Atlantica Online

Atlantica Online just celebrated its first year in the US, but the free-to-play game apparently had another trick up its sleeve -- namely, allowing players interested in the game a chance to get in and start playing even faster. After all, it can be obnoxious to download a client and wait for it to patch through updates when you just want to dive in and get to playing. Ndoors Interactive has just launched the game's lite client, a way for a smaller initial download to let you start playing the game as fast as possible.

The new client's trick is to only frontload the first twenty levels of play while downloading the rest via background processes. This allows new players to log in and start playing their character faster, but it can cause issues for existing players who might be at a higher level (and the press release specifically suggests avoiding the lite client if that's the case). For everyone who hasn't started the game, it's an interesting way to make the startup more accessible and significantly faster. Consider taking a look over the weekend, and possibly getting in on some of the one year celebration goodies Atlantica Online has to offer.

Atlantica Online speeds up download with new Lite client originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 07 Nov 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ys Online soundtrack now free download

James Egan — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, New titles, Ys Online

If you're anything like some of us at Massively, the music in your games really adds something to the experience. While Ys Online may not snag the headlines here very much, it's an MMO based off of a series of Japanese RPGs that reaches back into the 1980s. The Ys IP has also been spun off into two anime series produced in the late 80's and early 90s. Ys Online is still in open beta in Europe, but they're already making the game's soundtrack available for free download. You can preview the tracks on the Ys Online Europe site and download each track individually, or just grab the whole soundtrack as a zip file.

The Ys Online soundtrack is composed by the same people behind the score of the various Ys titles in the past -- Yuzo Koshiro; Mieko Ishikawa and Hideya Nagata.

Ys Online soundtrack now free download originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PAX 2009: BioWare offers Star Wars: The Old Republic fans discount on KOTOR

James Egan — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic

We're all about MMOs at Massively (shocker), but once in a while something from our RPG past resurfaces and captures our attention again. Clearly we've got a number of Star Wars fans among our readers looking at how many people are following our Star Wars: The Old Republic coverage, and for many gamers the original Knights of the Old Republic (circa 2003) was a memorable experience. BioWare announced at PAX 2009 that they're handing out $10 doses of nostalgia by offering KOTOR downloads for PC through both Direct2Drive and Steam.

Getting back to the MMO angle, there's another 25% off of that for Star Wars: The Old Republic community members who download the game from Direct2Drive. Sure, PAX attendees get their KOTOR downloads for free -- damn you, Kyle Horner! -- but seriously, it's only $10 to begin with. If you missed Knights of the Old Republic the first time around, this is as good a time as any to catch up. Check out the announcement over on the official SWTOR site and create your account before September 15th if you're really adamant about saving a few bucks.

PAX 2009: BioWare offers Star Wars: The Old Republic fans discount on KOTOR originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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E3 2009: Sony says Playstation Home holds 6.5 million accounts

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Business models, MMO industry, Consoles, Virtual worlds, Home

In addition to all of the games Sony has been showing at their press conference today, Sony released some impressive numbers for their Playstation Home service, revealing they now hold 6.5 million accounts and the Home service sports an 85% return rate for users. The 6.5 million accounts is impressive, but the 85% return rate is a vague, empty number that we're not quite sure what it means.

To further expand their plans for Home, Sony will be introducing over 100 new virtual items each month, as over 100,000 items related to Capcom and Resident Evil were sold two months after their introduction. Future game spaces will include areas for inFAMOUS, Buzz! and Socom, with EA, Ubisoft, Activision, Namco, and Eidos jumping on the game space bandwagon with their support.

E3 2009: Sony says Playstation Home holds 6.5 million accounts originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A guide to MMO music, and lots of links to download it

Michael Zenke — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, MMO industry, Tips and tricks

Last week Tuebit from the WorldIV blog broke out a great post all about the music from MMOs. The aural background in virtual spaces something we often take very much for granted. Many players turn the music from MMOs off completely soon after entering the game. This blogger takes exception to that, and Tuebit's celebration of the art form is a great tribute to the work. He offers up a number of download and listening links for this music. No illegal torrents here, nothing but legal players and ftp sites. The author follows that post up with one exploring the role of music in MMOs, from the audio cues in LOTRO to the detrimental effect of voice chat on music enjoyment.

If you're interested in a few free soundtracks, some of the most surprising examples are available in that vein. City of Heroes' entire musical score is available via ftp, for example, while the late Auto Assault has its entire soundtrack still on Fileplanet. EVE's soundtrack is online as well, and if you have EQ2 installed you already have the mp3s right there on your system. Non-players can also download it from these here internets. As commentary on the whole situation, Angus has a great angle on the subject: "I can totally see how the music for a place could make it popular or unpopular, in a game that had really good music in other places (so that the players didn't just turn it off)."

A guide to MMO music, and lots of links to download it originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SLusic.com: a guide to music in Second Life

Akela Talamasca — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:08:00 EST

Filed under: Events, in-game, Second Life

I was wondering when something like this would happen, and here it is: SLusic.com is a website that boasts a ton of features for fans of live music in Second Life. It's professional-looking site, with easy navigation and a ton of handy links along the top to help you with searching for activities revolving around your favorite musician. Included in these links are Videos, Charts, Events, Blogs, Photos, etc.

An intriguing feature to this site is the ability to listen to music, right there on the front page, which is arranged according to who's on the Top 10 Charts. There's also a Downloads section, where you can purchase music at the by-now standard iTunes price of US$0.99 per song. This is an excellent companion to the other SL-supporting, resident-run sites out there, and I have to thank Hollywood Ron of the Flektor Development Blog for the tip.

There is more going on in Second Life than the mainstream media gives it credit for; go check this stuff out!

[Thanks, Ron!]

SLusic.com: a guide to music in Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 09 Nov 2007 07:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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