Massively http://massively.joystiq.com Massively http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/http://massively.joystiq.com/media/feedlogo.gif Massively http://massively.joystiq.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/<![CDATA[One Shots: Taking on a new form]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/15/one-shots/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/15/one-shots/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/15/one-shots/#commentsFiled under: ,


We've gotten a smattering of graphical love in from some people who are either still playing Age of Conan, or who recently popped into Hyborea for a look around. Today's One Shots is one such example of the DX10 graphical updates, although in this case, it's more a transformation and some texturing - still impressive! This image comes to us from Thulgor who is part of the Mist Wolves guild on the Gwahlur server. He writes in: Hi. [I] was playing with the new DX10 client and captured this shot of my L80 Herald of Xotli having just transformed into Avatar form while in the new Slaughterhouse Cellar dungeon in Age of Conan.

We're always on the lookout for art and architecture in different games, and we know we can't possibly have seen it all already. So grab some screens of your favorite game and send them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name/server/guild and a quick description of what we're seeing. We'll post them here and give you the credit for sending them in.

Gallery: One Shots



MassivelyOne Shots: Taking on a new form originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaocdirectx-10dx10funcomone-shotsscreenshotscreenshotsWed, 15 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST<![CDATA[New DDO screens highlight Module 9's Shavarath]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/08/new-ddo-screens-highlight-module-9s-shavarath/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/08/new-ddo-screens-highlight-module-9s-shavarath/http://massively.joystiq.com/2009/04/08/new-ddo-screens-highlight-module-9s-shavarath/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


The free Module 9 update is just around the corner for Dungeons and Dragons Online, at least relatively speaking. But since we know that waiting for a big shiny new patch can be daunting at best, here are some screens of the forthcoming Shavarath to help tide you over until that fateful patch day. Module 9 is piling on a number of new features, including a raise for the level cap, chat improvements, new feats and abilities, capstone enhancements, and we're assuming some other yet-to-be announced goodies.

For a game that's pushing past three years, Dungeons and Dragons Online is looking quite good. It probably helps that Module 9 is moving DX10 support out of beta and into officially official status. That's twice as official as it was before, for anyone keeping score.

As great as these screenshots are, we really think Turbine needs to do their hard work some justice and put out a new trailer showcasing all the new improvements with an emphasis on the animations. It's all the rage nowadays, Turbine!

Gallery: DDO Module 9

MassivelyNew DDO screens highlight Module 9's Shavarath originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 08 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>ddodungeons-and-dragons-onlinedx10modulemodule-9screenshotscreenshotstrailerturbineWed, 08 Apr 2009 15:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Age of Conan's DX10 put to the test]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/16/age-of-conans-dx10-put-to-the-test/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/16/age-of-conans-dx10-put-to-the-test/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/12/16/age-of-conans-dx10-put-to-the-test/#commentsFiled under: , , ,


It's been a long time coming, but Age of Conan's Testlive server is now running a version of the game that can output DirectX 10 graphics, a feature that many people missed at launch. The current implementation probably isn't indicative of what will end up on the Live servers, but if you just can't wait and want to see the work-in-progress, Age of Conan Vault has a number of DX9 to DX10 comparison screenshots on show right now. The test client as-is doesn't have some of the cooler features like volumetric fog or windy trees just yet, but these would be better seen in video form anyway.

The most stand-out difference between the screenshot pairings that we can pick is the upped brightness and visibility in dark areas on the DX10 side. In some (but not all) of the shots, the textures look noticeably better too. The AoC Vault reviewer experienced a significant FPS drop, from roughly 50FPS down to 20FPS, when switching from DX9 to DX10, but this is apparently not that common among other testers -- most do get their share of graphical glitches and crashing though. Hopefully it's all ironed out when Funcom decides to push DX10 to the live servers at a later date.

MassivelyAge of Conan's DX10 put to the test originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaocdirectxdirectx-10directx-9dx10dx9fogfuncomtest-servertestlivevolumetric-fogTue, 16 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Age of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/02/age-of-conan-video-interview-focuses-on-player-concerns/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/02/age-of-conan-video-interview-focuses-on-player-concerns/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/08/02/age-of-conan-video-interview-focuses-on-player-concerns/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Erling Ellingson, Funcom's Product Manager for Age of Conan, recently gave a video interview with Jon Wood from MMORPG. Wood brought some tough questions to the interview regarding the problems many players are having with the game, questions that may not have simple, clear cut answers as the footage implies. Or perhaps they're just not the answers many gamers are hoping to get.

Wood's interview covered the gambit of player concerns about the game: the lack of DX 10; missing and upcoming features; and speculation about changes in mature content. Perhaps of greatest significance to the Age of Conan player base is the content drop off after level 20. On the post-20 game experience, Ellingson likened Age of Conan to being two titles in one -- a single player experience and an MMO. The introduction to the game is meant to be very detailed to draw the player into the setting, but the second part is a different experience. Some people may like the first part more than the second, he says. Also, in terms of content thinning as levels go up, he feels that this happens with most MMOs when they launch, and states that even when World of Warcraft launched, "the higher level content was relatively sparse." To remedy this, Funcom is now focused on adding higher level content, including level 80 dungeons, and Ymir's Pass -- a level 55+ zone.

Continue reading Age of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns

MassivelyAge of Conan video interview focuses on player concerns originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanaoccontentdx10erling-ellingsonfantasyforumsfuncomgame-mechanicsinterviewinterviewsjon-woodmaturemature-contentmature-ratingmmorpgnew-contentpvpvideovideo-interviewzoneSat, 02 Aug 2008 18:30:00 EST<![CDATA[New DirectX 11 details emerge]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/new-directx-11-details-emerge/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/new-directx-11-details-emerge/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/07/23/new-directx-11-details-emerge/#commentsFiled under: , ,

Not many MMOs take advantage of the DirectX 10 API and its instruction sets but that's not stopping progress on DirectX 11. The new DirectX version will work on Vista and future versions of the Windows operating system dubbed Windows 7. Yesterday, at Gamefest -- Microsft's XNA conference, the conglomerate disclosed some upcoming key components that the new technology will possess.

There's full support, and compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, and this support extends too new DirectX 11 hardware. A new compute shader technology will open a GPU's capabilities to coincide as a parallel processor. More optimized power as multi-threaded resource handling will increase performance on multi-core machines. That's great since 8-core processors are not far-off from market sale. The last technical DirectX 11 feat announced is support for tessellation, a big fancy term that more or less makes your graphics smoother and prettier when viewed close-up. It could be a year or more before a MMOG takes full advantage of DirectX 11's capabilities. For example early DX10 adopters that play MMOGs are still waiting for Age of Conan's DX10 client.

MassivelyNew DirectX 11 details emerge originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>directxdirectx-10directx-11directx10directx11dx10dx11gamesfest-2008graphic-shadersgraphicsmicrosofttechnologyvideovideo-technologywindowswindows-operating-systemWed, 23 Jul 2008 14:30:00 EST<![CDATA[The Digital Continuum: MMO features in the year 2013]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/the-digital-continuum-mmo-features-in-the-year-2013/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/the-digital-continuum-mmo-features-in-the-year-2013/http://massively.joystiq.com/2008/03/22/the-digital-continuum-mmo-features-in-the-year-2013/#commentsFiled under: , ,

If you were to look back five years ago at the year 2003, the feature lists on the MMOs of that year look quite a bit different from the games of this year. Everything from graphical advancements to new in-game concepts like Warhammer Online's Tome of Knowledge. A lot of new features have cropped up through natural evolution and forcefulness as well. A lot of these improvements were obvious, but many of them have also been unexpected.

So what kinds of advancements will the massively genre have made in another fives years? Maybe we'll all be playing MMOs on the newest consoles, or maybe not. There are a lot of variables in this considerably young genre we all love, so looking five years into the future can lead to scary places. Although that won't stop me from trying to peer towards the future in an attempt see what sorts of virtual worlds await us all.

Continue reading The Digital Continuum: MMO features in the year 2013

MassivelyThe Digital Continuum: MMO features in the year 2013 originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 22 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>age-of-conanbiowareblizzardcryengine2destination-gamesdx10ea-mythicfeaturedfuncomfuturelord-of-the-rings-onlinelotroncsofttabula-rasathe-digital-continuumtom-clancytome-of-knowledgeturbineubisoftunreal-engine-4warwarhammer-onlineworld-of-warcraftwowSat, 22 Mar 2008 10:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Winners picked for final week of Turbine's DX10 screenshot contest]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/20/winners-picked-for-final-week-of-turbines-dx10-screenshot-conte/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/20/winners-picked-for-final-week-of-turbines-dx10-screenshot-conte/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/20/winners-picked-for-final-week-of-turbines-dx10-screenshot-conte/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Turbine's DirectX 10 screenshot contest for the LotRO community has finally come to an end. Three winners and one runner-up have been selected for the final week.

Airak and Eoheryn of Landroval, and forum member Fatty_Lumpkin were the three winners. The honorably mentioned screenshot (included above) was taken by Rendo Gnollen. Why did Turbine pick three winners and one honorable mention instead of just saying there are four winners, since there are no prizes anyway? Who knows.

Turbine also assured everyone that there will be another screenshot contest next year, and that DirectX 9 users will also be eligible.

MassivelyWinners picked for final week of Turbine's DX10 screenshot contest originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>contestsdirectxdirectx-10dx10lord-of-the-rings-onlinelotropicturesscreenshotsturbinevistaweek-5winnersThu, 20 Dec 2007 11:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Turbine announces fourth pair of DX10 screenshot contest winners]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/turbine-announces-fourth-pair-of-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/turbine-announces-fourth-pair-of-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/13/turbine-announces-fourth-pair-of-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Week four of Turbine's screenshot contest for The Lord of the Rings Online has come and gone, and the fourth pair of winners has been selected.

This time the winners are players Morreion and Brisbanoch. Their entries have been posted on the official LotRO forums. Morreion's screenshot is pictured here. It shows off the dynamic tree shadow effects you can enable if you're playing with a DirectX 10-ready video card in Windows Vista.

Turbine's been hosting this contest to celebrate LotRO's place as the first MMO to fully support DX10 features. It's not too late to send in an entry yourself if you've got the high-end hardware needed to support DX10 -- and if you run Windows Vista. That's a big if at this point.

MassivelyTurbine announces fourth pair of DX10 screenshot contest winners originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Dec 2007 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>directxdirectx-10dx10graphicslord-of-the-rings-onlinescreenshot-contestscreenshotsshadowsturbinevistaweek-4windows-vistaThu, 13 Dec 2007 23:00:00 EST<![CDATA[LotRO DirectX 10 screenshot contest crowns week 3 winners]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/lotro-directx-10-screenshot-contest-crowns-week-3-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/lotro-directx-10-screenshot-contest-crowns-week-3-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/lotro-directx-10-screenshot-contest-crowns-week-3-winners/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


Week 3 of the Lord of the Rings Online DirectX 10 screenshot contest has rolled around, and there are two more winning snaps to share (full-sized versions available from the forum post). Both of the winners this week have shots that show off some nice tree shadows, and the reflection of the castle in the above shot is good too. Incidentally, an upcoming patch to the game will improve performance of DX10 with shadows in particular.

If you missed the other winners so far, here is our coverage of Week 1 and Week 2. There should be two more weeks of entries still ahead, and we'll be sure to report them when they come through. It's also not too late to enter, if you have a ridiculous machine to back you up, so check out the contest rules if you want to get a chance at having a featured screenshot.

MassivelyLotRO DirectX 10 screenshot contest crowns week 3 winners originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>directxdirectx-10dx10lotroshadowstree-shadowsturbineweek-3winnersWed, 05 Dec 2007 20:30:00 EST<![CDATA[Downtime for LotRO will fix Troll and Ranger PvMP]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/downtime-for-lotro-will-fix-troll-and-ranger-pvmp/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/downtime-for-lotro-will-fix-troll-and-ranger-pvmp/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/12/05/downtime-for-lotro-will-fix-troll-and-ranger-pvmp/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,

The Lord of the Rings Online forums have spilled the beans on what will be getting fixed with the game's imminent update. The downtime will occur on December 6th, from 6:00AM (ET), and is expected to last until 12PM. This patch does not really contain any new content, however, one of the fixes will open up another option for PvMP players -- or rather, re-open.

The update should bring back the option to choose Trolls and Rangers in session play, which we reported on a few weeks ago when they were disabled. At the time, they did not say how long it would be before they were reintroduced, so it's good to see this feature back in the game before Book 12 is out. The question is, will there have been other tweaks to how they play, to address the balance issues many have been complaining about? Or, looking at this thread -- do people even want them back? The scale seems to tip heavily towards 'no', with the topic-creator keeping a tally: 12 for them, and 25 against.

Other notable fixes for this update include some DirectX 10 performance improvements with shadowing. Full pre-patch notes can be found after the break.

Continue reading Downtime for LotRO will fix Troll and Ranger PvMP

MassivelyDowntime for LotRO will fix Troll and Ranger PvMP originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>directx-10dx10lotropvmprangersession-playtrollupdateWed, 05 Dec 2007 20:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Turbine picks DX10 Screenshot Contest winners for Week 2]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/28/turbine-picks-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners-for-week-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/28/turbine-picks-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners-for-week-2/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/28/turbine-picks-dx10-screenshot-contest-winners-for-week-2/#commentsFiled under: , , , ,


As if people with GeForce 8800 GT video cards weren't lucky enough, Turbine has been hosting a screenshot contest just for them on the official The Lord of the Rings Online website. Players submit screenshots of the game running in DirectX 10 and Turbine posts the best screenshots each week.

The water effects in LotRO are jaw-droppingly gorgeous; last week's winners both focused on those. Now this week's winners have been selected, and water still plays a part in one of the screenshots (pictured above), but it's not the sole focus. It's too bad none of the winning screenshots are presented in a variety of wallpaper resolutions. They would make excellent desktop backgrounds.

Still, they're nice to look at. Enter the contest yourself if you think you have l33t virtual photography skillz!

MassivelyTurbine picks DX10 Screenshot Contest winners for Week 2 originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>contestcontestsdirectxdirectx-10dx10lord-of-the-rings-onlinelotroscreenshotsturbinevistaWed, 28 Nov 2007 21:00:00 EST<![CDATA[Turbine selects the first DirectX 10 screenshot contest winners]]>http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/turbine-selects-the-first-directx-10-screenshot-contest-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/turbine-selects-the-first-directx-10-screenshot-contest-winners/http://massively.joystiq.com/2007/11/21/turbine-selects-the-first-directx-10-screenshot-contest-winners/#commentsFiled under: , , ,

Last week we reported that the LotRO crew at Turbine would be having a screenshot contest to promote how awesome they are for making LotRO the first MMO to support DirectX 10. Each Monday, the best shots from the previous week's submissions would be featured at the official website.

Well, the first Monday (plus two days) has arrived, and two winners have been selected, which is a surprise since the original announcement said there would be three winners each week. They're both very good screenshots that feature very pretty water effects; one of them -- which we think is a view of the lake in Evendim -- appears above.

You can look at the other one in the official forum post. The contest will continue until December 17th, so if you have a GPU that supports DX10 and if you're running Windows Vista, send in a submission!

MassivelyTurbine selects the first DirectX 10 screenshot contest winners originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments]]>contestsdirectxdirectx-10dx10lord-of-the-rings-onlinelotroscreenshotsturbinevistawindows-vistaWed, 21 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST