Massively

EVE Online offers video cards for PLEX

Matt Daniel — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items, Sandbox

Are you in the market for a video card? Are you an internet spaceship pilot? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then boy are you ever in luck. As you may have already heard at Fanfest 2012, CCP and NVIDIA have teamed up to bring EVE Online players a new initiative that will allow them to trade in their PLEX for new video cards.

That's right, players will be able exchange 20 PLEX for a shiny new GeForce GTX 560 video card, courtesy of NVIDIA. The supplies are limited to 100 video cards for now, and players are limited to a single video card purchase per account. The folks at CCP note that the reason for the limited quantities is because they are "proceeding carefully... to enable [the studio] to evaluate any impacts of this unique and innovative offer on the EVE economy, and understand any challenges arising from this form of exchange of game world currency for real world goods." So get to it, space cowboys, and earn yourself a new shiny.

EVE Online offers video cards for PLEX originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 11 Apr 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Recruit for Ryzom, win fabulous prizes!

Justin Olivetti — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Ryzom, Free-to-play

Ryzom is undergoing a recruitment drive at the moment, and the team is looking to the players for help. A spiffy contest has been posted on the official site to see which players can rope in the most new warm bodies for the cause.

Each player is tasked with recruiting friends and family members via a unique link that will count toward their tally during the month of November. After November 30th, the Ryzom team will see which players have netted the biggest catch and will dole out rewards accordingly.

The first place winner gets a choice of tempting prizes: either an original concept art drawing or an Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 graphics card. Second place can choose from the drawing or a lifetime subscription to the game, and third through sixth place winners will receive a three-month subscription.

Ryzom is currently free-to-play with an optional subscription package.

Recruit for Ryzom, win fabulous prizes! originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 04 Nov 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not So Massively Extra: Dota 2 to be unveiled with $1.6 million US tournament

Brendan Drain — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Events, real-world, Launches, New titles, PvP, Not So Massively

The MOBA (Massively Online Battle Arena) genre has absolutely exploded in the past year, with several hugely successful titles released based on the gameplay of popular Warcraft 3 mod Defense of the Ancients. The original DotA mod remains one of today's most played competitive online games, and games based on it have begun to pull in millions of players. The big players of the industry have definitely taken notice of this fledgling genre's success, with Valve even going so far as to acquire the DotA brand and start work on a true sequel aimed for a 2011 release.

We heard last month that Dota 2 is due to be previewed in a competitive tournament at August's Gamescom 2011 in Germany. In a new announcement on the official Dota 2 blog, Valve has now revealed the incredible details of this massive tournament. 16 of the world's top classic DotA teams will clash in a bid to win a staggering $1,000,000 US top prize. Confirmed commentator Tobi has been referenced as saying that the total prize pool is actually $1.6 million US, leaving a potential $600,000 for runner-up prizes. This tournament will be the first time Dota 2 is publicly shown, and every match will be streamed live across the internet in four languages. The five-day tournament will run between August 17th and August 21st.

Not So Massively Extra: Dota 2 to be unveiled with $1.6 million US tournament originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Enter at Your Own Rift: Pre-launch checklist

Justin Olivetti — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Launches, RIFT, Enter at Your Own Rift

I'll just come out and say it: The month or so right before the launch of a highly anticipated MMO is simultaneously ecstasy and agony, full of love and loathing. The waiting sucks, but the anticipation is delicious. The enthusiasm from the community is electric, but the heated emotions can be toxic. The discussion is fascinating, but the know-it-alls are annoying.

Personally, I kind of wish we could be at launch-plus-one month right now, just so that the frenzy of insane opinions will have died down and we can just, y'know, play the game without feeling as though we were in the middle of a verbal rugby match. Like any MMO, RIFT's going to have its positives and negatives, but I feel that this launch is going to be something we haven't seen in a long time: a solid, stable MMO that offers up a complete package. That pleases the Justin.

Since I can't whip out my magic remote control and fast-forward to April, I propose we do the next best thing. Let's open up our imaginary quest logs and run down a checklist of seven "To Dos" and a few "To Don'ts" to help us prepare for RIFT's release. Planning can be fun! Shut up, it can be!

Continue reading Enter at Your Own Rift: Pre-launch checklist

Enter at Your Own Rift: Pre-launch checklist originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIFT's Telara the Merciless open beta starts February 15th

Jef Reahard — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, New titles, News items, RIFT

Let's face it. This time next week, some of us will be entirely sick of all the warm, fuzzy, cuddle-bug lovin' that typically signifies mid-February. Thankfully Trion Worlds is here to remind us that there are plenty of dragons, plate-clad pretty people, and a violent, war-torn world to explore when we've had our fill of Valentine's Day chocolates, truffles, and pink.

On February 15th, gamers across the land will be able to take part in RIFT's six-day open beta extravaganza. The event is billed as Telara the Merciless and will feature two playable factions, 42 levels, three PvP warfronts, and several explorable zones and dungeons. Signups are going on now, and you can also get ahead of the competition by pre-ordering and securing a spot in the head start event (February 24th to March 1st).

Finally, any dungeon boss that dies by your hand grants you a chance to win a spiffy Nvidia graphics card as well as an in-game prize pack. Get the full details at RIFT's official website.

RIFT's Telara the Merciless open beta starts February 15th originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 07 Feb 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aika expands enemy loot list to include NVidia video cards [Updated]

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Events, in-game, News items, Free-to-play, Aika, Promotions

If there are two things that MMO players love, those things would probably be killing enemies and getting prizes. (The third would be cheesecake of either variety.) Aika seems keen to capitalize on this, and the game is running a promotion for players through the 13th of the month allowing those two passions to combine into one. For the duration of the event, every time you kill a monster, you have a chance of winning a brand-new graphics card from NVidia.

The system for entry is simple. Any enemy fought within your level range will drop a token, which can produce one of two items. The first is an NVidia box which includes useful in-game items and certainly is nothing to sneeze at. The second is a raffle ticket, which automatically puts you in the drawing for one of the graphics cards, with more tickets meaning a better chance of winning a card. Aika players are also given a special page to track their entries, something that will no doubt become quite frequent as the event marches on.

[Update: We've changed up the graphic with the most current one per the folks at gPotato. Note, the event runs through the 13th, not the 18th!]

Aika expands enemy loot list to include NVidia video cards [Updated] originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XIV launches benchmark application

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, Previews, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

Curious as to whether or not your computer will be able to handle Final Fantasy XIV? We're due for an exclusive interview with Square-Enix in the very near future at E3, but that's focusing on game mechanics and story details. Luckily, much like Final Fantasy XI before, Square has made an official benchmark program available for prospective players. But it's more involved than its predecessor, allowing you to select from any of the game's races as well as supporting a test for high-definition displays.

The download itself is being hosted on NVIDIA's site, at a fairly reasonable 172 megabyte download. Once you have the program downloaded (and DirectX 9.0c installed, but that's more or less a given in this day and age), it runs without any complications and produces a numerical score after it runs through tests. Anything above a score of 1500 will be able to run the game just fine, but a look at the official rundown is well worth the time -- to see how much upgrading you'll have to do before Final Fantasy XIV's launch if nothing else.

Final Fantasy XIV launches benchmark application originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vendetta Online to be ported to the Android OS

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, MMO industry, News items

Google's operating system, Android, has had an odd genesis. It's been ported around for every flavor of mobile device, from phones to tablet PCs, but it's coming into a field already crowded with operating systems -- and the plethora of hardware running the system has hampered some efforts to port games to the architecture. Guild Software Inc. is making the push, however, adapting their indie MMO Vendetta Online to the Android system architecture.

For proponents of the Droid over the iPhone, the good news is that it's the same operating system on your phone of choice. However, the port is specifically targeting the NVIDIA Tegra processors, aiming toward smaller netbooks and tablets rather than phones. In the official FAQ, the developers clarify that they're not currently planning to aim the port at any phones, although the door is open once the initial port is finished. It's still an exciting step for the Android architecture, however, and it continues expanding the network of MMOs available for mobile devices.

Vendetta Online to be ported to the Android OS originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Video shows CCP's incredible cloth and hair simulation

Brendan Drain — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Sci-fi, Video, EVE Online, MMO industry, Previews, World of Darkness

We've known for some time that CCP planned to use physics simulation to make the clothes in EVE Online's Incarna expansion and their upcoming World of Darkness MMO more realistic. They even gave a talk on using NVidia's APEX cloth simulation at the 2010 Game Developer's Conference. Until now, all we've seen are technical details and the occasional screenshot, which makes it hard to work out how the end product will look.

NVidia have released a new video this week of CCP's cloth simulation in action, giving those of us that are interested a sneak peak at the incredibly impressive results. Although APEX cloth simulation will be introduced to EVE when Incarna is released, the video looks much more like something out of World of Darkness. As an added bonus, the system seems to simulate realistic hair and not just clothes. Hair in most MMOs has always been limited to shorter styles which would look alright without animation. The ability to simulate complex clothes and long hair styles make character customisation in World of Darkness and EVE's Incarna expansion look very promising.

Skip past the cut to watch the video in HD.
[Thanks for the tip, Patrick!]

Continue reading Video shows CCP's incredible cloth and hair simulation

Video shows CCP's incredible cloth and hair simulation originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 20 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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GDC10: The expo in pictures

Seraphina Brennan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Galleries, Events, real-world, Massively Event Coverage

We have a saying around the Massively offices -- "When we go to a show, our readers go to the show." We hope you guys have really enjoyed our crazy coverage of GDC10 as much as we enjoyed running around the show like crazy people grabbing all of that information.

But, while we were running around, we got some great photos from the show for you! Now you too can live the experience of running from booth to booth, passing legions upon legions of companies explaining their newest technologies and how they can improve your gaming experience.

So come along with us for a whirlwind trip through GDC! Trust us, it's exciting.

Gallery: GDC10: Pictures from the floor

GDC10: The expo in pictures originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Beat Fallen Earth developers at their own game for sweet, sweet prizes

Seraphina Brennan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Horror, Fallen Earth, Contests, News items

It's not very often that you get the chance to beat developers at their own game. It's even rarer when you get the chance to beat developers at their own game and win prizes for it. If you want our advice, take the Fallen Earth team up on their current beta contest -- Dev Hunt.

Beta testers are going to get the chance to hunt down the Fallen Earth developers and kill them in-game for a shot at some nice prizes, including an Nvidia GTX 260 video card, Logitech G11 keyboard, Razer DeathAdder gaming mice, and Fallen Earth swag. If you're a beta tester, all you need to do is log into the Grand Canyon Province on August 8th at 12 PM EDT (GMT-4 for those who need time conversions) and start hunting a developer that's around your level. You get points for being logged in and points if you're present when a developer dies. The event will last until 3 PM EDT.

Not a beta tester? Not to worry! Fill out the registration form and you can still get in on the developer destruction! Just make sure to register before August 6th, or no developer hunting for you!

Beat Fallen Earth developers at their own game for sweet, sweet prizes originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Fallen Earth hosting Texas invasion in-game event

Kyle Horner — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fallen Earth, Events, in-game, New titles, News items

Come Saturday, July 25th, we hope those of you in the Fallen Earth beta (or looking to get in by then) have some spare time. The Fallen Earth team is planning to host an atypical stress test in the shape of an in-game event -- Texas Invasion: A Clan Challenge. Here's the hook: Players have been asked to help fortify the Grand Canyon Province and raise up arms against invading Texans. This can be done by seeking out Texan encampments, where players can scavenge for valuables, kill invaders or craft to earn points.

Doing any and all of these things earn players points, and the player with the most points will earn the title Defender of the Province. Aside from sounding cool, this title also comes with a prize pack consisting of an Nvidia GeForce GTX 260 videocard, a Fallen Earth messenger bag and a Fallen Earth t-shirt. The prizes aren't solely individual, however, as clans will be tallying up points during the event. Clan points come from individual players and the most successful clan gets to claim in-game notoriety via a commemorative -- and we're assuming in-game -- monument, complete with the name and date of the event.

Oh, and apparently this winning clan will also earn a week-long takeover of the Fallen Earth website. Talk about an ego boost! Check out the official announcement for further details -- such as the scheduled hours for the event and how clans not already in the beta can join up now and compete as well.

Fallen Earth hosting Texas invasion in-game event originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Win an epic Age of Conan system with GameRigs

Brooke Pilley — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Contests, News items

Funcom and GameRigs are teaming up to bring you the Age of Conan Barbarian Sweepstakes where entrants will have a chance to win over $3000 in prizes. There is no purchase necessary to enter this contest and it is open to any legal resident 17 years of age or older of the 50 United States, District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec). Be sure to read the official rules to ensure your eligibility.

First prize includes a pretty sweet gaming rig with an Intel quad-core processor, 2GB of Crucial Ballistic DDR2 RAM, and a NVIDIA GeForce 9800GTX+ video card. First place also wins a 24" NEC AccuSync LCD display, a SteelSeries accessory pack (keyboard, zBoard, mouse, and headset), all AoC pre-order items, a 1-year subscription to AoC, a 1-year subscription to Beckett's Massive Online Gamer magazine, and a BradyGames Official Strategy Guide. They will also draw one second place, one third place, and 10 bonus prize winners. Check out the official contest submission page for details of these additional prize packages and enter for your chance to win.

Win an epic Age of Conan system with GameRigs originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 15 Feb 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Azeroth shall not be contained to two dimensions, but Hyborea might be

Seraphina Brennan — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, MMO industry, Patches, News items

Yes, that's right, now you too can wear goofy glasses in front of your PC monitor and feel as if the whole world of Azeroth is jumping out from the screen and into your computer room, all thanks to NVIDIA.

If you have a GeForce graphics chipset, then you just might be eligible to see the most played MMO in crazy three-dimensional glory. Thanks to the new patch for World of Warcraft, the game has become perfectly compatible with NVIDIA's stereoscopic 3D vision. What all of that means is that you can buy a really expensive pair of glasses, upgrade your NVIDIA card, and then gawk in the glory of 3D while anyone who passes by you wonders why you're staring at a blurry screen with a pair of awkward looking nerd glasses.

Continue reading Azeroth shall not be contained to two dimensions, but Hyborea might be

Azeroth shall not be contained to two dimensions, but Hyborea might be originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 20 Jan 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WAR on a MacBook?

Shawn Schuster — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Culture, Warhammer Online, Academic

Yes, it's true. Of course you'll need to run Bootcamp with a copy of Windows XP, but with Apple's recently announced switchover to improved nVidia graphics cards in their laptops, the possibility of running your favorite MMO on an Apple laptop is here.

In an article over at Obsessable, they just had to try it for themselves. Not only did they get Warhammer Online to play on the newest MacBook, but they got it to play well. They report, "In person, there was no pixelation during game play, just a few jittery moments when I had the texture mapping graphics set to their highest and most detailed. These were very few and far between, however." Check out the two videos documenting their experiments with WAR on a MacBook after the cut.

Continue reading WAR on a MacBook?

WAR on a MacBook? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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News from the Wider MMO World: August 19, 2008

Akela Talamasca — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EST

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Historical, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Dofus, Jumpgate Evolution, Pirates of the Burning Sea, MMO industry, New titles, News items, War, Free-to-play, The Secret World, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Wakfu, WWIIOL: Battleground Europe, Runes of Magic

The MMO genre is more than World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online. Here's what's going on in the rest of the world.

Battleground Europe launches new website
Playnet Inc.'s Amy-Lynn Engelbrecht informs us that the destination site for Cornered Rat Software's World War 2 MMO, Battleground Europe, has gotten a significant makeover. With a focus on providing information that's more helpful to members of its strong and active community, the new updated site also features an RSS feed for news, or the option to receive regular updates by Feedburner email. Join up and fight with a 14-day free trial!

Ankama Games announces new Wakfu features
The spiritual and temporal successor to Ankama's previous title Dofus, Wakfu is an up-and-coming 2D MMO with a currently unreleased launch date. However, bits and pieces of news trickle out from time to time, such as the following: There will be an Enchantment profession, in which items are dismantled for their runes, then grafted onto new items for special powers. Taking a page from World of Warcraft?

Secondly, Wakfu will have no NPCs to offer quests. Instead, the game will have "Dynamic Challenges" -- quests that arise when environmental conditions are right, such as time, area, etc. The types of Challenges include Kill, Ecosystem, Social, and Discovery. Each will be available in both solo and team play.

Continue reading News from the Wider MMO World: August 19, 2008

News from the Wider MMO World: August 19, 2008 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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City of Heroes patch tweaks, refines, and fixes

Samuel Axon — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, City of Villains, Patches, News items

NCsoft released a new patch for City of Heroes/City of Villains and published the update notes on its website yesterday. Like this post's title implies, most of the changes are tweaks, refinements, and fixes. For example, the patch fixed a rather annoying graphical glitch that occurred on the very popular GeForce 8 series video cards.

It's not all about bugs, though; there are lots of balance changes to character abilities (like slight nerfs to Fire Control/Cinders and Plant Control/Roots), and a few tweaks to badges (for example, Ourobos missions "will now issue a gold star and the proper badge"). Also notably, you can no longer drag-and-drop items into an allied super-group's storage. This change was made to address an exploit which allowed folks to grief by completely cleaning out others' storage. Various class changes are buried in the notes as well, including further changes to Mastermind pets intended to improve their combat performance.

So if you're a player, you'll want to read the notes to make sure you're up to speed. Maintenance is better than nothing, right? The complete notes are included after the jump.

Continue reading City of Heroes patch tweaks, refines, and fixes

City of Heroes patch tweaks, refines, and fixes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Testing Age of Conan: Gamespot's hardware roundup + performance guide

Matt Warner — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan

You got bills to pay, no computer upgrades in a year, heck maybe it's been two or three, and here comes along Age of Conan with eye-dazzling effects that you must play. It also comes with launch bugs that don't ease the stress on your computer or your nerves for that matter. Crash after crash will leave you infuriated, the problem could be drivers, maybe the PSU can't handle the load, or it's poor optimization code -- whatever it is let the debugging process begin.

PC Gaming really does need some better standards, especially MMOs, but let's get back the basic computer hardware needed to run Age of Conan. What hardware will make it run like a champ, and what hardware will even run the game at all in case Grandma wants to chop some heads off in Hyboria on the most sluggish computer. Everything you need to know is available in this in-depth, fantastic hardware performance guide by Gamespot.

Continue reading Testing Age of Conan: Gamespot's hardware roundup + performance guide

Testing Age of Conan: Gamespot's hardware roundup + performance guide originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NVIDIA VP heralds the end of PC-exclusive games

Chris Chester — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Age of Conan, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, Consoles, All Points Bulletin, Champions Online

The supposed "war" between consoles and PCs has been raging since the time the great MC Hammer walked the earth, with proponents of both sides taking pot-shots at the other for nearly as long as we can remember. We thought we'd heard just about every kind of comment that could be said between the two sides, but a recent interview with NVIDIA's Roy Taylor has proved us quite mistaken. According to Taylor, the future gaming as we know it is going to be a flip of the trend we've seen over the last ten years ago. Where once PC games served as the baseline and were ported over to consoles, now console games will be the baseline and PCs will be the recipients of enhanced ports. In other words, the end of the PC-exclusive is nigh.

If you just look at MMOs, which continue to drive the popularity of PC gaming, you can see that this is plainly false. While there are a number of MMOs scheduled to be released for consoles, with high profile names like Age of Conan, Champions Online, All Points Bulletin, and perhaps even Dungeons and Dragons, nobody has proven they can navigate the "maze of challenges" that come with cross-platform MMO development, let alone make a profit doing it. And in this blogger's mind, until MMOs officially cross-over to the dark side, it's too early to proclaim the PC-exclusive dead.

NVIDIA VP heralds the end of PC-exclusive games originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 10 Jun 2008 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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High-end graphics features planned for Second Life

Tateru Nino — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:30:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Second Life

Linden Lab is tinkering with a set of Second Life graphical improvements for high-end graphics hardware. Dave Parks, software engineer at Linden Lab has been working on a set of features tailored to the Geforce 8 set of GPUs. Users without the required hardware would not suffer any performance reductions as a result of the new features.

The featureset (which is available as an experimental branch called shadow-draft in the viewer source repository, for the curious), includes hard Sun-shadows, per-pixel lighting, support for an uncapped number of point-lights, and lighting costs based on screen coverage.

Continue reading High-end graphics features planned for Second Life

High-end graphics features planned for Second Life originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 29 May 2008 02:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Second Life release candidate viewer: 1.20(RC1)

Tateru Nino — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Patches, News items, Second Life

Linden Lab has released the second 1.20 Second Life release candidate viewer. Release candidates start counting from zero, so the first one in the series is RC0.

This release candidate restores the Friends dropdown on the map, disables avatar imposters -- as they're a suspected cause of crashes on nVidia hardware/drivers, fixes SLURLs which were bollixed up, fixes two crash bugs and adds a crash-on-startup bug for Linux users.

Linux users should NOT get this version. To avoid getting a forced upgrade, add --channel skipRC1 to your viewer startup parameters.

Continue reading New Second Life release candidate viewer: 1.20(RC1)

New Second Life release candidate viewer: 1.20(RC1) originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 16 Apr 2008 01:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tim Sweeney's beef with Intel and PC gaming

Kyle Horner — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Opinion

Are PCs good for gaming? The short answer is yes, Tim Sweeney (of Unreal fame) is wrong because computers play many of the best games the platform has to offer without much struggle. Games like The Orange Box, Guild Wars, World of Warcraft, The Sims 2, Company of Heroes or The Lord of the Rings Online all run fairly well without too much muscle behind them.

His primary complaint (and ours too, actually) is that integrated graphics chips which are installed on the computers that stores like Best Buy sell, are in no way capable of playing the newer games sold at the very same stores. Intel is largely to blame for this, but of course if you've ever looked into buying a brand new video card, then you know they're not the only culprits of PC gaming's issues.

Continue reading Tim Sweeney's beef with Intel and PC gaming

Tim Sweeney's beef with Intel and PC gaming originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The PC Gaming Alliance is here to save the day

William Dobson — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items

Fret not, PC gaming fans. As if in reply to the cries of Peter Molyneux, a new elite task force of industry giants has banded together to save PC gaming, under the banner of the PC Gaming Alliance. The group, which officially announced its existence at a GDC08 press conference, is comprised of some of the biggest names in the business, a mix of game development, OEM, and hardware companies: Activision, Epic, Microsoft, Dell, Alienware, Intel, Nvidia, AMD, Acer, and Gateway.

Randy Stude of Intel is the fearless leader of the PCGA, and spoke of their strategy in bringing PC gaming to the attention of consumers: "One of our main major objectives is to provide one voice on the PC gaming market. There's no one source that says 'hey this is where the PC market is going'. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft are always calling their market share -- we're going to call our market through this group." As well as their "united front" in promoting the PC as a gaming platform, the mix of companies within the PCGA plan to work closely together to share important and useful statistics, and to find solutions to issues like phishing, cheating and piracy.

[Via Develop]

The PC Gaming Alliance is here to save the day originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 22 Feb 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EVE Trinity: New graphics engine calls for a video card checkup

Matt Warner — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:05:00 EST

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, News items

Traders, Smugglers, Pirates, Miners, Capusuleers from every walk of life! Today marks a momentous occasion in the EVE Online universe. At approximately 6PM PST the EVE servers will be brought down and fitted for the new EVE: Trinity expansion. The downtime is estimated to last 24 hours, which means this is probably our last heads up beforehand to train a time appropriate skill in advance. The amount of new content is intense as Trinity is EVE's biggest expansion ever: New ships, tweaks, tutorials, new everything, and of course, the grand-daddy of Trinity's enhancements: The long-awaited graphical overhaul featuring EVE's new graphic engine dubbed Trinity 2. Confused yet? All that matters is that every ship, stargate, and station remodeled to sweet perfection.

There is a downside, and that is not everyone will be able to enjoy the new radical graphics. Players who do not have a Shader Model 3.0 or DirectX9c compliant video card will be left in the space dust with the classic client. EVE players with DirectX9c and video cards that support Shader Model 3.0 will be able to use the shiny new doodad client. The important thing is everyone can still play EVE Online regardless or not your rig meets the requirements to run the new graphics. What is SM 3.0 and how the hell do you know your video card supports it? To answer that, with the help of the EVE forums, I have compiled the necessary information to help you find out.

Continue reading EVE Trinity: New graphics engine calls for a video card checkup

EVE Trinity: New graphics engine calls for a video card checkup originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 18:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Linuxworld on the Second Life viewer

Tateru Nino — Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Second Life, Linux

Linden Lab's Second Life viewer, is available for a variety of platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux in varying degrees of support) - and the source code is out there. There's a Solaris version kicking around out there somewhere too.

Linuxworld takes a brief look at Second Life, and a rather longer one with the viewer, speaking to notable open-source community members as Jason Giglio and Callum Lerwick, Tofu Linden of Linden Lab.

The piece touches on licensing issues that are impeding voice support under Linux, blocking issues with closed-source video drivers (most notably with ATI, though nVidia are also implicated), OpenJPEG versus JPEG2000, codebase-forking and more.

Linuxworld on the Second Life viewer originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Second Life fine under Leopard, but MBP-nVidia problem survives

Eloise Pasteur — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Bugs, Second Life, Mac

Word has been gradually seeping through the various mac user groups in Second Life saying that Leopard runs SL stably - with the usual provisos that some prefer various other clients (the Nicholaz-s patch from Barney Boomslang is my firm favourite, there are those who love the OnRez client too). My copy of Leopard arrived today, so it was with some anticipation I installed it and fired up SL - including the new Release Candidate.

I'm happy to add my support to SL under Leopard on just about every type of machine - and like many users I'm seeing an appreciable rise in fps, of about 25%. The only cautionary note - the issue with the nVidia graphics cards in Mac Book Pros still lingers. Hopefully soon!

Second Life fine under Leopard, but MBP-nVidia problem survives originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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