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Mike O'Brien: Guild Wars 2's beta weekend 'overwhelming'

Justin Olivetti — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:30:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Dev Diaries

Mike O'Brien said that the result of Guild Wars 2's initial public beta weekend was "overwhelming in more ways than one." ArenaNet's president took the time to write up a short blog post reflecting on the outcome of the past beta weekend and the reasoning behind this coming Monday's surprise stress test.

According to O'Brien, while the feedback from the event was quite positive, the team had to struggle with unexpected demand for the game. Even after the management temporarily turned off the ability for players' ability to pre-purchase the title through ArenaNet, the game's 48 servers couldn't contain the influx of testers and beta tourists.

It wasn't just a PR stunt, however. "This was definitely a real beta, designed to find problems, gather player input, and learn what work still needs to be done before we ship the game," O'Brien stated.

The team is anticipating a bigger crowd with the next beta weekend, which is why it's running a seven-hour stress test on May 14th to test new changes.

Mike O'Brien: Guild Wars 2's beta weekend 'overwhelming' originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 10 May 2012 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CCP's North American president steps down

Justin Olivetti — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:30:00 EST

Filed under: Horror, Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, World of Darkness, DUST 514

It's been a long run heading up work on spaceships and vampires, but after 19 years at the helm, North American CCP President Mike Tinney is saying goodbye. Tinney announced that he is departing the studio on February 29th to work at an unnamed company that will combine health and fitness with games.

Tinney has no regrets with his prior role but is excited about the future: "CCP has gone through a fast-paced growth cycle. It's been a fun run and a lot of good experiences and memories. But I would like to move to a younger, earlier stage company, and plan to start one myself."

CCP's management expressed gratitude toward Tinney's service: "We are grateful for Mike's energetic and effective leadership and for all his valuable contributions to CCP. We will miss him. We wish him well with his next endeavors. And we're eager to see what he comes up with next."

Tinney's 19 years of service includes being CEO of White Wolf, which was snatched up by CCP in 2006. He will continue to assist CCP in an "advisory capacity" for several months to help the transition.

CCP's North American president steps down originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 28 Feb 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Smedley says EQII players aren't WoW players, but may see their own Cataclysm

Krystalle Voecks — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:45:00 EST

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, EverQuest II, Expansions, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Free-to-play, EverQuest Next

It's absolutely no surprise to anyone that MMO companies pay attention to what the others are doing. Turbine looked at free-to-play models and took a chance that has paid off. Cryptic is now testing the waters. Even Sony Online Entertainment has done this with Free Realms and EverQuest II. And of course, everyone watches what Blizzard is doing. After all, with 12 million subscribers, there are things to be learned from the champion MMO company. Now, with World of Warcraft's new expansion on the horizon, SOE's president, John Smedley, offered up some of his opinions to Kotaku -- opinions on Cataclysm and on how Blizzard's decisions relate to SOE's own future plans for EverQuest II.

According to the posted statements, not only have the heads at SOE been considering a worldwide reboot like Cataclysm, but the news is that it is something they've considered for "many years." Beyond this surprise (after all, there was already a cataclysmic event in Norrath's lore -- players just didn't get to play that part as it fell between EverQuest and EverQuest II) was the even larger surprise that came with Smedley's assertion that EverQuest II players are not World of Warcraft players. "We have five years of World of Warcraft experience behind us to know that people that play EverQuest II don't play World of Warcraft. We don't see big dips in concurrency. We see a tiny drop for awhile."

For the rest of the interview, head over to Kotaku and check it out in its entirety. It's definitely interesting reading.

Smedley says EQII players aren't WoW players, but may see their own Cataclysm originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Obama as you've never seen him before, an Aion character

James Egan — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Video, Aion, Humor

We're generally apolitical in terms of our content here at Massively, but this is something worthy of note: Obama in the fantasy MMO Aion: The Tower of Eternity? (We're sure this unscheduled appearance will come as a surprise to the President, himself.)

NCsoft really didn't have this in mind when creating the game's lore, but some rather inventive beta testers have created something which show off just how good Aion's character creation is. The end result is a player-created video that depicts Obama in ways his publicity people never anticipated, as an Elyos 'kicking ass' and saving trees on the road to ascension as a Daeva... Yes, this may piss off a few people -- namely the POTUS -- but it's all in good fun. Check out the YouTube embed below the cut in high quality.

Continue reading Obama as you've never seen him before, an Aion character

Obama as you've never seen him before, an Aion character originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCsoft's North American head honcho speaks to the masses

Eli Shayotovich — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Opinion

Chris Chung, the new president over at NCsoft North America, has been a busy man since taking up the position a few weeks ago. Between his interviews with IGN and 1Up, Massively, and other sundry blurbs here and there, he still felt it necessary to address the masses directly - blog style. And it's a fantastic read.

His latest statement doesn't give us any additional earth shattering news about what the company is going to do under his rein - that's been covered ad nauseam, but it does give us a much better perspective on who Chris Chung the person is. I found his honestly particularly comforting because NCsoft is "my" gaming company. While I don't much care for Guild Wars or Lineage II (even though they are absolutely breathtaking in their graphical beauty), I play every one of their other games (Exteel, CoX, Tabula Rasa, Dungeon Runners), played Auto Assault from beta until it ran out of gas, and I can't wait to get my hands on Aion.

It humanizes him in a manner that we don't see too often -- in any industry. He talks openly about how it can be a burden taking over for someone as experienced and respected as Robert Garriott. He believes that he got the job as president not because of some special talent, but the lack thereof. Perhaps the most insightful thing Chris talked about was his managerial style. I can relate because I too am a manager. What, you think I do this full time? While I'm not a manager for a company as large as NCsoft, the tenants stay the same: it's all about taking care of the people. And because I understand that, the thing that will stick with me the most is this quote: my job is to make sure that the employees here at NCsoft do what they do best and that the management team takes care of their needs so we can continue to produce great products for this industry.

If you've been leery of all the changes at NCsoft... don't be. They're in good hands.

NCsoft's North American head honcho speaks to the masses originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jan 2008 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NCsoft execs play musical chairs, reshuffle

Chris Chester — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:01:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry

NCsoft sent out a press release today, announcing that two of their big execs were looking for new homes over the holidays. Robert Garriott (not to be confused with Richard Garriott, his brother) is stepping down as the president of NCsoft's North American wing and is going to be taking a far more nebulous role in "global business development and planning." Reportedly, he'll be working with NCsoft's CEO Taek Jim, though it's not clear at this point whether he'll be headed out to NCsoft's home base abroad or whether he'll be staying in Austin long-term.

Taking Garriott's place at the helm of the North American operations will be Chris Chung, who got his start managing the business end of ArenaNet, and will be moving up from his current position as the VP of worldwide product development. Both Garriott's move and Chung's promotion will officially take effect on the first of the new year.

We have no inkling yet whether this will mean anything for us gamers, though we'd assume probably very little.

[Via MMORPG.com]

NCsoft execs play musical chairs, reshuffle originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Soloist: Why I do it

Akela Talamasca — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:30:00 EST

Filed under: Game mechanics, Guilds, PvP, Raiding, Quests, Grouping, PvE, Opinion, The Soloist, Hands-on

After this post, I had it in mind to think through why I prefer to solo, and whether the reasons why are valid ones, given that I'm playing in a genre meant to provide a social experience. I'm going to try to list as many reasons as I can think of in favor of grouping and playing with buddies, and provide a counter-argument if I can. Bear in mind, this is not me telling you that you should go solo; this is just me trying to 1) explain why I do it, and 2) understand for myself whether my reasons hold water.

Enough said; excelsior!

Continue reading The Soloist: Why I do it

The Soloist: Why I do it originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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