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Hands-on with End of Nations

Emil Vazquez — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Events, real-world, Game mechanics, New titles, Previews, Opinion, War, Free-to-play, Hands-on, MMORTS, Massively Hands-on, Massively Event Coverage, Miscellaneous

Real-time strategy games aren't exactly in vogue at the moment. The genre is far from dead, but modern RTS games, with the notable exception of StarCraft, don't tend to appeal to as broad an audience as do MMOs. Trion Worlds and Petroglyph's proposed answer to genre stagnation is the upcoming MMORTS End of Nations. In fact, Trion thinks that what's really lacking in the RTS genre is a persistent world, one filled with robots and post-apocalyptic fascism.

The team behind End of Nations has some serious industry cred. Publisher Trion Worlds is notable for its remarkably smooth-launching MMO, RIFT. Developer Petroglyph's pedigree is no less respectable (if a little dated), with titles like 1992's Dune II (widely credited for having inspired the Warcraft series of RTS games) and the original 1995 Command and Conquer under its belt.

My time with this game was spent during the alpha testing phase, and many things might change between now and launch. Still, the bones of the game were there, and I'm happy to share my findings with you, discerning readers. From what I saw and experienced, End of Nations just might have what it takes to become the first "triple-A" MMORTS.

Gallery: End of Nations

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Hands-on with End of Nations originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Global Chat: Room for improvement edition

Rubi Bayer — Sun, 29 May 2011 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Opinion, Massively Meta, Global Chat, Miscellaneous

Welcome to this week's Global Chat! We love hearing what you have to say at Massively, and we love it even more when we can share the best comments with all of our readers. Massively staffers will be contributing some of their favorite comments every week, so keep an eye out every Sunday for more Global Chat!

We love our MMOs here at Massively, but we'll be the first to tell you that nothing's perfect. There's always room for improvement, but sometimes things just are what they are and you find a way to work with the situation and enjoy yourself anyway.

Today's Global Chat is all about acknowledging those limitations and less-than-fun aspects of gaming and what you can do in spite of those potential roadblocks. Follow along after the jump to see what the Massively community had to say this week!

Continue reading Global Chat: Room for improvement edition

Global Chat: Room for improvement edition originally appeared on Massively on Sun, 29 May 2011 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alter-Ego: Working together is hard to do

Krystalle Voecks — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Bugs, PvE, Opinion, DC Universe Online, Alter-Ego

The news earlier this week that DC Universe Online is now Sony Online Entertainment's best-selling game probably won't come as much of a surprise to anyone who has actually played it. There's an enormous amount of fun to be had in running through the game, and the storylines are incredibly well thought-out. However, for all that I personally love the game, there is one thing that I and many other people I've talked to find to be incredibly lacking, and in this case, it's something so integral to the MMOG experience as to essentially make or break parts of the game.

Essentially, what point is there to an MMO in which you can't really reliably interact with the other people you're playing with? It's also rather eye-opening just how much your enjoyment of a game like this can be impacted when you can't effectively talk to other people. As such, this week I'll look at several crucial problems with the DC Universe Online chat interface, as well as things that can be done to improve the overall experience.

Continue reading Alter-Ego: Working together is hard to do

Alter-Ego: Working together is hard to do originally appeared on Massively on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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APB's voice chat feature will contain advertisements

Brendan Drain — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, New titles, News items, All Points Bulletin, Crime

With launch day closing in, crime MMO All Points Bulletin has been getting its payment scheme in order. The game's pricing structure was revealed at the end of April, including several flexible pay-per-time and monthly subscription options. In addition, the game will have a currency called "RTW points," which can be used for character customisations or converted into game time. While looking through the payment options in his account management page early this morning, one APB forum poster spied a strange button that set off a few warning bells in his head. Marked "VOIP Premium," the option removes adverts from APB's in-game voice chat for 30, 90 or 180 days in exchange for payment.

This was the first players had heard of adverts being inserted into their voice chat and speculation began to run wild in the game's pre-release forum community. Players feared the worst -- that right in the middle of their game, a radio advert would start playing over their speakers. Community Officer Toxico was quick to address concerns, explaining the exact circumstances under which the ads will be played. For an advert to play, you have to be entering a district and must not have heard an ad for the past three hours. This ensures that they'll never interrupt normal play and won't play in an irritatingly high frequency. While some forum posters are avidly opposing a premium VOIP service, most seem content with the explanation provided and the conditions under which adverts will be played.

[Thanks for the tip, Kip!]

APB's voice chat feature will contain advertisements originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Atlantica Online adds voice chat functionality

Kyle Horner — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST

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

Vivox has brought voice communication to yet another MMORPG with today's news that Ndoors Interactive's Atlantica Online now offers the feature to its players. Interestingly, the voice-over-IP service has been made available through the game's official website, as opposed to within the game itself. While there's nothing stopping players from accessing voice chat while in-game, it's still an odd choice.

The only thing that really matters is whether or not it works, and given Vivox's fairly extensive experience via games like EVE Online, EverQuest II and Global Agenda there shouldn't be any unacceptable issues for Atlantica Online players. The feature should be available to players now, so long as you're logged into your account when trying to access voice chat.

Atlantica Online adds voice chat functionality originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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APB pumps up the volume on video podcast #18

Jef Reahard — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Podcasts, Video, MMO industry, New titles, News items, All Points Bulletin, Crime

All Points Bulletin community manager Chris Collins serves as your guide to the latest podcast about the forthcoming urban crime MMORPG. Along with RealTime Worlds' audio lead Roland Peddie, Collins guides the viewer through APB's unique locational VOIP system.

"No matter where you are within San Paro [the game's fictional metropolis], you can pretty much yell at anyone who passes you by, you can smack talk other players, while you're arresting someone you can listen to them cry for help. It's great fun," Collins enthuses.

Another feature of the game's voice chat that looks to differentiate it from standard VOIP implementations is the ability to interact directly with other player avatars using voice. As Peddie puts it, the system allows for "spontaneous moments of absolute comedy gold" such as running over a player with your vehicle and thrilling to his 'R'-rated reaction. Questions of political correctness aside, the feature could provide a fair bit of immersion when coupled with the game's modern urban setting.

You wanted to see the podcast? Look no further than after the break!

Continue reading APB pumps up the volume on video podcast #18

APB pumps up the volume on video podcast #18 originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vivox moves beyond voice chat for gaming

Rubi Bayer — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, News items

Vivox is going to have to change their site's front page very soon: " Vivox. We Put the Best Voice Chat in Games. And that is all we do." That won't hold true for much longer, as Vivox has announced plans to bring integrated voice chat to social applications.

The Social Voice Partner Program is currently being demonstrated with Facebook, Google Wave, and Ning and will be available to all social application developers this May. Social networking sites and applications are growing by leaps and bounds, and Vivox is getting on board early: "With the explosion of the social Web, there is rising consumer-driven demand for integrated voice," said Rob Seaver, CEO of Vivox. "Vivox anticipated the emergence of this trend and this new program will lend communications expertise to social application developers. Our vision truly is to 'let the Web talk'- and let that experience be as high-quality and natural as it is in real life."

Vivox moves beyond voice chat for gaming originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: What are you like in voice chat?

Eliot Lefebvre — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

Voice chat isn't a part of every facet of games, but it's usually de rigeur for communication in endgame activities. While some of us can type pretty quickly, we can still talk a bit faster, and if you're using the keyboard as anything other than an ornament time spent typing is time spent not pressing other buttons. The popularity and proliferation of Ventrilo is almost entirely based upon this need, and games have increasingly come to include built-in voice clients (including World of Warcraft, although its quality is rather widely debated).

Of course, hand-in-hand with the fact that we can talk faster than we can type, many of us have a clearer personality by voice than we do in text. We're more trained as human beings to react to audio cues anyway, as opposed to subtleties in sentence structure or the occasional "lol." So what do you act like when you get behind the microphone? Are you the one guy that won't stop making off-color jokes, or are you quiet and professional? Do you act the same way you usually do via text, or do you have a totally different side that only comes out over voice chat?

The Daily Grind: What are you like in voice chat? originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vivox to provide voice solutions for urban crime MMO All Points Bulletin

James Egan — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: MMO industry, New titles, News items, All Points Bulletin, Crime

If you're a fan of GTA-style urban crime games, you might be interested in what Realtime Worlds is cooking up for the MMO space: All Points Bulletin, which could very well prove to be the online evolution of single-player games like Grand Theft Auto and Crackdown. While new details on this title are still light, Vivox announced today that they'll be providing voice solutions for APB.

The integration of Vivox with the All Points Bulletin client will include voice fonts, where players will be able to alter their voices to better fit their character. Vivox has already established its presence in EVE Online and Second Life, and recently announced plans to extend gaming VOIP to web browsers as well. There could be interesting times ahead with this agreement between Vivox and Realtime Worlds in All Points Bulletin.

Vivox to provide voice solutions for urban crime MMO All Points Bulletin originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Vivox to offer cross-platform browser plugin for game VOIP

Krystalle Voecks — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: Business models, MMO industry, News items

Vivox, already firmly entrenched as the in-game voice over IP option for EVE Online, several of SOE's games, and Second Life, is now upping the ante by announcing that they intend to take their service cross-platform - and potentially cross-game, if the developers allow it. If they manage to do that, it means you could play EverQuest II and still hang out and talk smack with your friends flying through space in EVE Online, or checking out the latest in Second Life. Not only are those options interesting, but in releasing it as a browser plugin, they open up the option for guilds to potentially use it on their own sites; allowing people not logged in to still talk to those playing. Depending on cost and scalability, this could potentially take a bite out of the market Ventrilo and TeamSpeak are in, as we'd bet 99.9% of gamers already have browsers on their machines, and many run them while gaming anyway.

Add to that Vivox's plan to allow users to eventually call in to the chat from cell phones (late to the raid - call ahead) and you can see where this is definitely an interesting development to those playing MMOs. They'll be discussing the specifics at GDC, so hopefully we'll get more details on just how this will happen, if players will have to (or be able to) host their own servers, and the potential roll-out dates for this new service.

Vivox to offer cross-platform browser plugin for game VOIP originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Daily Grind: In-game or private VOIP?

Krystalle Voecks — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:10:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

One of the best things for many gamers who play in team settings (in PvP, in raids, etc.) is voice over IP (VOIP) software. Need to give out raid instructions? No longer do you need to waste time typing things out or boring people with long macros full of information. Now you can toss on a headset and away you go. Of course, you have your pick -- games like EVE Online, Dungeons & Dragons Online, and even World of Warcraft have introduced VOIP. However, the interesting thing we keep finding is how few people actually use it.

This morning we thought we'd do something of an unscientific poll amongst the readers just to see where the unofficial Massively reader thoughts lie on this. Some of us are figuring it will be against public in-game VOIP, others are warning them that it's generally cheaper than running a server, so they may be in for a surprise. You let us know -- do you use public VOIP, or private servers? If you don't use the in-game systems, why? If you hate private servers, what turned you off from them?

View Poll

The Daily Grind: In-game or private VOIP? originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 02 Jun 2008 08:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New open source voice project

Tateru Nino — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:30:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Second Life, Virtual worlds

Ryan McDougall has announced the formation of a new Sourceforge project, called VoIP for Virtual Worlds. The long-term goal is to create an interoperable open-source standard for all virtual worlds.

To help the project find its feet, the initial short-term goal is to create an open-source replacement for the existing Vivox component (SLvoice) that is used for voice in Second Life that can communicate with a SIP-based backend server. Developers who are interested in the effort can start with the project's new mailing list.

We don't presently know if an open-source solution could be fully compatible with the existing voice system in Second Life as the existing system relies heavily on Vivox servers and backend software.

New open source voice project originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Teh Dailey Grind: OMG learn to spell!

Krystalle Voecks — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:15:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Opinion, The Daily Grind

We can't speak for you, but one of the things that will pretty well guaranteed cause us to twitch is repeated glaring spelling errors. (We're writers. Who'd have figured that!) However, judging from the people we've met in many different communities, this isn't just something writers are prone to. We've heard language like "zomg i pwnzorz u" or "gimme ur muneyz" being decried across many different game communities.

So the question today we ask you is this: Do you avoid grouping or playing with people because they can't spell or because they use 1337 5p33k? (Note: We're specifically making the distinction between someone who makes the odd typo because they need more coffee, and someone who commonly uses "ur" or "-zorz" on the end of everything.) Do you think that keeping with proper spelling is more of an antiquated thing, considering the need to communicate quickly and effectively? (Thus "LFM" "PST" etc.) Or is it all for nothing, as VOIP will take over any need for typing soon?

Teh Dailey Grind: OMG learn to spell! originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ventrilo 3.0 hits the streets

Eric Vice — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:30:00 EST

Filed under: News items

For you World of Warcraft players who are dealing with patch-related downtime and for others who find themselves with nothing to do, let me remind you of something. If you use Ventrilo for in-game voice chat for whatever game you play, and your Ventrilo host has made the upgrade to version 3.0 today, you'd better get into upgrading mode.

Although information seems to be sparse on the actual Ventrilo site (other than this changelog), I found a fair amount of information on the site of the Ventrilo provider that my guild uses.

From my understanding of the semi-cryptic explanation offered, version 2.3 clients will not communicate properly with version 3.0 servers, and version 3.0 clients will not communicate properly with version 2.3 servers. It would therefore be in your best interest to find out which version your host is running and act accordingly!

You can find the updated Windows client here, and the updated Mac client here.

Ventrilo 3.0 hits the streets originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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