Just a reminder that we’re less than two months away (October 29th) until this year’s Golden Joystick Awards are announced. Shortlist voting, which runs through October 25th, includes the following nominees… One to Watch Award Brink Fallout: New Vegas RPG of the Year Award Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition Ultimate Game of the [...]

This month 1Up is touring offices of game developers across the country. Recently they caught up with id Software’s creative director, Tim Willits, for a tour of the team’s office in Mesquite, TX. Watch the video above.

We here at Bethesda have some experience with fighting Terminators. Now the Terminator is back, Bennett, and he doesn’t want your clothes, your boots or your motorcycle — he wants your video games. In November, the Supreme Court will hear Schwarzenegger v. EMA, an important case you may have heard something about. The state of [...]

Well, well, well. If it isn't our new friend, Mr. Weekly Episode. You sure took your sweet time getting here. What happened, you get stuck in traffic on the intergalactic turnpike or something? This is why you don't warp anywhere near Bajor during rush hour.

It's true: Cryptic Studios has released the first of Star Trek Online's long-awaited weekly episodes. The shiny new mission, titled Cold Call, introduces new races, new faces and new places. It's new! Read on, intrepid explorers, as Captain's Log plays through our first weekly episode, and we learn whether it was worth the wait.

Continue reading Captain's Log: Weekly episodes (finally) begin with a bang

Filed under: Sci-fi, Patches, Opinion, Star Trek Online, Captain's Log, Guides

Captain's Log: Weekly episodes (finally) begin with a bang originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Free-to-play publisher GamesCampus has had a busy week, first with its announcement of the closed beta test for the forthcoming Legend of Edda MMORPG, and most recently with its acquisition of 9Dragons for the European market.

Legend of Edda, loosely based on the Greek mythology surrounding Olympus and the Titans, boasts a dynamic storyline that centers around factional conflict as well as PvP and RvR combat. GamesCampus describes Legend of Edda as a title with "hardcore PvP, endless customization, an art style all its own, and much more." The initial closed beta phase will run from September 30th through October 11th.

Speaking of PvP, 9Dragons, recently orphaned by the demise of its publisher Acclaim, has been targeted by GamesCampus for a European release. The kung fu fighting MMORPG, set during the Ming dynasty and featuring clan-based PvP as well as extensive PvE options, will be published in Germany and France beginning in November. News of the European launch comes shortly after GamersFirst announced its intention to publish 9Dragons in America.

Be sure to check out the Legend of Edda teaser trailer after the jump.

Continue reading GamesCampus announces Legend of Edda beta and 9Dragons European publishing acquisition

Filed under: Fantasy, 9Dragons, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play

GamesCampus announces Legend of Edda beta and 9Dragons European publishing acquisition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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 Huge news out of Louisville, CO today, as it's been announced that LEGO Universe has "gone gold" and will be available to play at the PAX Expo this weekend!  I've known many of the original guys at NetDevil for many years so I'm a little biased on this one.  They've gone through a lot over the years -- from a tiny start in a little office with game servers crammed in the corner, to a large warehouse transformed into a fantastic, creative space for their ever-growing team.  I can't deny that I just flat want this game to succeed.

There is still time to pre-order the game and get in on some special goodies, including early access to the game starting October 12 -- the game is set to launch October 26, 2010.  For the more adventurous among you, they are still accepting applications for the ongoing closed beta.

 

There it was on the front page of CNN today: “Games delay, then speed dementia?” Only, of course, you click through to the article, and the headline is different: Brain exercises delay, speed up dementia?. What sort of brain exercises? Well, everything: Activities that counted toward being “cognitively active” included going to a museum, watching [...]

Can’t Stop Games Studio launched its game in April 2010, and after some months decided it was time for a major improvement. This time we’ll talk about some changes in the browser based MMO strategy game Tanadu. Before these newly implemented gameplay mechanics, the game was based in climbing up the rankings, now Tanadu adds quests. [...]

Direct2Drive is having another sale, this time offering various games for $6 to celebrate the site’s sixth anniversary. Now when the cost of entry is $6, it’s kind of hard to argue ‘value’ here. I mean I’ve spend more than that on a single League of Legends skin, so the real question is “would I [...]

While there's quite a stir around the new open beta for Final Fantasy XIV, there are some very big additions coming to Final Fantasy XI as well. Scars of Abyssea is due to be released with the September version update, and lest players forget about it, Square-Enix has updated the teaser site. Not only does it include previews of the new Empyrean armor sets and a new trailer for the mini-expansion, it also offers us a predicted launch date for the update of September 8th.

Although the chest pieces are not shown and it's a bit early to be sure, it does appear that most of the Empyrean Armor sets are the new Artifact pieces (an upgrade from the previous Relic Armor). Combined with the coming upgrades to Trial of the Magians, this armor set may become the norm for quite some time. Players can take a look at all of the coming attractions on the official teaser site, and the Final Fantasy XI update should be available early next week.

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, Final Fantasy XI, Expansions, Previews, News items, Consoles

Trailer for Scars of Abyssea surfaces for Final Fantasy XI originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warhammer Online is getting a three-stage "RvR" pack as outlined in this letter on the main site.  Skaven, realm rank increases, and magic, fucking magic (ok maybe no more magic is being added, but it sounded good).

My initial reaction: cool. 

My reaction after reading the entire letter and thinking on it a while: fuck Mythic.

The first issue I want to bring up:

WAR is not going Free 2 Play: We’re not considering this option right now.

Just by the mere fact that they mention this (first thing they mention interestingly enough) I am convinced they've recieved a ton of feedback requesting a Free 2 Play model for WAR.  That they are NOT considering at this point is indicative to me that WAR is doomed within the dark dungeons of EA.  There is plenty of evidence out there showing that Free 2 Play models can be successful after subscriptions failed the first go around.

So instead of a F2P model, WAR is going to split it's RvR pack into three seperate purchases.  Splendid!

Additionally, we will continue to offer that buffet of services by offering the entire RVR pack purchasable in three segments.

Next, we have some talk about the lessons they learned from Dark Ages of Camelot:

We are increasing the RR Cap to 100: This goes hand in hand with a rework of the Renown Ability system. Our goal is to make the Renown Ability system less restrictive, more customizable and closer, in spirit, to the RA system from Dark Age of Camelot. In the past ten years, we’ve learned a lot of lessons from DAoC, and we’re taking our inspiration from this. At the same time, we’ll be easing some of the grind from 1-80. RR 100 will be a challenge, but we will take responsibility for making sure that the power gap between lower RR’s and the higher RR players isn’t an insurmountable obstacle to overcome.

Read that again:

In the past ten years, we’ve learned a lot of lessons from DAoC,

No, I don't think you are understanding what they are saying:

In the past ten years, we’ve learned a lot of lessons from DAoC,

FUCK. YOU. MYTHIC. What honestly did you learn from DAoC? That waiting until years after to release to fix fundamental problems is a disastrous idea? Honestly, had Mythic learned anything from DAoC, WAR would not have suffered the embarrassment that it did at launch. Sorry Mythic, you ignored what was learned from the development and lifetime of DAoC and its too fucking late to go back and try to fool us into thinking you did.

I'm done. Finished.
Bye.

Mark Jacobs, newly leisurely and blogging again, turns over his blog to a lawyer who talks about the impact of Smallwood v. NCsoft. Posts are running rampant about how the judge agreed with Smallwood on the addiction claim and is allowing the case to proceed. That’s true enough, but misses the far more important aspects

Please join us in congratulating all three winners of the PAX Prime "Three Day Pass" Contest! The contest required participants to compose haikus expressing their excitement and anticipation of the then soon-to-launch City of Heroes...

Before Irrational Games decided to make BioShock Infinite, it was testing prototype ideas that might show up in a few different 2K games. We chatted with Ken Levine in the latest stop on our Cross Country Game Tour (above), who said that the eventual decision to make BioShock Infinite relied on some of the concepts that had come before.

"We finished BioShock, and we really didn't know what was going to be next," he said. "We actually prototyped a bunch of stuff... kinda decided it wasn't [right], and sat in a room and said, what else is interesting us? The idea of doing another BioShock game came up, but we knew if we were going to do that it wasn't going to be a game in Rapture."

Not quite sold on Eskil Steenberg's one-man-MMO-show Love? What if it were completely free? That's exactly what's going down this Friday, as the developer just announced a free weekend for the procedurally-generated online game.

Beginning tomorrow, September 3 at 1:00 a.m. Eastern, you'll be able to download the Love client from the game's official website. From there you should have free access to the game servers until around 7:00 a.m. Eastern on Monday.

Earthrise, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi MMORPG developed by Masthead Studios, continues to impress with a fresh approach to online gaming, as well as an increasingly intricate design. Corruption and greed mar the streets of Sal Vitas, a futuristic city that rose from the ruins of the Third World War. As with popular titles such as Eve [...]

Gala Networks announced today that, Dragonica will have their Marriage System added. The system is in place as of today and will include a brand new quest chain for any newlyweds, which gives rewards for couples who complete them. To coincide with the new system, gPotato Europe are offering a limited time event. Submit your [...]

Those who lament that nothing innovative and interesting is being done in the field of MMOs are probably unfamiliar with LOVE, a project seeking to redefine pretty much any core assumptions about the genre. Players build and create, levels are based upon relationships with other players, and the entire world is a surrealistic masterpiece of a landscape. Oh, and the entire project is the work of one man, Eskil Steenberg. It's the sort of thing that would be well worth checking out, and during the holiday weekend, you can do precisely that.

From 6 PM GMT on Friday until noon on Monday, LOVE will be having its first free weekend, giving players curious about the actual mechanics of the game a chance to log in and take a close look at how the game works. That runs the majority of the Labor Day weekend, a fine time to log in and get some serious construction going. Keep an eye on the official site or on GamingLove for more information on registration.

[Thanks to bartillo for the tip!]

Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, News items, Love

Free Love for the holiday weekend originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A long time ago, well before Mortal Online launched, I was really looking forward to playing the game. The first-person only perspective made me drool, the Unreal Engine 3 powered graphics engine looked top-notch, the endless amount of customization of weaponry made me giddy, and the sprawling open world made me bow in awe. This was a game that sat at the top of my "WANT NAO" list, and I'm not even a person who's really huge into PvP. I just wanted an Elder Scrolls/Ultima Online inspired sandbox.

Upon finally playing the game, however, all I found was a nightmare of errors, glitches, and missing systems. Mats Persson, one of the developers of Star Vault, was right: this game does lack polish, user friendliness, and many systems that could turn this sandbox into a true sandbox. Instead, all I found was a buggy, glitchy, never-ending, pointless deathmatch in an MMO world. Keep reading, and I'll be more than happy to explain every aspect of my time with Mortal Online.

If you're interested in commenting on this article, then you have to trek all the way to page 3 this week. Just a heads up!

Continue reading Anti-Aliased: I can finally stop playing Mortal Online now

Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, New titles, Opinion, Massively Hands-on, First Impressions, Anti-Aliased, Mortal Online

Anti-Aliased: I can finally stop playing Mortal Online now originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Culture, Massively meta

Quick, come follow us on Digg before our wagon tips over! originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ever wondered what it might look like if you could get high above some of the various parts of your favorite MMO? Well, if you're today's rather resourceful contributor, Stone, you might well find a way! Not content to simply run around in Guild Wars and enjoy the various locales, he found a way to get today's eye-catching overview that he calls "Canthan boat." Stone writes in to explain it a bit further: "Because most people only redo the Shing Jea tutorial to get a little more of the map uncovered for the Canthan Cartographer title, they tend to miss the beautiful scenery in the area. Even on my fifth time through the tutorial, I still find little niceties that the ArenaNet team put in."

Have you found a new perspective on an area you may have seen many, many times? If so, why not share it with us! We love to see what our readers are doing, and One Shots can always use more screenshot love. Just email your images in to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. You never know -- yours could be the next one we post here on Massively!

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

One Shots: From the clouds originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There it was on the front page of CNN today: “Games delay, then speed dementia?” Only, of course, you click through to the article, and the headline is different: Brain exercises delay, speed up dementia?. What sort of brain exercises? Well, everything: Activities that counted toward being “cognitively active” included going to a museum, watching [...]

EVERQUEST II EXTENDED Classes can now be purchased individually off the Marketplace and through character creation. Armor crates have been added to the Marketplace selling sets of armor for all levels. You can now purchase Broker Credits from the marketplace! Broker Credits can be used for a one-time purchase or sell action on the broker for Bronze and Silver members. Selling and purchasing stacks of items count as a single broker credit so use them wisely! Read the full post here.

Aika Online is teaming up with MMORPG to bring you a special Pran Pack Giveaway! Deck out your favorite fairy familiar with two exclusive, never-before-seen Pran wings and a special pack of 25 portal scrolls. And to spice things up, once you redeem your coupon code you will be automatically entered to win an additional Perfect Pran Pack, including a Pran Costume of your choice and an extremely valuable Enriched B Extract!

Icarus Studios has announced that the companion app for Fallen Earth is set to be updated very soon. The app allows players to participate in a variety of in-game activities from the comfort of their iPhone. Players can check out auctions, chat, view character stats, send/reply to in-game email and more. The new update will grant even more in-game access including the ability to craft.