MMOs
With the recent end of the Friends and Family Alpha for the next World of Warcraft expansion, people were expecting the beta hit soon. And it did. Today! And with the launch of Beta, the NDA has been lifted, and a floodgate of new information has been unleashed.
I am still sorting through it all but I can tell it's going to be interesting. And here's a weird little fact. The Death Knight intro movie has been released, and like all the other introductory movies, it's voiced by the late (and awesome) Tony Jay. Which means they recorded it a while ago. It kind of creeps me out to hear him talking about 'Dark Rebirth' knowing that he's dead, though.
Check the link for the latest updates on the expansion.
Wrath of the Lich King - NDA Lift [MMO-Champion]
It looks like we can all stop pussyfooting around it now. EA chief exec John Riccitiello has finally confirmed that Bioware IS making a Knights of the Old Republic MMO. In an interview with Portfolio.com he talked about it.
"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."
Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.
I'm sure there will still be a big announcement at some future point, and they may well deny it until then, but I think we can safely say the cat's out of the bag now. (Whether EA intended it or not) All that remains is to see if Bioware can translate their success at making single player games into the Online arena. Since Bioware has yet to make a bad game, (in my opinion), I'd say chances are good. Honestly though, even if Bioware screws up, it couldn't be much worse than the abysmal Star Wars: Galaxies. Oh, and for those of you worried about the series storyline, supposedly there is still a seperate KOTOR 3 coming as well.
EA to Play in Knights of the Old Republic [Portfolio.com]
Apparently having some issues with quality, the developers of Warhammer Online have announced in an interview that they are cutting four of the games capitol cities, leaving only the Empires 'Altdorf' and The Chaos 'Inevitable City'. From Mark Jacobs of Mythic Entertainment:
"A number of months ago," Jacobs began, "we sat down and looked at where we were with our Capital Cities and we looked at what we were doing with Altdorf and Inevitable, we looked at the Greenskin home, the Dwarf home and we went 'there's an awful lot to do here and there are some issues'."
In addition, the Choppa, Knight of the Blazing Sun, Blackguard , and Hammerer classes are being removed as well.
"We tried," Jacobs said, "we tried to see if we could make them better and we just couldn't make them great. So we had a choice. Do we put in some non-great careers just because they are iconic, or we cut them out and put them in post-launch if we can get them right, or do we not put them in at all?"
Unfortunate that these removals had to happen, but at least this gives them more time to polish existing content, and the one class I was looking forward to (Brewmaster) is still in, so I'm still eager to see the game.
WAR: Mark Jacobs Interview Part Two - Punkbuster, Capitol Cities and Careers [mmorpg.com]
[via: Joystiq]
Well, we're getting closer. Blizzard announced today they are taking signups for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Instead of randomly selecting people from their playerbase, they will have a drawing from the accounts who sign up as interested in the beta. Those who want to see the next expansion before it hits can opt-in here.
They haven't announced when the beta will actually start of course.
I've stated before my hopes for Jumpgate Evolution to fill the hole in my heart that Earth and Beyond left. (It made me so emo) The original Jumpgate and ENB were fairly similar in concept, so I've been keeping my eye on the new Jumpgate: Evolution project for a while now.
The developers have just announced the closed beta, and are taking sign-ups now. The gameplay looks to be a blend of user-created economy (ala EVE) and first person dogfighting. I only hope they can maintain an awesome story the way Earth and Beyond did.
I am as big a fan of free-to-play (or just plain free) MMOs as you're like to find this side of the Kuiper Belt. Mix in the thrill of free stuff with the aboriginal love a gay gamer such as myself feels for RPGs, add just a dash of "The Future" and you've got the recipe for the next generation of free-to-play MMOs.
I just updated my Dungeon Runners software last night and am feeling the love for "MMO 2.0" - a world in which game designers build me gorgeous online RPGs and then ask for no money at all. It's win/win! Or... it's win/lose in my favor. Whatever.
Cut to German developer Frogster Interactive, developer of Runes of Magic, a particularly gorgeous looking free-to-play MMO that should see the light of day later this year.
Claiming over 600 quests and a two-tiered class system that sees characters selecting two classes out of a total of six (think Guild Wars, the original modern free-to-play MMO), combo attacks, private homes, extensive crafting and rep systems as well as PvP, Rune of Magic will be on my radar this year. Check out the official site for this just-announced MMO.
Details on the convention itself are sketchy, but we know WHEN it will be now.
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced plans for its third BlizzCon™ gaming convention, to be held at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California on October 10 and 11. Tickets for BlizzCon will go on sale in the next few weeks at a price of $100 USD per person. As the event draws closer, further details will be announced on the official BlizzCon website: www.blizzcon.com.
That's right, once again it will cost Blizzard fans at least a hundred bucks to see things a bit in advance. If Blizzard follows their tradition, convention goers will get some sort of in-game perk for WOW, possibly trading cards, etc... (some of which can apparently be ebayed for large sums of real-life gold). Also available will be...
* Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment releases
* Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers
* Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents
* Areas and activities devoted to licensed products such as the World of Warcraft® Trading Card Game
* Costume, machinima, and character sound-alike contests with great prizes
* Commemorative merchandise based on the Blizzard Entertainment franchises
* A silent auction
* More exciting activities to be announced
Is it worth it? Will you be forking over a Benjamin Franklin to get in? Or will you wait for media coverage?
BLIZZCON™ 2008 ANNOUNCED [Blizzard.com]
With the impending release of the Warhammer MMO, we've finally starting getting information on what will eventually be it's spiritual and science-fiction sucessor, Warhammer 40K. PC Gamer snagged an interview with some of the developers.
PC Gamer: Besides the obvious distinction of being science fiction as opposed to fantasy, how will you distinguish yourselves from the Warhammer fantasy MMO from EA Mythic?
David Adams: The fact that Warhammer 40,000 is science fiction and not fantasy goes a long way to distinguish the game from other Fantasy MMOs, such as Warhammer. Besides the obvious visual differences, the setting also affects many aspects of the gameplay.
First off, unlike a fantasy MMO, guns play a major role in the dynamic of combat. The gameplay will be much more intense, focusing a lot on fire-fights, tactics, cover and general brutality (which is befitting a game set in the grim future).
Secondly, the sheer scale of Warhammer 40,000 lends itself to experiences players have never seen in an MMO. The term "Battleground" takes on an entirely different meaning. Our battlegrounds will be more epic in scale, more intense, and more true to a game with the tagline, "In the grim darkness of the future, there is only war." This doesn't preclude the more intimate battlegrounds that other MMOs have, only that we will also be including more grand affairs, that give a player the sense that they are immersed in an actual Warhammer 40,000 battle.
The game is years away at this point, but check out the full article for some sneak peaks at what they are planning to put into the game.
Warhammer 40,000 Online [PC Gamer]
[via: Kotaku]
For three years ArenaNet's Guild Wars series has rocked the world of hybrid online RPGs - specifically, by creating the world of hybrid online RPGs. With the original campaign and its successors, Factions and Nightfall, as well as the expansion pack Eye of the North, ArenaNet has built and maintained a loyal following with gameplay based on skill and strategy rather than gear and gold farming - a line few other MMOs have been able walk successfully.
To celebrate the third anniversary of Guild Wars, ArenaNet is holding a prize-packed online sweepstakes beginning today, April 28, and continuing through May 31, 2008. Prizes include ATI Radeon HD 3870 video cards, Logitech speakers, keyboards, and mice and Creative X-Fi Xtremegamer sound cards. The grand prize: an Alienware Area 51 m15x laptop.
No purchase necessary, just navigate your bad self over to GuildWars.com and sign up!
That's right, and apparently the current setup doesn't really meet that goal. Nothing is more frustrating to a pirate that wants to get their swash buckled than to go out and find nobody around to do the buckling with. Such is the case currently with Pirates of the Burning Sea, So in step the developers.
When Pirates of the Burning Sea launched on January 22nd, we introduced our customers to 11 new game servers. Through feedback from our players and evaluation of our server populations, it has become clear that key game features require populations of higher density in order to function at optimum levels. When you take into account both the disparity in player time zones and the delayed launch of our title in some countries, we were spreading our overall population too thin. Also, in more recent builds, we were able to improve our server technology to allow for an even larger population than we were originally equipped to handle.
Hopefully this will lead to more vibrant game worlds for the MMO and allow players to get their swash on once again. In related news, if you are looking for 7 MMO capable servers at a good price, now would probably be a good time to contact Flying Lab Software.
Pirates Of The Burning Sea Consolidating Servers [BurningSea.com]
[via: GamaSutra]
WOWInsider is reporting (from an anonymous source, so, grain of salt), that the upcoming expansion for Blizzard's popular MMO has just hit Alpha. Generally, in development terms, this means most of the features and new content are complete, and in need of testing. For Blizzard this apparently is the stage where a lot of the polish is put on.
The timing of this makes sense if true. With patch 2.4, the last Burning Crusade content released, players are going to start drifting away from the game until Wrath of the Lich King is released. What better way to keep them interested and engaged in WOW than to slowly release tidbits about how WOTLK will change the game? Will it be enough to reduce subscription loss in the lull before the expansion, and keep people from slipping over to other MMO's like Warhammer Online? Only time will tell.
Breaking: Wrath of the Lich King is in alpha [WOWInsider]
While this isn't exactly game related I figured that many of you out there have PS3s and as such, this would be of interest to you (I'm looking at you Spazgadget!). Amazon is having a huge Blu-ray sale to celebrate the format winning the big war. The deal is, you buy two Blu-Ray Discs and get a third for FREE. The great part of this is, you're not stuck with a crappy selection of titles to choose from. Just on the first page there's some great stuff like Blade Runner, Pan's Labyrinth, Run, Lola Run, 300 and The Fifth Element.
This deal goes through April 18th so you have ten days to do your shopping. If you are interested in participating in the sale, please use the link below to take you to the sale page. Not only will you be getting some great Blu-Ray discs, but you'll be helping out GayGamer as well since we get a little kick back every time you order something from our Amazon store. Good luck and happy Blu-Ray hunting!
Order your Blu-Ray discs here! [Amazon]
And girls who like girls who like rumble packs!
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