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Archive for August, 2009
Final Fantasy XIV: 360 Version Likely, Delayed Due to Live
Aug 25th
According to a comment given to VG247 at GamesCom by FFXIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka, Square Enix is in discussions with Microsoft regarding bringing Final Fantasy XIV to the XBOX 360. While that is certainly great news, it’s not all peachy.
Discussions are currently being held up due to logistical issues involving XBOX Live. According to Tanaka, even if the 360 version becomes a reality, it will not be part of the simultaneous PC and PS3 release of the game due sometime next year.
Hiromichi Tanaka on the situation:
“For FFXIV, because 360 has its own policy with Xbox Live that is different from [the] internet, that’s something we’re in discussions with Microsoft [about], to come to an agreement. That’s one of the reasons it’s not going to be launched at that point.”
Via VG247.
Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures: Rise of the Godslayer Interview
Aug 25th
After Funcom’s reveal of their new expansion, Rise of the Godslayer, MMORPG.com’s Jon Wood spoke with Erling Ellingsen about the announcement.
Why the decision to not add any new classes and not extend the level cap?
"We wanted to add more content for the classes that were already there," Ellingsen said. "We feel that there is a very good diversity in the classes that we already have. We wanted to give people the opportunity to expand the characters that they already had, so we want to allow for lateral as opposed to vertical progression.
Read the Rise of the Godslayer Interview
EVE Online: Staring Death in the Face
Aug 25th
MMORPG.com EVE Online expert Andrew Wallace writes this look at the new pod designs in EVE Online as he waxes poetic about death in the sandbox-style MMO.
Death comes to us all in New Eden; no matter how safe you think you are; if you choose to leave the protection of a station you risk destruction. Losing your ship leaves only a wreck behind, which contains whatever modules survived the explosion, and unless you have some way of looting the wreck before other players can get to it you’ll lose almost everything you brought to the fight. This can be a shock to the system, and a difficult thing for new players to adjust to, especially those coming from MMOs with minor death penalties. How it handles death is what makes EVE stand out from the majority of its peers.
Read Staring Death in the Face
Global Agenda: August ’09 Newsletter Out!
Aug 24th
The Global Agenda newsletter for August 2009 is now available on the game’s official website. The newsletter goes over a number of the more interesting Global Agenda developments during the month of August.
First on the agenda is the mention of the Global Agenda North American tour. The developers will be traveling throughout the country, bringing Global Agenda to several of the more prominent gaming events so that players can meet the developers and take the game for a spin. Most recently, Hi-Rez Studios were at QuakeCon, and according to their tour date schedule, they’ll be making their next stop at DragonCon on Friday, September 4th, 2009 for their Late Night Labor Day Weekend LAN Party. The team will also be at PAX Seattle (Booth #452) that same weekend.
Our own Carolyn Koh also garnered a mention for a preview of the game she did for Beckett Massive Online Gamer.
One other highlight from the newsletter is the in-depth video interview and studio tour that the folks at Hi-Rez Studios gave to BarnGamerz this month. With appearances by Technical Artist Mick Larkins and Executive Producer Todd Harris, the video is chock full of information. Check it out here!
The full August 2009 newsletter can be found More >
EVE Online: Apocrypha 1.5 Mega Patch goes Live
Aug 24th
EVE Online: Apocrypha version 1.5 has been released. The developers refer to this patch as a "more-than-patch-pseudo-expansion" of sorts and contains a number of major new additions to the game.
Some of the more notable changes you’ll find in the new version include:
- Four new epic mission story arcs, one for each of the games main factions.
- Factional Warfare rewards available for purchase with Loyalty Points.
- Multiple rig sizes, allowing for players to equip their frigates with less expensive rigs making them more useful for less powerful, expendable ships.
- Secondary cargo holds known as "Fuel Bays" which hold Fuel for jump-ready ships.
- A slew of performance increases.
- And much more!
For more information on what Apocrypha 1.5 has in store for you, check out the full patch notes here!
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning: Armor Set Redesigns!
Aug 24th
The folks at Mythic are redesigning all the armor sets in Warhammer Online with what appears to be much higher resolution textures and improved aesthetics. In an update to the WAR Herald, we are treated to a peek of a few of the newly designed armor sets, along with comparisons to the current ones. The sets featured in this update are the Tier 4 armor sets for the Blackguard, Engineer, Squig Herder, Zealot, Bright Wizard, and Swordmaster.
The results are truly amazing! Check out part one of the armor redesign series here.
Ten Ton Hammer: A Year Later (Part III) – Hyborian Adventures
Aug 22nd
Ten Ton Hammer: A Year Later (Part III)
Ten Ton Hammer released the third article to their overview of the features that have changed since launch.
Recently Ten Ton Hammer released their first and second article covering the feature changes since launch till now (est: 1 year later). This week they’ve released the third article covering classes, crafting and character statistics.
You can find the fresh new article on the Age of Conan portal of Ten Ton Hammer.
Star Wars: The Old Republic: GC ’09: Demo Walkthrough Video Now Live!
Aug 21st
The long awaited demo walkthrough video for Star Wars: The Old Republic is now live! The video can be seen over at IGN.
Get a close-up look at the Bounty Hunter and Smuggler on the worlds of Hutta and Ord Mantell. Jump to the Sith home-world of Korriban and meet the Sith Warrior class. Be transported aboard an Imperial transport ship to see the Bounty Hunter and Sith Warrior decide the fate of the captain and crew aboard the Black Talon.
The demo, which contains over 20 minutes of in-game footage is split up into four. The first part can be found here, the second, here, the third, here, and the fourth, here.
Final Fantasy XIV: GC ’09: Interview with Hiromichi Tanaka
Aug 21st
Recently, the guys over at FFXIV Core solicited the fan community’s questions for an interview they were to do at GamesCom with the folks from Square Enix. Well, the results of that interview are now up! The guys at FFXIVCore sat down with Final Fantasy XIV Producer Hiromichi Tanaka for an exclusive interview, and we’ve got the skinny!
Mr. Tanaka reveals to us a number of things, for one, like FFXI before it, FFXIV will not allow players to jump. This is fairly odd for an MMOG releasing in 2010, but alas, no dice on jumping. Also, like FFXI, FFXIV will focus primarily on PvE content, that means PvP offerings will be fairly slim and limited to things like sporting events that FFXI eventually included.
One departure from FFXI that FFXIV makes is the abandoning of the PlayOnline account system. The game will instead utilize SquareEnix ID, which should be something to cheer about. I’m not personally familiar with the madness involved in the PlayOnline system, but I’ve heard some pretty interesting stories about the system’s pitfalls.
Instancing will also be utilized in the game, though not for everything. The Guildleves system for example will make use of instancing, so that other players cannot interfere with you. More >
Dofus: Beginner’s Guide to Guilds
Aug 21st
MMORPG.com Dofus Correspondent Christy Bazell writes this beginner’s guide to guilds for Ankama’s MMO.
In Dofus, and many other MMORPGs, players can join permanent teams, Guilds. These tend to be groups of people who play together regularly. However, as a guild grows and develops new members will be recruited from outside the social circle. This process can produce some bumps in the road since just like in the real world groups follow a process of development… Forming, storming, norming and performing.
Read more here.