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Archive for August, 2009
GC 09' Preview: IGN on Rise of the Godslayer – Hyborian Adventures
Aug 21st
GC 09’ Preview: IGN on Rise of the Godslayer
IGN released a new preview on the recently announced expansion ’Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer’
"Funcom did a great job realizing the potential of the Conan stories in an MMO form, so we’re particularly excited to see an aspect of the world that gives the artists and designers more creative license. From what we’ve seen so far, this is a very promising expansion." –IGN.com
Check out the full preview on IGN.com
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes: Double XP Crafting & Diplomacy Weekend
Aug 21st
The folks at SOE have a little treat going for Vanguard players this weekend. Starting early Friday morning, people will earn double experience points towards crafting and diplomacy. Here is the announcement:
Double your action, double your fun and DOUBLE your XP!
Join Vanguard: Saga of Heroes™ adventurers in the world of Telon for a DOUBLE XP WEEKEND!
That’s right, get DOUBLE XP in your Crafting and Diplomacy skills all weekend long! Join the action beginning Friday, August 21 at 6:01 AM through Tuesday, August 25 at 5:00 AM PDT to earn DOUBLE XP towards your crafting and diplomacy efforts!
Check out the official Vanguard website for information on a multitude of different DOUBLE XP weekend promotions coming your way throughout the year!
Not a Vanguard player? Check out the Isle of Dawn 14-day free trial at http://vanguard.station.sony.com/isleofdawn/.
City of Heroes: Issue 16 Hands-On Preview
Aug 20th
MMORPG.com’s Carl Cascone writes this preview of Paragon Studios’ upcoming Issue 16 release for their popular superhero MMO, City of Heroes.
City of Heroes remains the champion of character and player customization. Players can customize their characters right down to the levels of accessories, and with a little time and creativity, players can create exactly the characters they envision. Whether a player wants to play a masked crusader from the old four color days of the Golden Age, a mage from the pages of sword and sorcery, or the ever popular tropes from Manga and Japanese animation, the character creator from City of Heroes can oblige. Customization is not limited to character creation, as players can create their own canon or non-canon related stories and missions for other players to enjoy. The release of the long awaited Issue 16 will increase this customization even further. Powers will now be fully customizable , and each player will have increased control over standard City of Heroes missions. Matt Miller (Positron) Senior Lead Designer, Bruce Harlick (Horatio) Lead Designer, and Adam King, City of Heroes Brand Manager were kind enough to give MMORPG.com a tour of Issue 16 Paragon City, and showcase some of More >
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning: Version 1.3.1 is Live!
Aug 19th
Version 1.3.1 of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is now on live servers. The new version introduces major adjustments to the City Invasion design to make it more accessible to users, as well as improvement to the flow of the city invasion stages themselves. A significant contribution to the increased accessibility of city invasions is the decoupling of fortresses from the requirements to initiate a city siege.
Additionally, keeps have been redesigned to now incorporate two ramps leading up to the Keep Lord. A recently published developer diary provides an in-depth look at the redesigned keeps.
The patch also features significant performance boosts and bug fixes, as well as improvements to the battlefied map UI so players can know at a glance what the exact status of keeps and battlefield objectives.
For the full patch notes and highlights, go here.
EVE Online: Cross-Platform Play in DUST 514
Aug 19th
EVE Online is expanding its horizons and reaching into new territory with the announcement of the EVE Online console FPS, DUST 514. But this game isn’t just an offshoot based in the same universe, no, the game is strongly interconnected with the PC game as well! This translated interview with CCP Games’ CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson reveals more!
K: Now we need to ask further. You said that Events within DUST 514 will influence the Eve universe and the other way. How synced are the two worlds in detail?
CCP: Very synced, honestly. A fight on a planet taking part within DUST will have immidiate impact on the stratetic control a single Eve Player or group of players will have over this planet. And it is very simple to keep these things synced. It might have a large impact, but it is not much data that we have to transfer.
Players in the MMOG will apparently be able to essentially hire DUST players to undertake missions on the ground in order to aid in gaining control of a planet. Planetary control itself will introduce new gameplay for EVE players as well:
K: And in return the Eve player get’s the corresponding Sector of one planet, if his soldiers win More >
EVE Online: What Dust 514 Means For Virtual Worlds
Aug 19th
MMORPG.com Managing Editor Jon Wood makes use of this editorial to discuss CCP’s recent announcement of Dust 51 and how that game, combined with EVE Online, has the potential to change the virtual world space.
Since yesterday’s announcement that CCP would be launching Dust 514, a new First Person Shooter MMO for consoles, it seems as though nearly everyone has had an opportunity to weigh in, and not all of the user feedback has been positive.
The bulk of the opposition to Dust’s announcement seems to be coming from two somewhat related issues:
The first issue is that, as we understand it right now, the new FPS will be available only on the current generation of consoles. This means that the PC, Mac and Linux audiences that have made EVE Online the success that it is today, will be left out in the cold (unless of course they are one of the many, like myself, who own both a PC and a console or two). The second is that Dust’s players will actually be able to influence the EVE Online universe through alliances and 0.0 Soveignty meaning that those who are used to EVE players having sole control of their universe now have More >
Final Fantasy XIV: GC 2009: New Info, Gameplay Videos!
Aug 19th
The folks over at FFXIVCore have been amassing a ton of footage, information, and pictures of Final Fantasy XIV coming straight out of GamesCom ’09. There are several gameplay videos, a short emote video, information on the Gladiator’s abilities, the compass, and more!
Some facts they’ve gathered on FFXIV:
Few quick facts:
- Currently you can’t jump, but a developer told me they are considering to add it
- I wasn’t able to find water just yet, so not sure if you can swim
- I will have an interview up tomorrow Thursday
- The combat system is interesting, reminds you of FFXI, you select a target with TAB, then take up your weapon with F and X locks on it. Then use the numbers from your hotbars to use abilities. The first two abilities I had generated combat points to use the AOE attacks etc, I’ll get back on what class I played later
- Game is polished, very smooth combat and performance
- It was played on a PC (I think), with mouse and keyboard
- I did a kill mob quest, kill 6 peacock-like creatures, they were very easy to kill
- Square Enix points out several times that the game is in alpha, so keep this in mind. For being in alpha, the game More >
Star Wars: The Old Republic: New Class Revealed: Sith Warrior!
Aug 19th
We’ve seen glimpses of this guy already in the various videos that have shown up since E3, but now we can finally put a name to the ruthless badass: he is the Sith Warrior. According to a reveal interview with BioWare’s James Ohlen over at GameSpot, the Sith Warrior will function as a frontline fighter, focusing purely on martial combat.
Players who select the Sith Warrior will be able to tailor their character as a purely offensive character that is able of cutting a swath through a whole room of enemies, or is also able to strike a balance between offense and defense and take down the bigger foes. In laymans terms, he’ll be able to specialize in area of effect or single target damage, basically. From the interview, it also sounds like he will be able to tank as well, so he’s beginning to sound quite similar to the "Sith Marauder" class I speculated on as a possible class in a recent editorial:
GS: Given the heavy armor, lightsaber abilities, and Force powers, how would you characterize the class in the parlance of what people expect from massively multiplayer characters? What kind of player will be most attracted to playing this profession?
JO: Players who enjoy More >
Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning: What Difference Does a Year Make? Q&A
Aug 19th
MMORPG.com’s Garrett Fuller had the opportunity to send along seven questions to Wrhammer Online’s Jeff Skalski to discuss the game’s progress as it nears its one year anniversary.
MMORPG.com:
Warhammer has now been on the market for one year. Please tell us the story of the game’s lifecycle.
Jeff Skalski:
In May 2005, Mythic signed a deal with Games Workshop to bring to life the rich universe of its fantasy-based Warhammer IP. The challenge we laid out in front of us was creating a fresh new MMORPG that stayed true to the IP, unlike any other to date, for gamers and loyal hobbyists across the globe. A little over three years later, an EA acquisition, and almost 289 pounds of baby weight created, we shipped Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning on Sept 18th, 2008 (a few days earlier for those who pre-ordered). It has been one of hell of a ride, and the talented developers here at Mythic haven’t taken a second away from pouring their love and passion into WAR since.
If you go back and review the patch notes over the past year, what we’ve accomplished is rather astounding. What I find even more interesting is seeing how the players have adapted to More >
Funcom anuncia un nuevo título: Rise of the Godslayer – Hyborian Adventures
Aug 19th
Funcom anuncia un nuevo título: Rise of the Godslayer
La primera expansión para el MMO aclamado por la crítica y éxito en ventas Age of Conan. Versión jugable disponible esta semana en el show de la GamesCom.
Durham, USA August 18th, 2009 - Funcom se enorgullece de presentar ’Age of Conan: Rise of the Godslayer’, la primera expansión por el MMO aclamado por la crítica y éxito en ventas en 2008 Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Inspirado en las ricas y coloridas culturas del este de Asia, Rise of the Godslayer enviará a los jugadores a un viaje a través del imperio de Kithai donde les esperan incontables horas de aventuras brutales, sexys y salvajes. Rise of the Godslayer no solo introduce un nuevo hilo argumental y un vasto mundo nuevo por explorar, sino que también introduce nuevas características como la jugabilidad de facciones y un sistema alternativo de progreso.
"Desde hace tiempo el equipo ha estado trabajando duro para traer el Imperio de Khitai a la vida," dijo Craig Morrison, Director de Juego y Productor Ejecutivo para Rise of the Godslayer. "Nuestro enfoque ahora es expandir las fortalezas del juego introduciendo nuevas regiones masivas del mundo para ser exploradas, y More >