Virtual World News
Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Massively Meta, Miscellaneous
So I guess it was a pretty good week after all! Clicky clicky for the complete Betawatch roundup.
Continue reading Betawatch: September 22 - 28, 2012
Betawatch: September 22 - 28, 2012 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Business models, Opinion, Free-to-play, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous
Nowadays I'm more likely to have a dozen MMORPG-related line-items every month on account of cash shops and the fact that flat-fee payments no longer include all of a given game's content. In a nutshell, playing multiple MMOs has gotten more expensive for me with the transition to free-to-play.
What about you, morning crew? Assuming you keep a careful watch on your gaming expenditures, has free-to-play helped or hurt your bottom line?
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!The Daily Grind: Has F2P made your MMO habit more expensive? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Opinion, Massively Meta, Humor, Perfect Ten, Miscellaneous
Not every column goes on indefinitely, and some die only to be resurrected at a later date. But one day I got curious about all of them -- especially the ones before my time here on the site -- and that curiosity led to my creating a list of the most interesting ones.
So today, let's examine 10 columns you won't see on Massively these days (for better or worse), ones that were certainly captivating during their run.
Continue reading The Perfect Ten: Most interesting retired Massively columns
The Perfect Ten: Most interesting retired Massively columns originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: MMO industry, Legal, Miscellaneous
The three companies are already entangled in various business dealings. Nexon is NCsoft's biggest shareholder, and both companies have titles represented on Valve's Steam service. Additionally, Nexon licenses Counterstrike in Asia and announced that Counterstrike 2 was on the way.
NCsoft said that "there is no truth to this rumor" while Nexon refused to comment. Valve has been the subject of other attempted buyouts, including a reportedly $1 billion-plus deal from EA. Valve CEO Gabe Newell has gone on record saying that it would be more likely for Valve to disband than the company selling out.
Rumor: Nexon and NCsoft eye Valve buyout originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: GamesIndustry.biz, The Verge
Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, News items, Miscellaneous
Set in Unreal Tournament 2004, the competition gave players "judging guns" to tag which competitors they thought were human and which they thought were bots. Two bots created by scientists convinced the judges that were more human than half of the human competitors. In fact, both bots mimicked human behaviors well enough to receive a humanness rating of 52%, whereas the human players in the tournament averaged only 40%.
[Thanks to Matt for the tip!]
Bots 'out-human' humans in competition originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: EurekAlert
Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Opinion, Free-to-play, Miscellaneous, MOBA, The Summoner's Guidebook
League of Legends requires a lot of multitasking. While it's not a true real-time strategy game, LoL still requires players to be aware of the minimap, the current state of minions at their location, and the potential positions of enemy players who are not visible on the minimap. Couple this with the "normal" flow of a PvP game where a player must juggle her positioning with that of her opponent, and you have a game that is very taxing on a person's mental resources. While multitasking is a hard skill to develop, learning it is intensely satisfying when knowledge about the "big picture" leads to a decisive, game-winning play.
This week in The Summoner's Guidebook, we'll look at how you can improve this critical skill. Even if you don't play League of Legends, it might be worth it to follow along. While many examples I'll be discussing will be LoL-specific, the broader concepts we'll cover after the jump can be applied to many different games, whether competitive or not.
Continue reading The Summoner's Guidebook: Learning to multitask in League of Legends
The Summoner's Guidebook: Learning to multitask in League of Legends originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: World of Warcraft, Fantasy, Expansions, MMO industry, News items
Blizzard says that guilds may also move as long as the leader purchases a Guild Master Realm Transfer, after which point the remaining member migrations will be free of charge. Head to WoW Insider for full details.
Blizzard offering free server transfers to offset Mists of Pandaria queues originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: WoW Insider
Filed under: Fantasy, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, News items, Ultima Online, Sandbox
Richard Garriott tells of his run-in with a player thief bent on ruining the game experience for a new player. It's an amusing anecdote that illustrates how UO's early incarnation led to plenty of unexpected gameplay scenarios. "After [the incident], I began to think more carefully about the rules we ourselves put in the game, and the inevitable play styles that would come of it," Garriott writes.
Garriott shares Ultima Online anecdotes for 15th anniversary originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Memorable moments
Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, Expansions, Promotions, Sandbox
To sweeten the deal, this offer is for the limited edition of Inferno, which means that savvy shoppers can also snag a special ship, a cerebral accelerator booster, and in-game shirts for both avatar genders.
The fee will deliver a code that can only be used to upgrade new or trial accounts, so current or previous subscribers are not eligible.
Get EVE Online: Inferno for $5 this weekend only originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Amazon
Filed under: Fantasy, Lord of the Rings Online, Expansions, Game mechanics, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries
The diary begins by recalling the history of mounts in the game, back to the very earliest days when they were barely implemented in time for launch. The notion of mounted combat went from insurmountable to a strict on-rails system to a much more free-form system. It also dropped several ideas along the way, such as momentum, horse attacks, and purely generic combat skills.
War-steeds will take some getting used to, according to the devs: "Probably the very first thing you notice when you ride your War-steed for the first time is that it moves completely differently than your standard horse or goat. The War-steed is a large creature and its part of a much larger system, one that requires some skill, time, and practice to master."
LotRO explains history of mounted combat originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Dev diary