Virtual World News
Filed under: Betas, MMO industry, Free-to-play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Giveaways
The company continues, "Worse is the latest crop of subscription-lite and freemium games claiming to be Free2Play. GamersFirst is challenging gamers to reject this propaganda of what other publishers are calling free and demand more from their gaming experience."
It's an interesting take on gaming, but G1 has even more to say and a very clear idea of what F2P is not: "Free2Play is NOT a thinly-veiled game trial. Free2Play is NOT titles that require cash shop purchases to play. Free2Play is NOT experience level caps. Free2Play is NOT exclusive content for paying players. Free2Play is NOT pay-to-win." Strong words, but is there anything behind them?
The answer seems to be yes, since GamersFirst is backing up its words with -- what else? -- free items. Massively has been given 5,000 codes for APB: Reloaded gift packages that include three days of access to both a Colby CSG-20 PR2 shotgun and a ACT 44 Golden Marksmen pistol. The package also includes three days of premium access to the game. Head to our giveaway page to pick up your items, and make sure you hit the comment button to give us your take on Occupy Free2Play!
GamersFirst challenging players with Occupy Free2Play originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Fantasy, Game mechanics, Professions, News items, Free-to-play, Dev Diaries, Crafting
Continue reading Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary gets economic
Massively Exclusive: WindSlayer 2 dev diary gets economic originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Real life, Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Business models, Interviews, MMO industry, News items, Free-to-play, All Points Bulletin, Crime, Miscellaneous
We talked with Rahul Sandil, G1's senior vice president of marketing and business development, and he had some interesting things to say about the future of both APB Reloaded and Fallen Earth.
Continue reading Massively Exclusive: GamersFirst on yesterday's layoffs and the future of APB
Massively Exclusive: GamersFirst on yesterday's layoffs and the future of APB originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Opinion, Free-to-play, Browser, MMObility
My end goal is to be able to tell a "common" gamer -- someone new to the genre or someone who might not be able to afford anything more than a netbook -- that he too can game. He can game with a lot of other people, in real time. It can be done.
So I decided that I needed a netbook. I made my decision and settled on one. Click past the cut and I'll tell you about it.
Continue reading MMObility: Why I need this new gaming toy
MMObility: Why I need this new gaming toy originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Opinion, Roleplaying, Storyboard, Miscellaneous
Unfortunately for everyone, there are two very compelling ways to do this, and neither one of them is right or wrong or even evident at a glance. It's only by roleplaying with someone for a while that you get a sense of what she's aiming for, and it often turns out to be after it's too late to do anything. You might be going for character arcs or character development, and the two are frequently incompatible over the long term.
Continue reading Storyboard: Navel-gazing cardboard cutouts
Storyboard: Navel-gazing cardboard cutouts originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Betas, Massively meta, Betawatch, Miscellaneous
Digimon Masters is leaving Betawatch this week, and as always, we're happy to bid farewell because it means the game has launched. GLHF, Digimon Masters! War of the Immortals joined our closed beta list with a slightly delayed planned beta date of November 2nd, and if you haven't snagged a beta key yet, we've got a few left over. SD Gundam Online also joins our closed beta list, and while the first testing period doesn't begin until November 2nd, we've got beta keys for you so you can prepare! Finally, Eligium has launched its website and begun signups for closed beta.
Follow along after the jump for the latest Betawatch list.
Continue reading Betawatch: October 22-28, 2011
Betawatch: October 22-28, 2011 originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, PvP, News items, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Dungeons
"We're looking at a rollout plan that is fairly ambitious. We don't feel like we're going to be leading too much demand behind at launch but we definitely are going to be very cautious and thoughtful about how many people we bring on and in what order," Gibeau says. So, how exactly does that allay our launch-day left-at-the-altar fears? Yeah, your guess is as good as ours.
Moving on to more useful SWTOR news, the official site has pumped out its traditional Friday update, and today's reveal isn't so much a reveal as it is a concise collection of information about the game's warzone functionality. Head over to the site for some verbiage and videos about Voidstar, Huttball, and Alderaan.
SWTOR Friday update talks warzones, EA pooh-poohs launch-day demand concerns originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: GamePolitics
Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMOFPS, DUST 514, Dev Diaries
As Luo says, it's not only difficult that CCP is creating an MMOFPS, but that it has to be programmed from the ground-up to interact with EVE Online as well. Luo presents a hypothetical battle scenario that illustrates how the two games might interact, with DUST mercs accepting a contract from an EVE corp to take over another corp's territory on a planet.
The team is using a dedicated multi-core server machine to handle the strain of thousands of players duking it out in real-time. Luo reports that the team has fine-tuned the tech to the point where battles are able to host a "satisfying number" of simultaneous soldiers, and that thanks to the way it's designed, the battles can be scaled up and down in terms of numbers depending on who is present.
DUST 514 server architect reveals the magic behind the techno-miracle originally appeared on Massively on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: Playstation.blog
Filed under: Fantasy, EverQuest, Expansions, MMO industry, News items
We know this because Sony Online Entertainment has announced the official release date for the Veil of Alaris content update, which is November 15th. Pre-orders have already begun, and you'll want to check out the official pre-order page to see if SOE's digital carrots are enough to entice you to part with your hard-earned dollars prior to release day.
EverQuest's Veil of Alaris expansion slated for November 15th originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 23:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
- Source: EQ VoA announcement
Filed under: Business models, Expansions, MMO industry, Patches, Opinion, Massively meta, The Daily Grind, Miscellaneous
And yet there are trade-offs to speed. All other things being equal, more time spent on content means more polished content. And content released at break-neck speed can wind up launching more quickly than subscribers can actually digest it, leading to players who find themselves lost and languishing in the wake of a game that's effectively lapped them. That leads us to today's Daily Grind topic. We often clamor for more content and faster updates, but is that really what players want? When it comes to your content, do you prefer celerity or quality?
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: Do you prefer content celerity to quality? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.