MMO News Roundup - 5-6-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
Normally I don’t give a crap who is suing who over what. This time however, I am going to make an exception because of the inordinate level of douchbaggery involved. NCsoft decided to terminate Richard Garriott, and hosed him over pretty good. Click here to read the nasty details. And the cherry on top of the prick sundae that NCsoft served up to the epic game designer? They waited until he was in quarantine after returning to Earth from his space flight, during which he gave a lot of high-profile publicity for now defunct NCsoft MMO, Tabula Rasa.
Of course everyone knows how annually new words are added to the English language dictionary. What you might not know, is how huge the English language really is. Well, I’ll tell you. Next month, the English language will officially get its 1,000,000th word. The average English speaker, on the other hand, only has a functional vocabulary of around 14,000 words. So what the frak (hint hint) does this have to do with MMOs? Well, one of the words in contention for being the magical one millionth official word in the English language is…… NOOB! Yes, ‘noob’, previously resigned only to the realm of niche vernacular, is poised to become a legitimate word to use on school papers, research grant applications, NASA scientific papers, Supreme Court decisions, even bills before Congress. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even hear it during the next presidential state of the union speech. Click here for the details, as well as some of the other candidate words. You noob.
Tags: CCP, EVE Online, Heroes of Telara, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, NCsoft, Richard Garriott, Tabula Rasa, Trion World Network
Gamer News 4-14-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
NCSoft has announced that the division that handles the MMO City of Heroes shall henceforth be known as Paragon Studios. That in itself barely gets a notice from me. But what I found interesting was the bit that followed with a quote from Brian Clayton, general manager of Paragon Studios and executive producer for the City of Heroes franchise. “The renaming of our studio to Paragon Studios represents our devotion to the present and future of the City of Heroes series,”. Could this be the first hint of either a new add-on expansion or even a sequel? City of Heroes, as cool as the game still is after all this time, has pretty much turned into a test platform for their other properties. Perhaps there is indeed a full-blown sequel in the works. Click here for the full article.
OK, this is surely the clearest indication possible that Microsoft is admitting yet another fuckup with the 360. Not only are they extending the already extended warranty for the console to include the “E74″ malfunction, but they are also going to pony up and refund the money of people they charged for repairs of the E74, which has previously been considered “out of warranty”. At this point, I consider myself quite fortunate, as I have only had a single RROD, while other owners have had several. Still, I’d like to give the executives that rushed the development and release of the system a good stiff kick in the balls. When will executives understand that they do not know better than the engineers or game developers about when their product is ready for release? Click here for more details of the E74 warranty coverage.
There’s this superhero movie coming out in a few days, I think. You hardly see anything about it in the media. I think it’s called Mongoose, or maybe Weasel? I’m joking of course, but as you must know by now, there is a video game coming out tied in with the Wolverine flick. After my disastrous purchase of the s**t-fest that was the Iron Man game, I swore off of movie-tied-in-games completely. Anyway, this trailer comes out for the Wolverine game that is getting released on the 1st of May. After watching it, I may just add this one to my que in Gamefly. Click here to watch the video that features a scrap between Wolverine and Gambit. That’s nice I suppose, but I was more interested in the shots of Wolverine ripping a Sentinel to pieces. I always hated those guys.
If you have been wondering why you should shell out $250 (US) for the Beetles Rock Band complete set, then click here and see the details of what will be included. Basically, custom instruments are the real draw here. If you got the cash, and the hankerin’ to rock out with the great Fab 4, then get your credit cards ready. And the really good news…no Yoko Ono is included.
Tags: E74, Hey Did You Hear..., NCsoft, News, Paragon Studios, RROD, The Beetles: Rock Band, X-Men Origins: Wolverine
MMO News Roundup - 1-16-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News, The Shit to Get
A New MMO was announced earlier this week. IGG has announced their upcoming MMO 2029 Online. I looked at the all-out presentation on their FORUM, and yawned at the standard crap MMO that will undoubtedly get a rabid fan base of perhaps 20 people from around the world. YAWN! Click here for detai……ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz……
The Cartoon Network has launched their very own MMO, Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall. Aw shucks, isn’t that cute? It’s rated for kids ages 10 and up. YAWN! Try again with an Adult Swim version, then we’ll talk. Click here to read the official press release. Click here to see the official website. I want to play a Meatwad. Meatwad make the money see, Meatwad get the honey she…
Tags: 2029 Online, Daemon, Daniel Suarez, FusionFall, IGG, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, MUD Wiki, NCsoft, Tabula Rasa
City of Heroes - Mac Client Gold
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News
Mac users, strap on those high-heeled thigh boots, your patriotic-themed leotard, and corny mask that doesn’t actually conceal anything. But capes? NO CAPES! The Mac client for City of Heroes has gone gold. Since it is available for digital download, you can grab it now while you finish reading this post. Click here for the official announcement. Click here to see the official COH site.
If a great MMO isn’t enough to entice perspective Mac players, NCSoft is also offering a few extra little goodies for you. First, you will get Valkyrie costume changeout. Nice, nice. Not thrilling, just nice.
Tags: City of Heroes, Mac, MMO, MMORPG, NCsoft
Time for yet another ridiculous patent infringement lawsuit
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Editorials, News, Rants
This is so f*****g stupid that it is pissing me off just to think about it. The latest in the seemingly never-ending string of patent-trolls and ridiculous patent-related lawsuits is the f*******s over at Worlds.com.
See what just happened is that they decided to file a patent infringement lawsuit against NCsoft for infringing on patent 7,181,690. You can read on the details of this patent by clicking here.
Tags: MMO, MMORPG, NCsoft, Worlds.com
MMO News Roundup - 12.22.08
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
NCSoft has announced that their MMO Tabula Rasa, is now free to download and play. This was not unexpected, since they announced that the game would be shutting down at the end of February 2009. But the free part comes a month earlier than they originally announced. So if you got a hankerin’ to try it out, don’t dwaddle. Click here.
EVE Online, currently at the top of my bitch list, has decided that the best way to distract people from it’s latest scandal is to give idiots a new toy to annoy other players with. So now pilots will have snowball launchers and snowball ammo with which to equip their ships. The snowballs are just for show, and will not contribute to the game in any way. Well, if this isn’t a perfect metaphor for what missiles have been nerfed into I don’t know what is. Click here for details. I’ve already exhausted my daily supply of give-a-s**t for EVE online.
The holiday event on Lineage II, Saving Santa, runs for a few more days. Read the details by clicking here, because it is so f*****g stupid I can’t even bring myself to repeat the nonsense. Seriously Lineage II players, WTF? If you’re that bored, go see a movie or something.
Tags: EVE Online, Lineage 2, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, NCsoft, Tabula Rasa
MMO News Roundup - 12.16.08
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News, Rants
2008 was a great year for MMOs, giving us some great fun in the way of online fun in virtual worlds. We also saw some great expansions to already existing titles. But this isn’t about those. I was going to summarize some of the ones that tanked, but someone already did. You can see a brief breakdown of those that fared the worst in this article on yourmeetingcoffee.com.
The World of Warcraft Expansion: Wrath of the Lich King, led the NPD sales charts for the week of November 30 - December 6. LINKY. What is more surprising than Spore being number 2 on the list (Really gamers? are you that bored and willing to compromise your own PCs?), is the fact that there are some WoW players out there that had not already gotten the expansion.
OK, so this one isn’t exactly MMO-related, but it is far to delicious to pass up. It seems that some hospital for “troubled” people somewhere forgot to pass out their meds and lock the doors, because the patients all escaped and decided to throw a 2-day Uwe Boll Film Fest, with the steaming horse turd himself in attendance. I was going to write some nasty things here about Uwe Boll, but I really don’t have to. The comments over at Kotaku’s post on this are worth reading.
NCSoft is having a nice celebration of the season for the players of City of Heroes. You get some cosmetic tchochkies just for logging in, but there is also a rather long list of challenges facing players. Things such as special missions, giant snowmen prowling the streets thirsting for blood, and presents hidden in the alleys and rooftops of the city. The holiday seems to have come in between a zombie apocalypse and the next alien invasion, proving once again that things are never dull in Paragon City. LINKY.
I’ll have more later, but for now I want to look at more pictures of Marisa Miller, and think about how smart she is and how much I respect her as a person.
Tags: City of Heroes, Marissa Miller, MMO News Roundup, NCsoft, Uwe Boll, World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
City of Heroes - Issue 13 Launches
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News
The world of MMOs has certainly been kicking lately, and 2008 has certainly proven to be a banner year for excellent expansions for established franchises. There have been two huge expansions for EVE Online by the names of The Empyrean Age and Quantum Rise, and Everquest 2 players got their grubby paws on The Shadow Odyssey, the original Everquest got Seeds of Destruction, Lord of the Rings Online players got to delve the Mines of Moria, and not to be outdone, Blizzard finally releases the Wrath of the Lich King.
There are more, but none of them are the whole point of this post. The newest MMO expansion just went live, and it’s a doozie that will definitely not get the press that it deserves. I am speaking of course, of the City of Heroes expansion, Issue 13: Power and Responsibility.
The most excellent superhero MMO has gotten some innovative features in this expansion, let’s review shall we?
Tags: City of Heroes, Issue 13, MMO, MMORPG, NCsoft
Tabula Rasa Given Death Sentence
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News
Tabula Rasa: November 2, 2007 - February 28, 2009
What had been rumored for months has now been officially confirmed by the Tabula Rasa developers. The scifi shooter MMO is to cease operations at the end of February. Apparently even Richard Garriott going into space wasn’t enough of a self-serving publicity stunt to save the game.
Well, I suppose that’s not fair. I mean, if I was fabulously wealthy, you bet your sweet cheeks I would pony up $20 million for a sleepover at the ISS. So let me issue a ‘good for you’ to Richard Garriott, you son of a bitch.
Citing the lackluster subscriber numbers that have plagued the game since the beginning, the official announcement states that in the rundown to the big giant “OFF” switch will have lots of fun goings on, and free play starting on January 10.
Tags: MMORPG, NCsoft, Richard Garriott, Tabua Rasa
NCsoft Launches New COH/COV Website
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News, Previews
For the longest time, there have been two distinct websites for the superhero MMO, one each for City of Heroes and City of Villains. Now there is a single site that contains all of their assets and lore under a single site. And it’s about fraking time I say.
So, take a gander at the new site here. If you’re not the type to be a lookie-loo, then let me share these other goodies with you.
Tags: City of Heroes, City of Villains, MMORPG, NCsoft
Tabula Rasa - 1 Year Old Soon
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Editorials, News
If ever there was an MMO that came with gobs and gobs of potential, it was Tabula Rasa. I tried the game when it first came out, and for the most part enjoyed it immensely. It was a new paradigm in MMO gameplay, specifically the combat. And while it did suffer from the usual birthing pains of MMOs, (lag, overcrowded newbie zones, griefers who should be food for the tigers at the zoo), it did not get its due respect.
Throwing out the combat sandwich completely, the action was very similar to the constant firefights of first-person shooters, interrupted by the occasional visit to an encampment for repair and resupply. The spontaneous events like invasions or base assaults were a blast, especially when you have 30-40 players in battle with a horde of nasty bad guys. This is a game that after I canceled my account, I really wanted to go back and give it another shot after it had been live for a few months. Now I am immersed in other MMOs, plus console game awesomeness, plus porn, so I have no time left for another MMO.
Anyway, I can recommend this game for people who like MMOs, but hate the slower, almost casual pace of other titles like World of Warcraft and Everquest 2.
So the point of my rambling, is to share the tidbit of news that NCsoft unveiling their 12-month veteran rewards. Two of them are pretty much useless gewgaws (new emote and special title), but the other two are pretty sweet. The Resupply Beacon and The Dropship Extraction Beacon, both pictured below.
From the official website (which you can see here).
“Resupply Beacon: This special beacon teleports an AFS Resupply Bot to your location, allowing you and your squad to purchase ammo, consumables, and repair your equipment. This can only be summoned once per hour.
Dropship Extraction Beacon: A portable dropship waypoint. This works for the entire squad of the person who deploys it, and allows one-way access to the local dropship network. It can even be used inside of instances! This can only be summoned once per hour.”
From playing the game, even if it was only for a little while, I know that the environments are pretty huge, so being able to summon a dropship to get you back home quickly is a good thing. And even when I would stock up on enough ammo to serve a warrant to a religious compound in Texas, continuous firefights out in the field can burn through it pretty quickly, so the resupply beacon would be really handy at times.
It’s nice to see an MMO really reward its loyal customers with a couple pretties that actually serve a purpose within the game. I don’t know if I will get to renew my Tabula Rasa account to see how improved the game has become since its launch, but I would definitely like to. Give it a try if you want to try a fun and different game.
Tags: Dropship Extraction Beacon, Editorials, MMO, NCsoft, News, PC, Resupply Beacon, Tabua Rasa
NCsoft Licenses Unreal Engine 3 For Two MMO’s
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News
Unfortunately the title pretty much says it all. The announcement was made today, but there was no mention of what MMOs they might be referring to. So one must wonder if they are actually working on a couple of unannounced projects, or are just securing the licensing needed for some future projects that they remain uncommited to.
Time will tell, but I for one hope that any title they bring to market does not completely suck fuzzy llama balls. Even if the game looks good, do we really need another “Go forth and slay ten rats or else the Kingdom is doomed! You will be rewarded with ten copper pieces!” ?
Wow, NCsoft, you paid some people a lot of money for code, and released a smidgeon of information expecting the gaming public to get all lubed up over this?
Premise, feature set, screenshots, devblogs, trailers, and an official website, or else the game does not exist.
Tags: MMO, MMORPG, NCsoft, News, Unreal Engine
