MMO News Roundup 08.28.09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News, Trailers
There is a very long walkthrough of Star Wars The Old Republic up on IGN. The video is broken up into 4 parts of somewhere between 5 and 6 minutes each. In the presentation that Bioware produced for GC2009, you get to see the bounty hunter, smuggler, and sith warrior classes in action. You also get a good look at the planet Hutta as well. The presentation provides a glimpse into just what playing a fully voiced MMO will be like, along with different members of the party deciding the course of the conversation and the action. This is well worth skipping that meeting on s**t that no one at your work cares about. Watch the videos by clicking here, and revel in what looks like a very heartfelt apology to Star Wars fans everywhere. Dreadsorrow is pleased, and will likely grace this game with his presence.
Coming out of Blizzcon ‘09, there is a lot more news than the Ozzy appearance. WoW Production Director J. Brack and Diablo 3 Game Director Jay Wilson had a brief gab session with The Escapist about their titles that you might have heard of by now. There are some nuggets worth clicking this link to read. So you should do that, or all of my efforts in this paragraph have been for naught.
Tags: Atari, BioWare, Blizzcon, Champions Online, Eric Lam, Evony, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Turbine, World of Warcraft
Gaikai - You Know You Want It
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under News
Well, with all the hubub over OnLive the past couple weeks, you might have missed the coverage of Gaikai. While the game streaming service OnLive already has an impressive list of partners, it presumably has an equally impressive list of unannounced games as well. They have yet to let the gaming public know what some of their initial offerings will be, probably due to licensing. I don’t wish to take away from OnLive at all. In fact, if the service really does work as advertised, I will be one happy gamer, and a devoted customer.
But there…is…another…game…streaming…service…(gurgle)…
Tags: EVE Online, Gaikai, MMO, OnLive, World of Warcraft
Gamer News 3-17-09: Hey Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
Big Huge Games is up for sale, again. A brief writeup up on Crispy Gamer informs us that THQ is looking to unload the developer. If they can’t find a buyer, then they are hosed. THQ is also looking to separate itself from both the Heavy Iron and the Incinerator studio as well. Seeing as how video games have been a driver of computer technology for many years, second only to pr0n, perhaps they could get some of that bailout money instead of those AIG executives? Click here to read about it.
Did you hear that there is going to be a sequal to Mass Effect? I know, this came as a complete surprise to me too. I bet it takes place in space, and there are aliens. Now that I have gotten to blatantly obvious out of the way, there is now a tentative time frame for release, which according to Dr. Muzyka over there at Bioware will be sometime “around” early 2010. Everybody with half a brain knew that this was coming, but now it is “official”, so you can rejoice. I am kind of glad they are shooting for an early2010 release, because this indicates that the DRM-mongering rectal parasites at EA are not pressuring Bioware to rush it out early for a holiday season ‘09 release. Click here to see the official website. All you gamers under 18, don’t you click this at all. You have to put in your birthday to enter the site, so that means there is absolutely no way for you to possibly get past their security. It is impervious to fake birthdays, absolutely foolproof. Don’t even try. And as teasers go, this one sucks.
Tags: Big Huge Games, Bill Roper, Diablo III, Hey Did You Hear..., Mass Effect, News, World of Warcraft
MMO News Roundup - 3-1-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
OK, let me lead off here by wishing a fond farewell to what could have been a great MMO, but now has officially closed its servers. As of now, Tabula Rasa is now longer operating. The heroic fighters of humanity won their way back to Earth, and reclaimed their homeland in an epic battle that took place in the ruins of New York City. Take a gander at the video, and click here to check out some players screenshots from the final night. Click here to see some more screenshots of the game in general. Mark well, and remember a game that never got the attention or respect that it deserved. Oh well, there will always be other games, and other battles. So long Tabula Rasa, and thanks for all the fish.
So if you are of legal age to drink alcohol in whatever country you find yourself living at the moment, and you like to play World of Warcraft, then you are in luck. Well, sort of anyway. Now there are some new and very sweet-ass WoW steins available for you to use when you’re up to your eyeballs in Azeroth. They are decorated with beautiful WoW art created just for these lovelies, and extra-large mouths to get that beer in your head as quickly as possible. So, what’s the catch? They are as pricey as they are nice to look at. So if you are the average gamer, you will probably have to pass. But if your employer is a major bank who is tossing around taxpayer dollars as “rewards” to their executives for all the hard work involved in tanking their business in the first place, then maybe you can score a set. And in advance, you’re f*****g welcome. Click here to look at the pretty drinking steins.
Tags: Blizzard, Diablo III, Jumpgate Evolution, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, NetDevil, Tabula Rasa, World of Warcraft
MMO News Roundup - 2-19-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News, Rants
So hear about Lego Universe lately? From my mass of gray matter, I recall that the Lego MMO was supposed to be released in the 4th quarter of last year. Now obviously that didn’t happen, and the speculation is that resources were pulled away to work on the Lego Indy game. Yeah, because the movie was so f*****g good right? We just had to have that game! Then there was the Lego Batman game, which I’m sure had nothing at all to do with pushing the Lego MMO back even further. Now we hear that there is another project that Lego does not to be overshadowed by their vaporware MMO. Yes, because Lego fans are brainless lunkheads that can only focus on one thing at a time. You know what Lego? Keep your games. Seriously, don’t even bother with an MMO at all. Just put it up there on the “never” shelf with Duke Nukem Forever, and go on making you IP license tie-in games that are clones of each other. Keep your marketing executive decisions that supersede the reality of the gamer world. And while you’re at it, keep your overpriced bricks with no discount for bulk purchases. In short Lego corporation, f**k you. Click here for the article. Think I am overreacting? Well remember how this game was originally scheduled for late 2008? Well there is now no chance that it will go live during 2009 at all, and the strong rumor is that 2010 will also not see a release. All because marketing butt-lickers want to keep feeding you the same old s**t.
The greedy bastards over at MMORPG.com are at it again, hoarding lots of scrumptious exclusive screenshots. The latest are more shots of the increasingly amazing-looking Jumpgate Evolution. Ironically enough, the new iteration of the venerable Jumpgate MMO is being developed by NetDevil, the same company that is also doing Lego Universe (which will come out the same time that Jack Thompson is the guest of honor at E3). This just shows you can’t blame NetDevil for the shitheads at Lego. Click here to look at the screenshots, and commence drooling. And as an added bonus, there is a dev chat coming up on the 24th of February. Click here to get the lowdown on that.
Tags: Aion: Tower of Eternity, Darkfall, Jumpgate Evolution, Lego, Lego Universe, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, NetDevil, World of Warcraft
MMO News Roundup - 2-3-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
A new “Ask Cryptic” has appeared. This one features some tidbits on the details of each player’s own personal nemesis. I think that depending on how well this is implemented, it could be either a tremendous asset for Champions Online in the upcoming war of the superhero MMOs, or else a big ‘meh’. There are lots of other goodies to read about. For instance movement around the game world, supergroup experience, gameplay balance, the all-important game physics, as well as a lot of other yummy game details. Click here to read the devblog.
Coming under the category of “Gee, I didn’t see this one coming”, it turns out that the subscriber numbers for Warhammer Online are not so rosey. The game that while it was still in beta, I called total hype over no real substance, has indeed lost most of the subscribers that it once had. Dropping from as many as 800K soon after launch to a somewhat non-specific “over 300K paying subscribers in North America and Europe”, the game does appear to be hemorrhaging. I know the fanbois will say that a subscriber drop off after the first few months is normal, but they can’t explain away these numbers. Click here for the EA third quarter fiscal year 2009 results. I just hope that this dropoff in subscriber numbers doesn’t translate into even more EA employees losing their jobs, because that would suck no matter what game you were talking about.
Tags: Champions Online, Cryptic, Electronic Arts, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft
MMO News Roundup - 1-29-09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
Proving once again that being a bunch of annoying smacktards does pay, a gold farming website has been sold for a whopping $10 million. You annoying pricks, if you want to make a profit on the backs of children in a Chinese sweatshop, at least have the decency to die very young from a huge brain tumor. Click here to read the details.
With less than a month to go before the game closes down forever, Tabula Rasa is not just lying back and waiting to die. Deployment 16 is on the public test server, and though it had been planned for some time now, players can still get the last days of the game wreaking havoc in new battle mechs. With all of the awesomeness in this game, it is sick that it has to close down at all, especially considering the extremely shitty MMOs that get to go on living. But just to show how classy they can be, the TR devs have added named items into the game inventory to honor their 40 biggest fans. Really nice items can now be found that bear the names of actual players. Click here to see some of the screenies on the forums. Click here to read the patch notes for Deployment 16.
There is also a new devblog over at Star Trek Online. The latest “Ask Cryptic” divulges some more details of the gameplay of this upcoming destroyer of evenings and weekends. STO from the looks of it, is turning out to be rather promising. I hope that when the game does go live, it actually meets expectations. Because my expectations are VERY high. Hey, Star Trek still owes me for Voyager (shudder). Click here to read the latest “Ask Cryptic”.
Finally tonight I am going to share this little tidbit. Do you think that Activision/Blizzard makes any money at all from World of Warcraft? If you guessed that they turn a bit of a profit, then you are WAY off. It turns out that more than half of all profits made by the company in fiscal 2009 were from WoW, to the tune of around $400 million. Click here for the details. Know what this officially makes World of Warcraft? I’ll give you a hint: CHA-CHING MMMMMOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Tags: Blizzard, Cryptic, gold farmer, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, Star Trek Online, Tabula Rasa, World of Warcraft
MMO News Roundup - 1.2.09
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under MMO News Roundup, News
Meteor Games has given the MMO world the biggest “Never mind” since Emily Litella. The once developer of the upcoming MMO Twin Skies, has announced that they are now the developer of the upcoming free-to-play flash game Twin Skies. I guess they discovered that building an MMO is actually hard work, so they completely pussed out. Seriously guys, either cancel the project or finish it. Turning an in development MMO into the usual crap I come across when I hit the “Stumble” button in my Firefox browser is just lame. Click here to read the details.
The Nielsen people have released their findings on what Americans spent their 2008 playing, and the number 1 PC title by a freakin’ mile was, you guessed it: World of Warcraft. Having half again the average number of minutes of the number 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare , I wonder if anything will ever pass this game. How much of a cult-like following will the usurper have for it to pass WoW? Hopefully it will be a sci-fi game. Click here for the details on the findings.
Hot on the heels of the deluge of art released recently, BioWare has given us a few more shots from the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic. There are three new shots, which you can see by clicking here. You can also see the new concept art in their gallery by clicking here. There’s just something about those Ithorians. MMMmmmmm… sexy.
Tags: BioWare, Meteor Games, MMO, MMO News Roundup, MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic, Twin Skies, World of Warcraft
Gamer News 12.30.08: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…a new party mode is coming to Burnout Paradise in Feb of 09 via the Playstation Store or Xbox Live? You will be able to play a group game with up to 8 players on one console (and with one controller!) Looks like our Rock Band parties are about to get a little mash up with Burnout Paradise. Full story: Criterion Games
…jocks love WoW just as much as us hardcore geeks? One jock in particular, Minnesota Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe, joked on his radio show on 93X that he wanted to change his name to honor his favorite MMO (and boost his jersey sales.) “I was going to change my name to Chris ‘World of Warcraft,’ ” Kluwe said. “They said that’s too long. So they started calling me Chris ‘Warcraft.’ I could make a lot of money if I changed my name to that.” Full story: Star Tribune
…you can get updates from Xbox 360 Live including news, video clips, friend’s status and more on your BlackBerry? The info comes to your phone courtesy of a mobile app from Zumobi. Full story: BlackBerry News
…on January 20th you too can feel what it’s like to be the President of the United States? A PC simulation game called “Commander In Chief” will be launched on inauguration day and will give you the ability to run the country the way you would as President from choosing members of your cabinet, to dealing with the economy and terrorism. Sounds like a good way to remind people how tough of a job Obama is facing. Full story: App Scout
…Microsoft released some fun new casual clothing for your XLE avatar just in time to rock out on New Years Eve? This new fashion update includes items such as hoodies and jeans for the guys, and fun accessories like rings and gloves for the ladies. Full story: Major Nelson
Tags: avatar, Barack Obama, Blackberry, Burnout Paradise, Burnout Party Mode, Chris Kluwe, Commander in Chief, Criterion Games, Hey Did You Hear..., Major Nelson, Microsoft, Minnesota Vikings, MMO, MMORPG, News, PC, Playstation 3, Playstation Store, PS3, World of Warcraft, WoW, XBL, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Zumobi
World of Warcraft Mouse - YOU Are That Which Has No Life
Posted by HCG Dreadsorrow | Filed under Hardware, Rants
If the special WoW keyboard just isn’t enough to make you feel superior to all other level 80 characters that are exactly like you because the players behind them also have no life whatsoever and raid incessantly for that one set of epics that is .00000001% more uber than the rest, now you have something else to waste your money on.
From SteelSeries comes the mouse officially licensed by Blizzard for World of Warcraft. Instead of just making do with a regular pointing device, soon you will be able to waste $100 on a mouse that seems to be designed to play one game and little else.
Tags: Blizzard, MMO, MMORPG, SteelSeries, World of Warcraft
Gamer News 12.18.08: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…Xbox Live gamers are already OVER Gears of War 2? Stats on the Xbox Live’s activity report show that gamers are moving on from Gears 2, dropping it to #4 behind Halo 3, CoD WoW at CoD 4. I’m thinking people played multiplayer Gears 1 so much, that they are just not interested in the same type of gameplay on Gears 2. Either that, or they reached level 50 on horde and then said, “bored now.” Full story: Major Nelson
…Playstation Home has already been hacked? It seems that Sony’s developers were trying to hack the system to uncover potential issues, and they found more than a few. The biggest concern? A “security loophole” that allows a hacker to upload or delete any file to and from the Home server. Yeah…you might want to patch that one, Sony before the whole system gets Rick-Rolled. Full story: Tech Radar
…a World of Warcraft-styled version of the George Bush shoe throwing footage has been created? I don’t know what it is (ok, maybe I do know) but I just can’t see enough of ole’ Bushie almost taking a shoe to the head! Check it out and lol
…Toys R Us opened a Nintendo department in their Times Square store? The 1,000 sq ft department is dedicated to all things Nintendo, and provides shoppers with interactive experiences including a Wii wall and a Nintendo gallery that showcases the history of the gaming giant. Full story: VG Chartz
…Lego Batman is the latest game to come to the iPhone? In a seemingly never ending list of titles making the jump to iPhone and iPod touch format, “Lego Batman: Gotham City Games” will feature a series of mini games, and will sell for the bargain price of $6. Full story and screenshots can be found at: Kotaku
Tags: 2DF Freeplay, Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, Call of Duty World At War, Gears of War 2, George Bush, hacker, Hey Did You Hear..., iPhone, iPod touch, Kotaku, Lego Batman: Gotham City Games, Major Nelson, News, Nintendo, Nintendo Wii, Playstation Home, Sony, Tech Radar, Times Square, Toys R Us, VG Chartz, World of Warcraft, WoW, Xbox 360, Xbox Live
Gamer News 12.17.08: Hey, Did You Hear…
Posted by HCG KP1gL37 | Filed under Hey Did You Hear..., News
…the mystery behind “a next Metal Gear” has been solved? The teaser site that Konami launched in early Dec finally revealed that the next Metal Gear is…Metal Gear Touch for the iPhone and iPod Touch! The game is scheduled to release in March of 09. Full story: Edge
…details are starting to surface about the rumored Clock Tower movie? The film, will be “loosely” based on the Playstation classic. Based on the movie posters I have seen so far, I’d say VERY loosely based. Full story and link to posters can be found at: MTV
…your chances of landing that big job may be diminished if you admit to playing WoW? Yes, I think it’s bullshit too, but a recruiter recently shared their experiences on a F-13 forum about being asked by employers to avoid WoW players. Their reasons? “There is a belief that WoW players cannot give 100% because their focus is elsewhere, their sleeping patterns are often not great, etc.”
…the theaters may soon be flooded with video game based films? I already mentioned Clock Tower, but the Dallas Examiner recently took a look at 28 video game titles that will soon be films. Sigh…has Uwe Boll taught the industry nothing? Don’t people know it’s nearly impossible to create a quality video game movie? Full story: Dallas Examiner
…EA was recently slapped on the wrist for showing Xbox 360 game footage for a Wii version of a game? Apparently, the TV spot for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 depicts a Wii controller, but uses the better quality 360 footage of the game. The UK’s Advertising Standards Authority said, “oh hell no!” and EA had to admit their wrongdoing and pull the spot. Full story: Joystiq
Tags: Clock Tower, Dallas Examiner, EA, EA Sports, Edge, Hey Did You Hear..., Joystiq, Konami, Metal Gear, Metal Gear Touch, MTV, News, Playstation, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09, Uwe Boll, Uwe Boll sucks, video game movie, Wii Nintendo Wii, World of Warcraft, WoW, Xbox 360
