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Team Ninja's dark, wild spin on Final Fantasy needs some taming
There were leaks: Square Enix was going to reimagine the first Final Fantasy game as a Dark Souls-esque adventure RPG, with an appropriately moody aesthetic. And that’s what Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin is trying to be. Team Ninja, known most recently for its work on the Nioh series, is creating something based on Final Fantasy lore, but with a darker twist.
Throw the couch, there's a Fly In The House
A new trailer for Fly In The House shows just why lone developer Mykhail Konokh calls it an "exploration and destruction" game that parodies Fullbright Company's own exploration game, Gone Home. In Fly In The House, you become obsessed with a nagging, buzzing insect's presence and take up arms against the nuisance. Much like Coffee Stain Studio's Goat Simulator, Konokh's game rewards players with points and ranks when they toss any item in the house they find at the fly, trashing the place they call home. While not officially on Steam Greenlight yet, Fly In The House's concept page notes that players will also "search hidden objects" and "reveal the mysteries" of the main character across varying game modes. Check out the trailer after the break. [Image: Mykhail Konokh]
Watch Lion's Arch fall in Guild Wars 2
Lion's Arch is a center for both Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. It has endured through countless trials. And now it's nothing more than ash and wreckage. Whether you've had a chance to experience the latest patch to Guild Wars 2 or have yet to sift through the damage, you can watch it fall in the latest trailer out of the ArenaNet community team. Admittedly, the trailer doesn't go into full detail showing the lengthy siege that took place, but you can fill in some of those details yourself. And it's quite a sizable chunk of destruction, razing familiar features across the city and reducing the game's iconic location to little more than rubble. Click on past the break to see the devastation unfold before your eyes. [Source: ArenaNet press release]
Fight your wizard friends in XCOM creator's Chaos Reborn
Julian Gollop, the original creator of 1994 PC and Amiga strategy game X-COM: UFO Defense, will launch a Kickstarter project for the resurgence of another strategic game early this year. Titled Chaos Reborn, the game is described as an update to one of Gollop's other classic games, Chaos: The Battle of Wizards. First announced in November 2012, Chaos Reborn will fit into the turn-based strategy genre, which tended to have plenty of success on Kickstarter last year. The game will include "strong RPG elements" as well as "extensive multiplayer and single player options," according to the description on its Prefundia page. The single-player mode has players customizing their wizards and leveling them up through trials in the "Realms of Chaos," acquiring new equipment and treasures along the way before partaking in arena-style battles for up to six players. The 3D arenas will be procedurally-generated, and the leaderboard and tournament-speckled battles will be both live and asynchronous. Gollop also promised a guild and item trading system, in addition to cooperative multiplayer modes. Gollop said the 1985 ZX Spectrum game "stands out as a game with unrealized potential" of all the projects he's credited on in his 30-year development history. "I have spent the last year working on Chaos Reborn, writing the game design, creating a playable prototype and building my team," Gollop added, assuring prospective backers that he intends to complete the project "within a year." Chaos Reborn's development is targeted at PC, Mac and Linux. The development team currently has a functional prototype of the game's multiplayer working, though it uses placeholder art, so backers can expect it to look much different in the coming months. Gollop's Prefundia page noted a target window for the Kickstarter project next month, though it's unclear just when it will launch.
Halfbrick wants to watch it all burn with Colossatron: Massive World Threat
The makers of Jetpack Joyride and Fruit Ninja want you to destroy the planet. From the halls of the first annual PAX Australia comes Colossatron: Massive World Threat. Sure, the game's whole mass-destruction-via-aliens concept sounds a lot like Rampage, but as the announcement trailer shows, it's oh so much more. Players take control of a modular robotic snake, using all manner of upgradeable weapons and abilities to wreak wanton top-down chaos on an unsuspecting populace. The goal? Causing as much property damage as possible. Think of it as a modern take on Godzilla with a campy anime slant and you're mostly there. The Queensland, Australia developer's latest will be playable at its booth for the duration of the show. Can't make it to the expo? Skip past the break for the debut video.
The Daily Grind: What was the worst guild meltdown you've ever seen?
Guilds break up. Just like bands, it's a sad reality. Sometimes they just slowly drift apart because some people are leaving The Secret World and other members are developing differing interests, so the guild shuts down with no animosity. Other times the shutdown is accompanied by an explosion of drama so profound that you'd swear you were undergoing multiple simultaneous divorces instead of just dissolving a gathering of EverQuest II players. There is GM intervention, there are angry phone calls, in extreme cases there may even be bricks thrown through windows. At the time, they're not fun to watch. But those horrible drama-filled guild demolitions do at least make for entertaining stories after the fact. So today we ask you: What was the worst guild meltdown you've ever seen? Were you involved in it or were you just an observer? In retrospect, was everyone blowing things out of proportion or blowing things far out of proportion? 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!
Blood Pact: To summon or not to summon, that's the question
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill scraps another attempt at Kanrethad to discuss being a pet class instead. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous pet bugs in encounter design like jumping down into Nefarian's pit in Blackwing Descent so your pet then did nothing but stand in the middle, or to take up Doomguards against a despawning abyssal phase 3 in Throne of the Four Winds -- and by opposing end them: to die, to sacrifice. To sacrifice, perchance to DPS; Aye, there's the rub, for in that sleep of death, what meter-topping dreams of 5.0 may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil (no, not that one!), must give our developers pause. My terrible warlock Shakespeare adaptation aside, we've had the ponderings about how tied to pets warlocks should or shouldn't be. As I continue to throw myself at Kanrethad's own demonic stampede, I've had some thoughts about the subject.
Julian Gollop's Chaos sequel campaign, multiplayer detailed
If you're currently enjoying XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the Firaxis reboot of the PC classic, then you owe part of that enjoyment to Julian Gollop, the man who designed the original and other subsequent installments in the series. Last week, Gollop revealed he was working on a sequel to his classic turn-based strategy game from 1985, Chaos: The Battle of Wizards.Gollop started up a development blog over the weekend for what he's calling Chaos Reborn, revealing the single-player side is broken down by regions, tasking players (as a newbie Wizard) with setting out on the most noble quest of killing the Wizard King as quickly as possible – with each turn, the Wizard King's forces grow stronger. It's just one of the perks of being a Wizard King. The downside is other Wizards are always trying to kill you.Multiplayer will consist of arena battles for up to eight opponents, in both asynchronous and direct connection formats. Chaos Reborn will showcase deathmatch and team-based mode, and let players go up against AI-controlled opponents. Pass-and-play on mobile devices is also mentioned.Chaos Reborn is little more than specs on a page right now, so get in on the ground floor of Gollop's RSS feed now for future updates through the source link below.
1985's Chaos: The Battle of Wizards getting remade for iOS
Chaos: The Battle of Wizards is an old tactical game created for the ZX Spectrum computer in 1985. Despite its complexity, it has a loyal following and has influenced a lot of games and developers. Now, the original creator of Chaos, Julian Gollop, has decided to work on recreating the title for iOS as Chaos Reborn, and he's blogging about the process. Gollop has plenty of experience on modern consoles: He recently served as creative director on the Vita version of the Assassin's Creed 3. But he says he values the opportunity to be back on his own, working on a rising platform on his old game. The feature list he's put together is ambitious, with a full campaign mode as well as different multiplayer modes. It'll be interesting to see how the project turns out. Even if you're not a fan of the 1985 title, Gollop is an experienced developer who's returning to his roots courtesy of Apple's great and accessible mobile platform. Gollop has just started development, so it might be a while before we see this game released. But it'll be intriguing to follow along on his blog as he goes.
Warhammer Online unleashes the Daemonic Gifts of Khorne
Chaos in Warhammer Online is bad news. It's bad news for the more orderly people of the realm, but it's also sometimes bad news for the followers of Chaos, since the deities can be a bit unfocused when spreading madness. Case in point: the new event in which several of Khorne's daemons have broken through and joined the battles across the land by attacking every mortal within arm's reach. That means both Order and Chaos players will be able to take part in the event to push back Khorne's minions. Participation simply requires players to slay Khorne's minions as well as throw in some enemy player kills. Successful participation rewards you with several boosts, including a special binding scroll for a daemon and new pieces of jewelry. No word on how long this event will take place, but considering it's a manifestation of chaos, we think it might be best to jump in and take advantage before it vanishes.
WOWee and MicroVision offer 200-inch viewing and 'booming sound' on your mobile
Despite all the product rivalry at CES, a little romance was inevitable -- and not just in the Engadget trailer. WOWee, purveyor of the ONE portable speaker, has paired up with MicroVision and its dashing PicoP laser projector technology (shown above) to create a "marriage of sight and sound." It looks like the two companies will start out by simply bundling their respective wares, which will be available together in 120 countries from this quarter, rather than rushing to announce a hybrid device straight away. A wise decision, no doubt.
Patch 4.3 PTR: Chaos orbs no longer soulbound
An important crafting change has just been pushed live on the public test realms. Patch 4.3 will finally lift the soulbound restriction on Chaos Orbs, allowing players to freely trade them and roll on them at the end of heroic instances. No mention was made of whether or not orbs will be purchasble with valor or justice points, but only that they will be free-rolled for when they drop. Back in Wrath of the Lich King, Frozen Orbs were not initially soulbound but lost their restrictions and need-roll exclusivity over the course of the expansion. It was assumed that the same thing would happen to Chaos Orbs as time went on, and lo and behold, it has. Crafters will have to adjust prices accordingly now that a rare component will become less rare.
Massively Exclusive: Maplestory Age of Triumph trailer
Last week, Nexon announced the conclusion of the Chaos series in their free-to-play fantasy side-scroller MapleStory -- Age of Triumph. Today, the studio offers Massively an exclusive video trailer for a peek at the action that is scheduled to release on August 17th. The video highlights the three main features coming up in this patch: The new PvP game Capture the Flag; footage of the new Silent Crusade story line, a full-length quest for players level 37-110; and even the new Crusader Codex, a book highlighting the various monsters that roam Maple World which players can add to after defeating new monsters. Click past the cut for a look at these upcoming features in Age of Triumph.
Nexon concludes MapleStory's Chaos series with loads of new content
MapleStory's Chaos series of updates is ending with a bang with the Age of Triumph, which according to Nexon, is "a huge update that brings unique content exclusively to those players who traverse Maple World on Global MapleStory servers." So what does the final update have in store for Maple World? Well, for starters it brings an all-new storyline titled The Silent Crusade. The storyline quests are available for players in the incredibly broad level range of 37-110, and they introduce players to a force that specializes in the elimination of Master Monsters (a new faction of enemies). Alongside the new storyline, the update will also introduce PvPers to the new Capture the Flag mode. And lastly, players will find in their inventory a Crusader Codex, which is essentially an encyclopedia of the monsters of Maple World. Each page can be filled with Monster Cards, which drop from various enemies. Once a page is completed, the page will display the monster's information such as levels, locations, and item drops, and players will receive unique prizes such as medals. For some new screenshots of the upcoming update, check out the gallery below. %Gallery-16709%
MapleStory's Chaos updates kicking off with the Age of Heroes
It's been a while since we've heard from MapleStory, but today the free-to-play side-scroller from Nexon has taken the wraps off its Chaos summer update plans. The next two months will bring major content updates to Maple World courtesy of the Age of Heroes patch that drops on June 29th. New quests, zones, and a new high-level boss are all on tap, as is a battle through the Henesys Ruins and the Knight Stronghold that Nexon's press release describes as "the most formidable challenge in the entire game." The Age of Heroes update will also bring about a hero class re-balance, and restrictions for creating Dual Blade, Aran, and Evan classes will be lifted. Explorers, Cygnus, and Resistance classes are also being tweaked, and players will find them "more powerful than ever" due to main skill enhancements. Later in the summer, the Age of Artisans update will unveil a new level-based crafting system, and the Age of Battle will bring a PvP mode to MapleStory. Head to the official site for all the details.
Warhammer Online previews Thanquol's Incursion
If there's one note that Warhammer Online has been hitting rather steadily of late, it's the solid note of the Skaven. The vicious rat-men have been a popular race in the franchise for years, and the promise of an increased presence for the group has been met with nothing but anticipation. So it's unsurprising that Thanquol's Incursion is the newest element of the game under development as a 24v24 RvR dungeon -- a chance for both Order and Chaos to fight back against a Skaven operation of enormous scope. While the dungeon contains several Skaven bosses, the theme is still RvR, with boss fights tallying victory according to both damage dealt and enemy players slain. Players will engage in battles on multiple fronts, and the preview suggests that there's a definite element of trying to work the bosses to deal the most damage possible to your enemies. Take a look at the full preview for what promises to be an all-out brawl between three different sides for Warhammer Online enthusiasts.
The Daily Grind: Do you try and influence the random?
Objectively, we know that the drop is random, that the attack randomly hits between one and eight times, that the boss randomly targets a party member, and so on. But human beings are notoriously bad about certain concepts, and one of them happens to be randomness. Somewhere in the world, someone genuinely believes that all you have to do to stop a typhoon is to find the right butterfly before it flaps its wings. And if you know enough about computers to know that they're incapable of generating truly random numbers, it's a short step from there to trying to influence whatever act of random chance is coming due in your favorite game. When you're playing, do you try and influence what should be random events? Do you have little theories about what causes certain things to happen and how to alter them? Have you learned and lived by simple mantras like "two steps left, one step right" -- even when you know objectively that they're not going to have the desired result (in the linked case, causing the monster to not blow up half the party)? Or, on the opposite end, do you rigorously dissuade yourself from any such theories and remind yourself that random is exactly what it says it is on the tin?
Chinese WoW partial relaunch pics, comparison shots of censorship
MMOsite.com has nabbed some pictures of the return to the Chinese World of Warcraft. As you know if you've been paying attention, the game has been offline over there for a few months now, but the game just recently got approved to go back online, and so they're in the middle of a "partial relaunch" (which I believe is taking the form of a closed beta) and the servers are crowding up again. As you can see, there's a stampede (much like ours) going on in Thunder Bluff -- looks like players are happy to be online again.They also have some comparison images of the censorship found over there. Anything with skulls or bones on it is out, and the offending images have been replaced with piles of dirt and bags and debris. Blood appears as black oil rather than red liquid, and even player corpses are out. As you can see, everywhere players die, there are instead little graves and tombstones around. Very interesting. No idea if this actually "helps" in China (or what the point of the censorship is -- seems as though it's a cultural thing, more like it's a respect for death and dead bodies rather than worrying about whether people will be disturbed by the mention of violence), but of course the government over there has final say on what goes into the game, and apparently this is what they approved. Hopefully Chinese players will be headed back to Northrend before long.
All Points Bulletin chaos to balance out with Criminal and Enforcer dynamic
The upcoming criminals-vs.-vigilantes game All Points Bulletin holds the promise of being an absolutely chaotic rampage, where a hundred players lay waste to a sprawling urban environment. While that *seems* like it would be fun, for a while anyway, even the most destructive gamer incarnate of Jack Thompson's personal antichrist will ultimately grow tired of blowing stuff up. Fortunately, that's not what APB is going to be all about. In fact, a closer look at this game can makes us wonder: Is it really possible to compare the unbridled carnage and hot coffee of Grand Theft Auto with the gameplay of ABP? Not really, according to Realtime Worlds creative director Dave Jones, who spoke about APB with Chris Kohler from Wired's GameLife blog. Jones told Wired, "There's nothing to compare it to, but that's kind of what we try to do with our games."
Warhammer Online updates lore with The Origin of the Elves
The GOA Team at Warhammer Online updated the game's lore this week with "The Origin of the Elves". Love 'em or hate 'em, they came from somewhere. But even the Elves themselves aren't sure of their true origins, which have been lost with the passage of thousands of years. The Origin of the Elves walks the reader from the early, peaceful days of the Elves on the Isle of Ulthuan to when the Old Ones' Warp Gates collapsed, and the forces of Chaos flooded in. The struggle to resist Chaos changed the Elves, forcing them to become increasingly war-like in order to survive. The Warhammer Online lore update tells the tale of the key figures in the history of the Elves and the parts they've played leading up to The Sundering, the cataclysm that shattered Nagarythe and further divided their once-harmonious race. You can find "The Origins of the Elves" over at The Warhammer Herald. The sands of the Tomb Kings are coming as the final release in the Call to Arms live expansion, the Land of the Dead approaches! Massively has your back with coverage from Mythic Entertainment at Games Day '09, so get your WAAGGGHHH ready for RvR mayhem as Massively re-arms for WAR!
