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Dark Millennium Online to be playable at E3 2012
While last week's E3 is still fresh in our minds and hearts, THQ is giving us a great reason to look forward to next year's expo: the chance to get our hands on Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online. Eurogamer reports that THQ is committing to this time frame. Danny Bilson says that WAR40K will be the highlight of the company's display: "Next year, I promise you, next E3. I've already got plans for what the booth is like. The centrepiece of the booth will be that MMO." We caught only a glimpse of a teaser trailer for the game at this year's E3. Vigil Games is hard at work on the $50+ million project, and Bilson says that it's looking good and on track for a launch between April 2012 and March 2013. "It looks fabulous. I like it. I can't speak to it now, or people will kill me. But, I'll tell you what, it plays differently. A little bit... This thing is gonna be special," he said. "We're going to come out when we come out in a big way. I feel like we're fully competitive with the other guys. It'll be seven years in the making when it comes out. We're competing with the best games in the world. You can't mess around with this thing."
Star Wars: The Old Republic lists 2011 event appearances
Are you ready for the Star Wars: The Old Republic Hyperdrive or Bust World Tour 2011? OK, that might not be an official thing (and seriously, wouldn't you love a t-shirt with that on it?), but BioWare has announced the community events that TOR will be attending this year. So if you're willing to make the journey and eager to get some face-time with both the game and the developers, here's where you can make it happen: E3 in Los Angeles, CA (June 7-9) San Diego Comic-Con, CA (July 21-24) Gamescom in Cologne, Germany (August 17-21) PAX Prime in Seattle, WA (August 26-28) Eurogamer Expo in London, UK (September 22-25) New York Comic Con (October 13-16) Paris Games Week (October 21-25) DreamHack in Jönköping, Sweden (November 24-27) You can read all of the details of The Old Republic's worldwide journey on the Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Events page.
NCsoft: Guild Wars 2 beta coming later this year, will probably release in 2012
Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that Guild Wars 2 fans hoping to get their hands on this title this year may get their wish -- but the bad news is that it looks as though the release is still a while away. According to Eurogamer, Guild Wars 2 will enter beta testing in the second half of this year. The news came out in a conference call with NCsoft's Jaeho Lee, who also indicated that the title wouldn't release until 2012: "Starting from year 2012, we believe substantial growth will be driven by new blockbuster titles like [Blade & Soul] and Guild Wars 2. Also, Guild Wars 2 will go into beta testing stage in the second half of this year." However, until we hear a definite release date, we'll take this with a pinch of salt, especially considering that ArenaNet's mantra is "When it's ready" -- and this isn't the first time Lee has said something similar. Hopefully, "ready" will come quickly.
Fable 3 combat lead gets combative about game's reception
It's a comfort to know that though Fable 3 (launching today on PC) may have represented a downturn in quality from Lionhead's previous game, the studio's talent for utter delusion is as robust as ever. Combat lead Mike West starts out well enough, detailing for Eurogamer some improvements in the PC port, like control schemes optimized for mouse and keyboard and a beefed-up graphical engine that supports higher resolutions and 3D effects. But when West starts defending Fable 3 against critics, things get ... weird. Here's a sample. "[Fable 3] is a better game than Fable 2." ... That's not a good start, but keep going. "Fable 3 wasn't very buggy - it was pretty polished. It all fitted together very well and as a product it was very good." If you'll remember, as with all "pretty polished" games, Lionhead had to solicit bug reports from the community after the game's release. "People saying the story wasn't very good was unfair. It's an interesting situation of you gather people together and then defeating the main bad guy." Umm, Mike? ... Hey Mike? That last thing you said? That's not really what happens in your game. Well, it's what happens in the first half. ... Oh, wait, did you only play the first half? Not that we blame you of course, but it would explain so much.
The Road to Mordor: Four more years, four more years!
While four years is not a nice round number -- or even a halfway number like five -- it's a substantial milestone for any MMORPG. Debuting in early 2007, Lord of the Rings Online introduced something we'd never seen before: a fully realized 3-D virtual Middle-earth where we could not only enjoy a deep MMO but explore the lands and meet the people we'd only read about before. It might not be a universal truth that all LotRO players are big Tolkien fans, but I'm sure enough that it's a sizable chunk of the playerbase. There's something special about the IP that gives a weight and richness to the game, especially when a long-time reader of the books is given leave to actually go on adventures through Eriador, Moria and Mirkwood. It's a giant sight-seeing tour of lore, a thrill with every brush one has with the source material. It's heady to consider that four years ago we were but starting on this journey, feeling out the mechanics of combat, crafting and pie-running. Four years later, LotRO has emerged to be one of the most significant MMOs of the past decade, growing strong with no signs of slowing down. Hit the jump as we reminisce about the ups, the downs, and the off-the-beaten-path hikes of our beloved game as it celebrates its fourth anniversary.
Patch 4.1 will not contain Firelands raid content
According to a statement from Blizzard on Eurogamer, patch 4.1 will not contain Firelands and the associated raid content. Lead producer J. Allen Brack cited the fact that players hadn't sufficiently progressed through the current tier of raid content as the reason for this decision. Eurogamer provides the quote: "We feel like the player base isn't really ready for the next raid yet," [Brack] said. "And that led to some changes where Firelands is now actually going to be in 4.2." This is a step toward much smaller (and faster) content patches, much as we had back in vanilla WoW. Blizzard could release a small set of features far more rapidly than the current "monolithic" patches. Firelands and its associated raid content will now be included in patch 4.2. Patch 4.1 will entirely focus on the return of Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub. [via Eurogamer]
Guild Wars 2 designers discuss the last three Guild Wars 2 professions
Are the Mesmer and Assassin returning to Guild Wars 2 or not? Speculation on these two professions has been ongoing and enthusiastic among Guild Wars fans, and designers Eric Flannum and Jon Peters added a hefty dose of fuel to the fire in their interview with Eurogamer today. The two didn't offer a definitive answer on these two classes but hinted that the Mesmer profession might not be returning exactly as we know it. Jon Peters commented that "people who enjoy that playstyle will be happy," but didn't offer further clarification. Eric Flannum did confirm that we have one more light armor class and two more medium armor classes -- what those are remain to be seen, hopefully very soon. Check out the full interview at Eurogamer.
Eskil Steenberg talks LOVE, progression, and making indie MMOs
Eskil Steenberg's LOVE has been flying well under the radar of late, even more so than is usual for an indie MMORPG. A little phenomenon called Minecraft happened over the past year since LOVE's launch, and while both games hail from Sweden, that's about where the similarities end. In fact, comparing LOVE to any other game is rather challenging (but also instructive), as evidenced by a new Eurogamer interview. Steenberg is literally a one-man development show, and the piece covers a lot of fascinating ground including everything from how you measure the title against more traditional fare to how players react when confronted with LOVE's open-ended paradigm shift. Gamers will "play a game like mine... and they'll go back and play something scripted and say 'oh my God this is so archaic.' It's like if you play Dragon's Lair today. I'm not controlling it, it's all fake," Steenberg says. The interview also touches on why Steenberg opted for a non-traditional approach to massive development, or put another way, why he didn't fall into lockstep behind World of Warcraft (and EverQuest before it) as the vast majority of the industry has done. "I'm trying to do something completely different," Steenberg says. "What they're doing is limiting what you do. You follow, you grind upwards. [Progression] is something you should do if you want to make money because you get that hook. But I was never interested in making my players addicts."
SOE's Smedley says MMO copycats incoming, drops hints on PlanetSide Next release
Big things are happening at SOE these days, and whether you're talking about the newly minted DC Universe Online or the company's PlanetSide followup and spy-centric The Agency, it's an exciting time to be a fan. Eurogamer brings us a bit of info regarding potential release windows for both PlanetSide Next and The Agency, and the former looks to be gracing our desktops much sooner than we expected given the general lack of information to date. "We're looking at late first quarter, early second quarter [2011]," says SOE head honcho John Smedley in regard to the long-awaited PlanetSide sequel. Players will have to wait a bit longer to get their espionage fix, as The Agency is still slated to arrive "late this year." Why so long? It boils down to SOE's desire to differentiate itself from the competition. "There's some stuff coming out in the next two or three months, MMO-wise, and a lot of it is generic copycats of other games," Smedley tells Eurogamer. He also talks a bit about the impending arrival of Free Realms on the Playstation 3, intimating that the free-to-play title will spread its console wings in early February.
SOE's Smedley talks platforms, sub fees, and DCUO post-release content
While thousands of DC Comics fans are rolling up spandex-clad superheroes (and villains) in SOE's newly launched DC Universe Online MMO, SOE itself is busy extolling the virtues of what some are calling the first real console massively multiplayer title. In an interview at Eurogamer, SOE boss John Smedley talks a bit about the challenges of building an MMO for two platforms simultaneously. "This game is built from the ground up to be playable on both the PlayStation 3 and PC, so it really makes a big difference as opposed to just porting it," he said. Smedley goes on to answer a few questions related to the size of the post-release development team (between 50 and 75 people) as well as whether or not the much-hyped monthly content updates will carry a charge above and beyond the sub fee (they won't). "The monthly subscription fee means players can expect a lot of new content from us. And I say a lot -- I really mean that. This is something that we feel obligated to the players, because they are paying monthly sub fee," Smedley explained. Check out the full text at Eurogamer and hit up the official DCUO website for more info on the game.
Digital Foundry puts PS3's Mass Effect 2 under the microscope
Digital Foundry has placed its exacting eye upon Mass Effect 2's PlayStation 3 incarnation, addressing the big talk from both BioWare and Sony about the game utilizing the Mass Effect 3 engine and ultimately being the "definitive" version. DF's takeaway was that the PS3 version, as far as the PSN demo is concerned, turned out to be "different as opposed to definitive." Directly comparing the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, DF found the former to be a "a curious mixture of improvements, downgrades and swapped out effects." To give you an idea of how minor some differences are, however, the hexagon pattern on Miranda Lawson's comes out as looking "flat." There's also discussion of shadows looking more realistic, and biotic effects being of lower fidelity. Also, the PS3 version's framerate appears to be unlocked, which lets the game breathe a little when it can, but DF noted that "tearing is much more apparent in the new game - both in-game and in the cut-scenes." So, perhaps the PS3 version isn't quite definitive, but we're not hearing anything you could still use as an excuse to skip Mass Effect 2 next month.
World of Warcraft will reign for another 20 years according to industry analysts
With all of the recent focus on World of Warcraft following its latest expansion, it's no surprise that the industry leader is at the center of another round of "What will topple WoW?" discussions. In an article on Eurogamer, industry analysts and developers lend their thoughts as to what made World of Warcraft so dang popular to begin with, and what it will take -- if anything -- for another game to beat its popularity, subscription numbers and cultural footprint. Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter declared that nothing will top the title for at least 20 years due to an insurmountable lead, although this became debated by the other participants. Cryptic's Jack Emmert thinks WoW will be "chipped away at" instead of toppled. Age of Conan's Craig Morrison thinks that nobody can consciously plan to overcome WoW's lead saying, "You don't topple a cultural phenomenon. But you can join one." GamersFirst's Bjorn Book-Larsson doesn't think there's a need for WoW to be toppled due to the size of the market. Codemasters' Dave Solari imagines that the winning formula "would have mass market appeal, with instant accessibility, would work on all platforms, particularly mobile, be incredibly viral and social -- like a feature-rich FarmVille." Undead Labs' Jeff Strain thinks that MMO studios should be looking at it a different way: "They should instead be striving to achieve the same level of success with their own game ideas." Some even speculate that Blizzard is the only studio capable of besting its own game, perhaps with its second MMO that's due to be announced in 2012. Head on over to Eurogamer for the full discussion.
EA puts faith in The Old Republic's lifespan and profits
With all the cries of doom and gloom against Star Wars: The Old Republic -- not to mention accusations of a wildly bloated production budget -- one may be led to believe that TOR will fail even before it sees the light of day. EA, on the other hand, is expressing a calm confidence in the game's potential longevity and financial success. According to Eurogamer, EA's CFO Eric Brown predicts that TOR will not only last over a decade, but will be profitable even if there are fewer than a million subscribers: "Our assumptions for break-even and profitability are not seven-digit subscribers. We think we can run and operate a very successful and profitable MMO at different levels. The key thing here is to really perfect the product. We're shooting for an extremely high quality game experience. We view this as a 10-year opportunity." Brown previously admitted that TOR is the single largest project in the history of EA, and industry analysts have predicted that the title would need at least a million subscribers to break even.
Square-Enix working hard to "regain trust" with players and investors
It's been a rocky couple months for Final Fantasy XIV. Due to extensive feedback from the playerbase and mixed reviews, Square-Enix extended the free trial period for new players to a full two months -- a rarity in the industry -- as the company worked to shore up FFXIV's weaker points. Due to all this, Square-Enix has been watched closely by investors and players regarding the future course of the game. President Yoichi Wada recently stated during a money report that the company is doing all it can to improve the situation: "We're quickly working on reforms... We'd like to put our full power into regaining trust." Eurogamer reports that FFXIV has sold 630,000 units worldwide as of September 30th, including 230K in Europe and 210K in North America. According to IGN, FFXIV was the third-best selling title from the company in the past six-month period. Square-Enix points to a couple bright spots in the near future -- a partnership with China's Shanda Games and the upcoming spring 2011 release of Final Fantasy XIV on the PS3 -- that should help boost sales.
Jack Emmert: Star Trek Online may go F2P yet -- if you play Champions, that is
Talk about whiplash! Ever since last week's announcement of Champions Online's move to a hybrid free-to-play model, all eyes have turned to Cryptic's other MMO, Star Trek Online, as a possible candidate for this treatment. While STO's Dan Stahl said that Champions' move had "no direct impact" on Star Trek's business model, the outspoken Jack Emmert seems more open to the possibility. In an interview with Eurogamer earlier today, Emmert addressed the issue head-on and allowed for a future where F2P STO happened. For now, the company is going to wait and see how Champions fares before making any decisions about STO's future: "We're not sold one way or the other with Star Trek yet. If people want Star Trek to go free-to-play then get in and play Champions and help make it a great success, because that would send a strong message. If we did Turbine's level of success that would certainly merit the discussion!" However, Jack Emmert says the decision isn't his alone and refused to commit one way or the other. He does hint at a fourth project that Cryptic is working on, one which is not fantasy-based and is "close to my heart." For speculation on what a free-to-play Star Trek Online might look like, make sure you read Ryan's column on the subject.
Jack Emmert says subscription MMOs have to prepare to beat WoW
Jack Emmert, the designer behind MMOs such as City of Heroes and Champions Online, spoke to Eurogamer recently about the trend of free-to-play MMOs vs. subscription MMOs -- a timely discussion with Champions due to go free-to-play sometime next year. Jack said in the interview that games like World of Warcraft and Star Wars: The Old Republic are going to be the games that will lead the subscription market, and that all other games, especially those with a budget of $50 million or less, should consider a F2P business model. He says in the article, "I don't believe that subscriptions are dead because there are 10 million or so people subscribing to WoW that beg to differ. What I think is there are simply not as many people willing to pay another subscription in addition to WoW, in addition to their Xbox Gold membership." As the MMO market expands and more gaming consoles offer online pay-to-play subscriptions, the choices for consumers expand as the money in their wallets shrinks. Jack comments about you, about the gaming connoisseur, and about F2P: "[Y]ou're just sampling it, giving it a shot, seeing if it works. If it doesn't, no harm no foul - you don't play." Given Cryptic's corporate decisions regarding F2P, the success of the Turbine's F2P games, and the rising quality of F2P games overall, he may be on to something. Catch the whole interview on Eurogamer.
Ben Bateman details the fall of Realtime Worlds and APB
Interested in an insider's view of the fall of All Points Bulletin and its development studio Realtime Worlds? Eurogamer takes a look at the last days of the now-defunct MMOFPS in a lengthy article that focuses on former community manager Ben Bateman. If you're looking for an in-depth exposé of why the game failed and who is responsible, you won't find that here, as the piece is heavy on the human interest angle and light on actual details beyond the plush (by game industry standards) working conditions. Still, it's worth a read, both for Bateman's perspective and his relentless positivity in the face of a uniformly bad situation. "They essentially said, 'here are the 50 people that we want to keep on. Please go to room X.' It was tough," says Bateman, recalling the Begbies Traynor administration meeting that sealed the company's fate.
So a Warlord, a Stormcaller and a Justicar walked into a Rift...
OK, so the title above isn't so much a setup for a hilarious joke as a ham-handed introduction to three recently revealed souls -- specialty subclasses -- from Rift: Planes of Telara. MMORPG.com unveiled these never-before-seen souls over the past week. The Warlord is a melee soul that focuses more on controlling the tide of battle by buffing allies and debuffing the enemy, but can get in over her head quickly if separated from the pack. If you've always been partial to battle clerics, then the Justicar is right up your alley -- he is a powerful front-line fighter who builds up healing power through fighting, which can then be used to restore others. Finally, the Stormcaller is a mage specialty who uses a potent mix of air and water magic to call down the thunder on her foes. Continuing with Trion Worlds' worldwide promotional tour for Rift, Eurogamer wrote up a spiffy hands-on piece while Germany's Gameswelt.TV interviewed design producer Hal Hanlin. You can watch the latter after the jump!
Trion's Hal Hanlin: Rift will be "sitting very comfortably in 2012 and beyond"
In a recent interview, Trion Worlds' Hal Hanlin told Eurogamer that Rift: Planes of Telara has three major factors in its favor: world-class talent, world-class technology and world-class money. Because of these factors, the team is gearing up to eat at the big boy's table come Rift's 2011 launch. Hanlin, Rift's design producer, considers his job to fashion an immersive, exciting and engaging playscape: "I obsess over the details of design and making sure that everyone has what they need to make a game you want to bring your 20 closest friends to play." The interview covers many of the features which Hanlin considers to be Rift's selling points, such as the dynamic invasions. Currently, the title is boasting over 100 events, but the team still has the option to include additional ones. However, quantity for the sake of quantity is not worth it. "More is not better," Hanlin said. "Better is better." As a result, one of the chief mandates of the company is to create "multiple paths" for players to choose from a variety of activities instead of a linear leveling path. How does Hanlin see the game doing post-release? "Our longevity is going to be better than a lot of MMOs introduced to the market, because there's always something to see that's changed... I think we're going to be sitting very comfortably in 2012 and beyond."
Capcom Arcade to bring retro thrills and clever pricing to your iPhone
Capcom has announced that in early November an App Store near you will be graced with Capcom Arcade, featuring at launch arcade classics Street Fighter II, 1942, Commando, and Ghouls 'n' Ghosts. IGN has a positive writeup of a preview it played, saying that the touch-based controls worked fine but it was disappointed by the lack of online play or leaderboards. Capcom is promising these features in updates down the line, as well as an additional game every month. Personally I find Ghouls 'n' Ghosts horrendously difficult with a proper joystick, let alone a touch interface. Still though, our own Mike Schramm was impressed by iPhone version of Street Fighter 4, and the games will offer the option of adjusted (read: easier) difficulty levels for iPhone play to reduce the number of expensive devices thrown against walls because of the first boss in GnG. Anyway, touch screen controls aren't the clever bit. The clever bit is how you'll be paying for this slice of retro goodness. The app itself will be free, and come with a few tokens you can use to play the games a few times for free. If you run out, you can buy more tokens, or just wait because you'll get a few free ones each day. Eventually Capcom hopes you'll tire of the drip-feeding and pay out for unlimited play of one or more of the games, although exactly how much you'll be paying for this privilege it isn't letting on yet.
