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WoW Moviewatch: Inventing Swear Words 5
Inventing Swear Words has been one of my favorite Oxhorn machinima series. Its lighthearted, playful nature won me over early, and the unmistakable pokes at WoW culture frequently made me laugh. It's been a year since the release of Inventing Swear Words 4, when Mortuus and Lacy got married. In this final chapter, the team has an epic plan to finally force their new swear words on the entire World of Warcraft. It's got all of the cameos you'd want out of the final chapter of a saga, a great resolution, and the same fun music you'd expect from Oxhorn. Mr. Horn does assure us the characters will be back in other works, which makes me happy. I love those guys.If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch
Hands-on with the Samsung Saga
How does a totally plain-looking Windows Mobile-powered Samsung with seemingly no particular strengths or stand-out features to its name survive in a product lineup that features devices like the Storm and the Touch Pro? Just fine, thank you very much. Admittedly, we went into this particular hands-on with a good deal of skepticism, but we ended up genuinely taken aback by how much we enjoyed having the Saga in our pocket. Read on to find out why.%Gallery-39865%
Verizon's Samsung Saga hands-on
We spent a few brief moments with Samsung's dual-mode Saga for Verizon recently, and let's just put it this way: our reaction wasn't what we'd expected. Head on over to Engadget Mobile for the pictures -- oh, those glorious pictures -- and our quick take!
Final Fantasy Legend 2 next from Square Enix's magical remake machine
The best RPGs from both Square and Enix are the ones made pre-merger (with the possible exception of The World Ends with You) -- we all know it, and so does Square Enix. That's why they've been loading up the DS with ports and remakes of their back catalogue. The strategy has paid off: the games have been well-received by critics and audiences alike, with Dragon Quest V one of the top ten best-selling games in Japan last year. The next old game to be made new is SaGa 2, known in the US as Final Fantasy Legend II. This game is from before the SaGa series became terrible! The cel-shaded graphics and new art in the remake look quite nice, so we're expecting this Game Boy remake to be another winner for SE. We're happy to see the return of a Game Boy classic -- Game Boy remakes seem like naturals for the DS, but don't happen as often as we'd expect. Check out tiny screenshots in the full scan at the link.
Petroglyph discusses design and microtransactions for Mytheon
For a lot of people, the MMO/RTS hybrid has been an unwieldy beast at times. That's not to say there aren't interesting titles to check out, such as Dreamlords, Atlantica and SAGA. However, nobody has quite made a huge splash with an MMORTS just yet. So could the recently announced Mytheon be the first game to catch a lot of people's attention? Well, why don't you see for yourself in this 1UP interview with the game's developer, Petroglyph -- whose previous games include Universe at War and Star Wars: Empire at War.Since there haven't been any screens -- and probably won't be for a while -- it's hard to make too many judgments at this point. The interview promises some interesting, if not vague, features. So you can bet we'll be on the lookout for any future information about Mytheon in the coming months.
Verizon's Samsung Saga shows its face, as anticipated
Nothing new or unexpected here: just like we said a few days ago, the Samsung Saga, one of the bluest handsets in recent memory, is now available online at Verizon. Also filed under "things we already knew," the globetrotting GSM and CDMA-enabled smartphone with EV-DO is selling for $199.99 (with a 2-year contract and one of those mail-in rebates we all know and love), though apparently you won't be able to walk into a Verizon store and pick one up in person until December 1st. Hit the read link for more granular details should you really, really want them.
Samsung Saga launches this Friday on Verizon, but don't bother checking stores
One of the more thoroughly-scooped Samsungs of 2008 is getting ready for a launch this Friday -- sort of. It looks like the GSM-equipped Saga for Verizon will arrive through telesales starting this Friday, but the in-store date doesn't follow on for another two weeks -- December 1. Even then, it'll only be on a direct fulfillment basis, with "full" retail availability to be announced later. With that kind of lackadaisical attitude, we can only guess that Verizon's not expecting terribly much interest in the stark blue QWERTY handset running Windows Mobile with a penchant for global roaming, which'll run a $199.99 on a two-year plan after $70 mail-in rebate. The optical mouse is probably going to be a polarizing feature here, but with the i760 on the way out, how else are you gonna get your Sammy smartphone kicks on Verizon? Follow the break for some Saga eye candy! [Thanks, anonymous tipster]
Samsung's winter lineup for the US gets dolled up for the camera
We know about most of these handsets, but it's always fun to get a few final views before they're officially announced and made available, isn't it? phoneArena has what must be the complete (or close to it) lineup from Samsung for the US market in the next few months all in one place, showing the a777 and a867 Eternity for AT&T, the Behold for T-Mobile, and the i770 Saga, i910 Omnia, and u810 Reknown for Verizon. New here is the R600 Hue II for Alltel, a boring-ass little flip that should be available in a handful of colors. There are a couple goodies in here -- the a867, i770, and i910 should all get some blood flowing, depending on how you roll. Which one's your favorite?
New Verizon rebate form lists Samsung Omnia, i770 "Saga"
And now a little bit of news out of our "straight out of left field" department: Verizon's apparently getting the Omnia. We've spent so long trying to will a North American HSDPA-equipped version of Samsung's WinMo superphone into existence that we totally failed to consider the possibility of an EV-DO-equipped version materializing first, and sure enough, Verizon's latest rebate form lists an Omnia. We suppose it's possible that this'll somehow be watered down from its international equivalent, but we hope both Samsung and Big Red are smart enough to launch an unfettered, honest-to-goodness CDMA translation of the mighty 5-megapixel original.Separately, we noticed a Samsung Saga listed on there, did a little Googling, and Wirefly seems convinced that the long-rumored global WinMo QWERTY i770 is going to be called the "Saga." So yeah, that settles that.[Thanks, Donald H.]
News from the Wider MMO World: September 2, 2008
The MMO genre is more than World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, and Warhammer Online. Here's what's going on in the rest of the world.Dreamlords the Reawakening makes deal to move to RussiaLockpick Entertainment has signed an agreement with Akella Games, Russian distributors of Planetside, Everquest 2, and Pirates of the Burning Sea, to localize and distribute Dreamlords the Reawakening. "Our goal is to reach out to new audiences and the Russian market is fast growing and with Akella's expertise we're able to do just that," said David Rosén, CEO of Lockpick Entertainment. "We hope that collaboration between our two companies will benefit both parties and that such an interesting genre will draw gamer's attention" said Alexander Trifonov, Managing Director of Akella Online. Closed beta testing is expected to begin in early September. Pet Evolution Manuals debut on Grand ChaseThree different Pet Evolution Manuals are available at the shop in Grand Chase, allowing knights to evolve their pets at levels 0, 20, and 40. There will also be prizes for each knight that evolves and raises their pet to level 10. Prizes for winning pets include nutrient shots, pet food, gacha coins, and pet skills. Additionally, players who log on between the hours of 4 and 8 PM every day will receive double xp and double gp, in the Afterschool Adventure Hour.
First Impressions: SAGA
SAGA (not to be confused with Saga, who gave us the immortal "On the Loose") is an MMORTS -- massively multiplayer online real-time strategy game. While there are few enough of these on the market -- making its very existence worthy of approbation -- we thought it would be worth taking a closer look, to offer up an opinion of our first couple of hours into gameplay. Thus, this First Impressions post.Remember: this is not a guide, nor was this in any way influenced by the development studio. This is an entirely subjective look at SAGA, from an average gamer's point of view. And now, on with the show! Game. Thing. Whatever. Onward!%Gallery-28014%
MMORTS Saga registration keys on offer
Gamershell has been given 25,000 registration keys for the upcoming MMORTS Saga, continuing the trend started by FileFront earlier this year. If you're not quite ready to take on another beta, familiarize yourself with Saga by checking out the trailer and repeat to yourself "Giant war tortoise" until the launch hits.With currently two MMORTS titles on the horizon, which has you more interested, Saga or Atlantica? Can two such games exist in the possibly overcrowded MMO market, or is there room for only so much innovation in the realm of gameplay? All these questions and more soon to be answered in the approaching months!
Real-time strategy getting more massive
Despite the best efforts of various MMOFPS titles, MMORPGs continue to be the genre du jour within the massively multiplayer sphere. Whether it's because other variants are less viable or simply because the conventional designs make for an easier pitch when searching for seed funding or publishing deals remains to be seen.One auspiciously under-explored genre so far has been the MMORTS, the fusion of old-school real-time strategy and the massively multiplayer. Part of the reason this genre hasn't seen more action, we think, is because the technical and design challenges inherent are somewhat daunting. In a recent post, Rock Paper Shotgun's Jim Rossignol takes a look at some upcoming MMORTS titles, including the ambitious Dreamlords releasing this week, and reports on what he finds. This blogger still doesn't totally buy the concept, but the proof will likely be in the pudding.
Silverlode offers free commercial Saga accounts through FileFront
Saga is an MMORTS by Silverlode Interactive, where you can command literal legions of troops in never-ending battle. While it's free-to-play, there are two versions of the account: a $19.95 commercial version, and a free, features-locked version. Well, for those of you eager to give this a shot, Saga has just teamed up with FileFront to offer 50,000 commercial accounts. At nearly $20 per account, that's close to a million dollars' worth of players!Jaunt on over to FileFront to download the game and get your beta key. But don't forget to sign up on Saga's site for your free account first![Thanks, Will!]
The first Saga tournament is player-run
You may be familiar with the MMO called Saga, by Silverlode Interactive. You may even be a member, and are currently lamenting the fact that there is no official Saga tournament in which you can test your PvP skills. Don't despair! Sagaunits.com and sagatraders.com have teamed up to offer prizes for the first Saga tournament, held by saga.scratchplace.com!The tournament starts at 9 AM PST on April 19th, and it's completely free to enter. There are four brackets for ranges of levels beginning with 10 - 14, and ending with 25 - 30. If you fit those ranges and want to compete, better get yourself set up! For more information, go visit the site. [Thanks, Casey!]
SAGA's undead faction coming with expansion
Silverlode Interactive has announced that a new Undead faction will be shambling along with its first "Expansion Set" for SAGA, their relatively new MMORTS/CCG hybrid, when it comes out some time later this year. SAGA works much the same way that tradition collectible card games work, with new units and abilities coming with the purchase of boosters. It's not exactly clear at this point how this Expansion Set concept is going to work; whether players will have to invest a small amount in a new deck or whether Undead units will simply be part of the boosters, but we imagine we'll start hearing more details as the expansion moves further into development.What is clear is that the concept art for the new faction is pretty freakin' cool, by our estimation. It looks like they're trying to take their Undead in a direction we're not accustomed to seeing in MMOs. The Necromancer concept drawing gives off a tribal, maybe even Egyptian vibe, where the Reaper seems to be going for a sort of medieval zombie look. It's pretty neat stuff, we're looking forward to seeing more.
Saga (MMORTS) Trailer: What WoW should have been
Years ago when Blizzard sounded the trumpets and announced that WoW was in the works I dreamt RTS and MMORPG mechanics would fuse together to whisk in a new era in massively online gaming. I swore that if Blizzard copied the Diku formula popularized by EverQuest I wouldn't bother playing it. That is until magical forces intervened, and I found myself in the WoW friends and family alpha and loving every second. WoW improved on familiar loot-n-scoot, and level based PvE gameplay, but I still hoped that I'd someday play an MMORTS or some bastardized attempt at one and actually like it. That's not to say there isn't anything out there or in development. Two games come to mind are Mankind and Dreamlords, take them for what you will, but it looks like Saga is a real solid attempt to fill a void. The graphics aren't top notch, but the gameplay looks interesting, and I hope others would appreciate the efforts from a smaller independent development studio as I do. There is a free client available, but several features are not usable unless you upgrade to the full version. There is no expiration date on the trial, and if you are concerned about a monthly subscription fee, don't be because there isn't one. The payment model is based on the purchase of booster packs. The booster packs contain cards, and these cards portray units and spells that you then use to build armies and maintain your nation. The end game actually revolves around PvP against other player built nations. You can read a much better detailed account on the missions, PvP, the card system, in this great first look posted on Brandon Reinhart's blog. You can find more information about the game and where to download it on Saga's official site. I'm about to try it out firsthand, and if you've played it please feel free to share your thoughts about Saga below.
SAGA now available for free, minus some features
More than ever, it appears as though MMO developers are struggling to keep afloat using the traditional models for monetization. SAGA is a game that's had an interesting subscription model from the getgo, shirking the typical subscription fee model for a CCG-esque booster system. Once you've bought the client, the game is free to play. The only caveat is that you can only get additional troops for your army by purchasing "boosters" for an additional fee. It's really a pretty brilliant system, combining two types of games (CCGs and MMOs) that are independently addictive, and fusing them together into what one would have assumed was a license to print money.We haven't really heard how the game has been doing since it's since it finally emerged from beta last week, but already Wahoo Studios is shaking things up in an effort to draw in players. Like a drug dealer looking to give clients a first taste to get them hooked, they're now offering a free version of the client to give would-be players a better idea of what's on offer. The free client is missing a few features, but a free something is always better than nothing. Unlike a trial though, there is no time limit on how long you can use the free client. Seems they're confident in their product. It's probably worth a shot if an MMORTS/CCG sounds up your alley![Via Warcry]
Saga open beta begins today
Saga, which bills itself as the "world's first collectible online real-time strategy game," is throwing wide its doors for Open Beta 2 starting today. You can head over to their site to sign up; they mention that account creation is not quite ready yet, but it might not be a bad idea to get your foot in the door. (And for what it's worth the sign-up form did allow me to create an account with no fuss. You can just ignore the "promo code" field.)But what, you ask, is a collectible online RTS? We've only covered it once before on Massively, so I looked around the developer's site to see what they have. Here are some key points: it's an RTS (of course), but it's persistent, so you won't have to rebuild structures every match, and your units stay dead until made otherwise. The setting is standard fantasy. The game has no subscription fee, using a microtransaction model: players buy their troops in booster packs, which cost $2.95; the game itself is currently on pre-sale for $20. You can also trade troops with others, which highlights the "collectible" nature of this game. The site claims that they are aiming for a Q1 2008 release. I'm not so much an RTS player, but it is an interesting business model. Will you try it out?
Final beta date revealed for MMORTS Saga
Developer Silverlode Interactive issued a press release revealing the date for the final beta phase of Saga. The MMO real-time-strategy game will open up Beta 2 on December the 11th, with players from Beta 1 being offered places first, and the rest on a first-come first-served basis after signing up.The press release also explains a little about Saga's business model, which will be microtransaction based, with players purchasing 'booster packs' that have new units and spells to use, and a subscription fee will not be charged. We have not covered this game before, so a quick visit to the homepage's FAQ was necessary to learn a bit more. It is basically what you would expect from an MMORTS -- an RTS with a persistent world. The world is based on traditional fantasy (dwarves, elves, spells etc.) and you will be able to trade troops with other players. In-game activities include building armies, cities and kingdoms, taking over new lands, and multiplayer questing.If you want to be considered for this last Beta phase, visit the sign-up page and create your account.[Via IGN]
