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European NeoSteam reveals closed beta
We've spoken about Neo Steam a few times now as the upcoming steampunk MMO being re-engineered for English speaking audiences by Atlus Online, the new division of Atlus Games. What we haven't mentioned, however, is that there will be two versions of Neo Steam for English audiences -- the Atlus American version and Gamigo's European version.Gamigo has recently thrown open the doors on their open beta test for Neo Steam, letting all interested parties enter the battle between Rogwel and Elerd. For the sake of not confusing the two games, Gamigo has subtitled their version "Steam Wars Begin" while Atlus has dubbed their version, "Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent," as we have reported on before.So if you're itching to see what exactly Atlus is working on, you can jump over to Gamigo to sign up for a free account and check out the game. We're excited to see what exactly Atlus is adding to Neo Steam, as they've said before that their localization is going beyond just a short translation and name changes
European roaming caps finalized for July 1 enforcement
The EU's latest proposal to cap roaming costs among its member nations on a tiered multi-year plan passed with flying colors before Parliament this week, meaning the deal goes into law effective July 1. There's a lot of push-back on this one from the GSMA -- makes sense, considering they represent carriers -- and concern that affected carriers will respond by simply raising domestic rates to counterbalance the lost revenue, but ultimately, it seems the powers that be are rolling the bones in the hopes that this works out in consumers' best interests. Telecoms commish Viviane Reding says roaming texts could drop in cost by a solid 60 percent, so yeah, we'd say that's a win.
Rappelz to get major content update next month
When we last talked about Rappelz, the game's developers were working on an enormous localization overhaul for the Arabic market. This new version was successfully launched last month, and with that milestone under their belts, it seems that the development team has had time to work on some new content. Gala Networks Europe has issued a press release heralding a "major content update" for the French and German versions of Rappelz to be available in May.The update is called Navis Lamia, and will feature a new dungeon of the same name. Expect Scooby-Doo-esque antics as you explore a cursed missionary ship and contend with its zombie crew. One of the other major updates in the patch will be a revamping of the existing Trainee Island -- updating newbie areas is an ever-popular idea among MMO developers, and usually yields positive results. At this point, we're not sure whether the Navis Lamia patch will be exclusive to the French and German Rappelz for a period of time. The English website has made no mention of it as yet, so we might just have to sit tight for further information.
Telefnica and Vodafone reach pan-European deal to share network infrastructure
Good news, Europe. Telefónica and Vodafone have just made public a milestone pan-European agreement that will enable the two to share network infrastructure in Germany, Spain, Ireland and the UK, with detailed discussions ongoing in the Czech Republic. The collaboration will supposedly deliver efficiencies of hundreds of millions of pounds for each company over ten years, and for customers of each, they can look forward to better coverage across each of those nations. Oh, and subscribers should also expect rates to remain lower compared to what would happen if each operator were forced to build out individually, but it's not like either of these guys are coming out and saying that. At any rate, we figure there's some serious celebration in order for those in the region, no?
Activision Blizzard appoints new European Senior VP
From French coffee to plastic instruments and Azeroth? That's the leap Thibaud de Saint-Quentin is making as Activision Blizzard's newly appointed Senior Vice President and Managing Director of European Publishing. Thibaud de Saint-Quentin (we just like saying that in full) will be joining the company officially on March 9th and will be based out of AB's European headquarters in Stockley Park, UK.Mr. de Saint-Quentin has spent his managing career at Kraft Foods and has held the positions of Marketing Director in France for their Beverages (coffee) Division, Vice President Strategy and Business Development for cheese and grocery categories across Europe, Managing Director of Benelux and Vice President and Area Director for the UK and Ireland. Mr. de Saint-Quentin holds a master's degree from the Ecole Superiere des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) in Paris. We have no idea what any of that means, but everything just sounds better in French, wouldn't you agree?
Microsoft: Christmas 360 sales up 120% in Europe
Pleased with its performance over the holidays, Microsoft has revealed that European Xbox 360 sales during Christmas '08 were 120% higher than the same period in '07."Christmas 2008 was the biggest sales period in the history of the Xbox brand," said Microsoft's VP of Interactive Entertainment Business in EMEA. "Sales of the console were more than double over the period a year before, in excess of 120 per cent in fact."Nothing too surprising, seeing that NPD numbers showed strong 360 sales in December and considering the fact that, this past autumn, Microsoft lowered hardware prices in Europe. It'll be interesting to see how the console market plays out in 2009, especially with rumors of a PlayStation 3 price cut and the potential market shift that could result.
Spellborn updates for 2009 mapped out
Although the US is still waiting for The Chronicles of Spellborn to finish up its beta phases, the European version of the game has already been released. As is usually the case with an MMO launch, the developers didn't just flip the switch and then wash their hands of the project, and have been pushing out patches and hotfixes to their live servers as needed. Now we've been given an idea of where they hope to take the game over the coming year, via a post on the official forums.In the short term, a big patch is expected to be ready for the end of January, which will include some new monsters as well as a tutorial that comes in response to feedback from the community and press. A bit later in the year, the plan is to roll out the market, and an arena match-up system that will allow 2v2 and 4v4 PvP games. Longer term development goals include mounts and guild alliances, but when we're looking at this time-frame, it's highly likely that more ideas will come about. So, who is already on board with Spellborn?
Blizzard's European A Very Warcraft Christmas Contest
Blizzard's European arm has partnered with Steelseries to offer some cool prizes this Christmas for folks that send in pictures of a World of Warcraft themed Christmas decoration. The contest is only available to a slew of countries in Europe, and there is no indication if there will be a US version of the contest (though I wouldn't be surprised).They're offering some pretty cool prizes from custom WoW keyboards, to gaming mice, to mouse pads. You can browse through our gallery bellow to take a look at what you can win.I'm most interested in the keyboard. I tried one like it at a convention a couple years ago, but never had any extended play time with it. I have to wonder what it would do for my prolific use of macros during raids and groups. Check out after the break for some more contest rules from Blizzard, along with a list of exactly what countries are eligible.Remember, send your entries to Blizzard! Not us!%Gallery-38666%
Steins come to the EU
Good news, EU players -- now you can store your ale in a WoW stein also. 3 Point Entertainment, the group responsible for making those official World of Warcraft beer steins, has announced that they are now selling the steins overseas as well, meaning that even EU players can spend $80 on a cup that won't even fit in your cup-holder.We kid -- at $80, these things better be nice, and they probably are -- each one, we're told, is handcrafted and made of "fine grain stoneware," whatever that is. The company says that the North American sales have been very good so far, and that a few people have even bought them for wedding or groomsmen gifts. Because nothing starts a marriage off right quite like a WoW stein, yeah?Still, Europeans, if you've been waiting to get your hands on one, now's your chance. Cheers!
EU patches up at Big Download
When we posted links to the recent patches mirrored on our sister site Big Download yesterday, several of you bemoaned the fact that the European patches were not up yet. Rejoice! Now you can directly download the European 3.0.1 and 3.0.2 patches, without having to muck with the Blizzard downloader. Currently the German, English, French, and Russian patches are up (the 3.0.2 patch is langugae-specific, while the 3.0.1 patch is not). They promise to have the Spanish patch up within the hour. The Spanish patch is up now too. Also currently only the Windows version of the 3.0.2 patch is available; I'm sure they'll get the Mac version up if and when they can. Remember to apply the patches in order, 3.0.1 first then 3.0.2. Oh, and don't delete your patch files when you're done patching (more on this soon).
Analysts see into future, expect 650k US sales for WAR's first month
Here we go again, it's time for people to start predicting the sales of the next big MMO. So get out your thinking hat and grab ahold of your pie charts and bar graphs! Hm, somehow that sounded a lot more exciitng before we said it. Anyhow, Warhammer Online is nearly at launch day and has been given a 650,000 sales prediction for the first month in the United States from Lazard Capital Markets senior VP, Colin Sebastian. It's important to stress that this is for the US territory only, which means that's kind of a high prediction.Our guess for the reason behind the European exclusion is because it's a bit of a wildcard. Warhammer being a much bigger property over there means its sales could land almost anywhere. It could also be because Lazard Capital Markets only deals in US sales predictions, but we like to think they're scared of Europe, instead. All in all with first month US sales being predicted at over half a million, we have to assume many are expecting Warhammer Online to perform pretty impressively overall.
Palladia / MHD European launch slated for September
Europeans eagerly awaiting more high definition concerts (updated weekly, still) rejoice, as MTV is launching a European HD channel next month. Although it goes unnamed, based on the content mentioned (concerts, special music events and festivals) and the relaunch of Palladia (the station formerly known as MHD) happening at the same time we've been able to reach the surprising and stunning realization that they are pretty much one and the same. In addition to being underwhelmed by an incredibly limited amount of HD content in rotation at any given time, our HDTV-equipped friends in German speaking markets can look forward to Nick programs on the weekend. D-d-d-dora, Dora.
European registration for Wrath Beta now open
MMO Champion (and a few of our tipsters -- thanks!) is reporting that the European WoW site has opened up registration for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. I wasn't able to sign in with my trial account (created for the Dingstravaganza a while back), but there's no question that the page is up (inside EU players' Account Management menu) and accepting signups. Of course, this still doesn't mean that anyone is playing the beta, only that signups are taking place. We're also being told that it's an open sign-up, so it could be a long time before these signups are actually allowed to play, especially if one of the beta keys from BlizzCon or WWI are used to run a closed beta first.As for why this isn't happening on the main North American site yet, remember that one of the EU CMs was the one to break the news -- perhaps because WWI was local, they're starting things up early there (or maybe it's just a timezone thing, and the EU site has had more time today to get the signups going). No matter what, the wait is almost over -- there's no question now that we're closer to the Wrath of the Lich King beta than ever.Update: Eyonix confirms the registration on US side is coming soon.
Pioneer's 60-inch KURO PDP-LX6090 plasma gets unboxed
Just in case you didn't get a close enough look at Pioneer's next-gen KUROs earlier this year, the folks over at CNET UK managed to bring home a 60-inch PDP-LX6090 and snap a few pics. As expected, onlookers were thoroughly wowed after ripping it from the box and firing it up, with a tag line dubbing it "big, black and beautiful." See what they mean in the read link below.[Thanks, John]
Pioneer reveals four new HTIB systems, three with Blu-ray players
We've seen a few HTIB systems trickle out from the Pioneer labs of late, but never four at once. Today, the firm has made official a foursome of home cinema systems slated to hit Europe in the fall, so we'll cut right to the chase. The LX03 is the lone system with a DVD / SACD player and USB port, while the others thoughtfully include Blu-ray decks. The LX03BD (satellite speakers included) and LX08BD (no satellites included) feature 500-watts of power, HDMI 1.3 sockets (2 in / 1 out), KURO LINK, an iPod connection and a 7-band equalizer. The LX01BD includes omni-direction speakers, 400-watts of power and pretty much everything else found on the LX08BD. For complete specifications, be sure to give the read link a visit; as for availability, you'll find the LX03, LX03BD and LX08BD systems in October while the LX01BD arrives in November.
Pioneer reveals new Blu-ray players in Europe
Remember how your curiosity level shot through the roof when Pioneer abruptly discontinued the BDP-LX70A Blu-ray player in the UK? We're willing to bet this is why. Announced over on Pioneer's European website, we're being treated to three fresh faces -- the Profile 2.0-compliant BDP-LX91, Designer BDP-LX08 and BDP-LX71 -- along with one familiar face (the BDP-51FD). All of the new units will feature 1080p24 support, HDMI 12-Bit Deep Color support, KURO LINK, DTS-HD Master Audio / Dolby True HD compatibility and professional-quality Wolfson Digital Audio Converters (DACs). As for pricing and availability other than Europe, your guess is as good as ours, but we are told to expect the BDP-LX71 in September, the BDP-51FD / BDP-LX08 in October and the BDP-LX91 "later on in the winter." For more on Pioneer's European onslaught, head on over to Engadget HD. %Gallery-26131%
Pioneer gets official with four KURO plasmas, media receiver
Not that Pioneer's KRP-600M KURO plasma was any huge secret, but across the pond, the outfit just got official with it alongside three other 1080p sets and a fantastically sexy media receiver. The 50-inch KRP-500A and 60-inch KRP-600A each boast a 64-millimeter thin enclosure, "extreme contrast" levels, DLNA certification and a trio of tuners including analog, digital (DVB-T for Europe) and digital satellite (DVB-S/DVB-S2). Furthermore, the two "A" models come bundled with a whisper-quiet media receiver that appears to be nothing more than a sexy 4-port HDMI switcher. As for the 50-inch KRP-500M and 60-inch KRP-600M, those should ring up slightly cheaper due to the exclusion of internal tuners and the fact that the aforementioned media receiver isn't packed in. Speaking of Euros, there's no mention of price, though release dates span from August (600M) to September (600A) to October (500A / 500M). %Gallery-26127%
Dungeon Runners announces an EU server
For over a year now we've enjoyed Dungeon Runners without a specific European server. This means that Europeans had to put up with Americans for all that time! We're not sure how they did it either, but NCsoft has announced that their newest server -- World 8 -- is optimized for European players. This doesn't mean anyone else from around the world can't play on it, but they might not enjoy the low ping rates as they've had on the American servers, if they are American.This eighth world is a PvP world, making it the second such PvP server in addition to World 5. For PvE players, you have several server choices for free players, plus World 2, which is only open to those who pay the $5 monthly membership fee. One of the beautiful parts of the Dungeon Runners server system is the fact that your characters are available on any of the servers, so you can feel free to check out the new-server smell at the European server any time you'd like.
Subscription price lowered for Ragnarok Online in Europe
Good news for any Europeans still enjoying Gravity's point-and-click MMORPG Ragnarok Online. Effective immediately, all subscriptions have undergone a price drop, and those with current subscriptions will be entitled to a number of free days play-time. The changes are as follows: 1 Month at €7 instead of €10.90, 10 days free for current subscribers 3 months at €18 instead of €29.70, 30 days free for current subscribers 6 months at €30 instead of €53.40, 70 days free for current subscribers 1 year at €60 instead of €72, and a starter pack offered. Current subscribers get 50 free days. [Via IGN]
Transcript available from March LotRO EU dev chat
The latest Lord of the Rings Online European developer chat has concluded, and the chat log is now available for viewing. Before any questions were asked, it was established that nothing about Book 14 or the Mines of Moria expansion could be answered, so everything we found out is either general stuff or related to Book 13. However, this didn't stop the fans from coming up with quite a few interesting questions to pose.One of the things that the developers were able to confirm with certainty is that an upcoming Book will address issues with inventory space. We were told that bag space will not be increased, but other methods will be used to help improve the situation. Also, with the game's first anniversary coming up next month, the devs hinted that there will be some celebrations, and even competitions, to mark the occasion. Take a look at the transcript for more of the questions that the players managed to get through. The devs also reminded everyone that the Spring Festival will be ending on the 31st of this month, and if you haven't gotten involved yet, our guide to the event is a good place to start.
