first-anniversary
Latest
Celebrate Luvinia Online's first anniversary with events
If age were determined by expansions, Luvinia Online would be four. In years, the free-to-play fantasy MMORPG is celebrating its first birthday. And from now through October 3rd, players can join in special in-game events and earn prizes during the celebration. Events include a scavenger hunt, slicing up a giant pastry, and new PvP guild wars; prizes include mounts, fashions, and gems. All players can also take advantage of a daily XP buff and new players will get a free fast-travel teleportation book for joining the game. To download and play Luvinia Online for free, visit the official site. [Source: Outspark press release]
The Firing Line: World of Tanks first-anniversary retrospective
We've been hearing about World of Tanks for so long that it seems crazy to think the title is just now celebrating its first anniversary. Sure enough, though, Wargaming.net's lobby-based multiplayer title is barely a year old. Well, OK. It's almost two years old if you count its summer 2010 beta release, which we won't since the title up there says first anniversary. Anyhow, what's even scarier than the passage of time is the fact that World of Tanks (and the company behind it) is showing no signs of slowing down.
RIFT celebrates its first year by looking back... and looking beyond
It's been a tremendous first year for the RIFT team, and as the devs embark on year two for the game, they have taken a moment to look at the progress the title has made and where they intend to take it from here. "We built a really good foundation," Technical Design Director Peter Ju said, "and now we're just going to keep expanding it, expanding it, expanding it." Apart from the expected proud testimonies from RIFT's developers, a new anniversary video shines some light on the development process. Ever wonder how Trion Worlds can pump out updates in such rapid succession? One of the reasons is that the tech is structured so that every dev can run -- and experiment upon -- a server on his or her own computer. The team is excited about a brand-new 20-man raid that includes a dragon made entirely of treasure, not to mention a zone that's composed entirely of a city. A brief shot of a marker board suggests that the team is mulling over trapping and fishing professions as well as a possible mentoring system. You can get pumped up for RIFT with this video after the jump!
Grudge match: RIFT faction rivalry heating up for one-year anniversary
Worried that RIFT's Guardians and Defiants are less age-old enemies and more goofy odd couple roommates bumbling around to a laugh track? If faction chumminess concerns you, you'll be glad to hear that Trion Worlds is planning to escalate tensions between the two sides that will forever change the feel of the game. Trion said that it's already deep into the planning stages of heating up the conflict between the game's two sides, which is planned for next spring. The current Fae Yule festival is meant to be a quiet moment before everything explodes; a peace that is soon to be shattered. Design Director Hal Hanlin puts a date on the upcoming Factionopalypse: "We're planning to drive a wedge between the factions for the game's one-year anniversary." This puts the date of the event in early March 2012. Currently, while the two factions don't necessarily get along, they both are working toward the same goal of repelling the invading planar forces. It's just that they use different approaches and philosophies as they truck along.
Iris Online celebrates its first birthday
Iris Online publisher gPotato has a very optimistic outlook on sharing a birthday with a holiday, saying that "you can either be sad that all your friends are busy doing holiday things or you can throw such a tremendous party that they make time to drop by and visit you!" Of course, the studio is choosing the latter (we still feel for you, people with late-December birthdays) to celebrate Iris Online's first birthday. The celebration begins today and runs until November 26th. For the duration of the festivities, players will be granted experience, skill, and battlefield point boosts. Drop and enhance rates will also be increased, and to top it off, any player who's been part of Iris Online since September will be given a unique costume just for logging in. To get in on the celebration, just head to the game's official site. [Source: Gala-net press release]
Vindictus: A one-year retrospective
It's time for a celebration, y'all. It's been a year since Nexon's popular physics-based hack-'n'-slash title, Vindictus, officially launched, and what a year it's been. Between constant content updates, seasonal events, awards, and more, Vindictus has had a rather successful first year, and it doesn't seem to show any signs of stopping. So exactly how far has Vindictus come since the title's inception a year go? Well, follow along past the cut and join us as we take a short look at the game's history and find out how it holds up today.
Uncharted Waters Online celebrating first anniversary with special events
Birthday cakes and kazoos are the order of the day in Uncharted Waters Online. The nautical MMORPG is celebrating its first anniversary, and the team at gPotato has prepared a series of events designed to reward long-time players and entice new captains into the fold. First up is the premium ticket blast, and funnily enough, it rewards players with a premium ticket, provided that they are logged in at precisely 8:00 a.m. on October 8th. The ticket is, well, your ticket to trying out a "coveted sailing vessel or other valuable prizes." There's also a three-week marathon event in which players will receive daily boosts and free items simply by logging into UWO. Beginning on October 5th, you'll want to check in once a day to claim your prizes, skill proficiency buffs, and extra fame points. Finally, the devs are hosting a UWO writing contest, and there are 13 prizes up for grabs (including a few custom ships). [Source: gPotato press release]
FFXIV takes to YouTube Live for its one-year anniversary [Updated]
Lights... camera... internet connection... aaand action! To celebrate Final Fantasy XIV's first anniversary, Square-Enix's Naoki Yoshida will be taking the stage for a live edition of the Producer's Letter. This event will happen on October 4th at 8:00 p.m. a.m. EDT on YouTube Live. Yoshida will use the time to field player questions from around the world and will also talk about the future of the title as it heads into its second year of operation. Final Fantasy XIV will celebrate its first anniversary on September 30th. For Massively's musings on where the game's been and where it's going, make sure to check out this past week's Mog Log for the full skinny!
Star Trek Online marks first anniversary with in-game events, discounts, and new Feature Episode
Today marks the second straight day that a sci-fi MMO is having a birthday, and Star Trek Online is the title in the spotlight. Cryptic's deep-space extravaganza is celebrating its first anniversary with a new Feature Episode series, discounted C-Store offers (including 20% off lifetime subcriptions), and various in-game events. Beginning today, members of Cryptic's dev team will be appearing in game to challenge players with trivia questions and give out exclusive rewards. The new episode series, sub-titled Cloaked Intentions, sees players tasked with preventing a civil war between factions of the Romulan Empire. The series spans five episodes, introduces a new ship type to STO, and carries the game's storyline beyond the year 2409. The new content kicks off on February 5th. Finally, we've managed to beam a new anniversary retrospective video aboard the starship Massively, and you can check it out after the jump.
Apple iPad announced one year ago today
We couldn't let the day pass without mentioning the iPad and the first anniversary of its announcement. On this day one year ago, the world sat on the edge of their seat waiting for Steve Jobs to confirm the tablet we all knew was coming. Ironically, Engadget scored a picture of the device hours before the announcement, but many people doubted the blurred image was the actual tablet. Post-announcement responses to the iPad varied. Many people touted the iPad as a revolutionary device while many, including Steve Ballmer, discounted the tablet. Despite the predictions of the naysayers, the iPad has turned into one of the hottest products of 2010. By the end of the year, Apple had sold almost 15 million iPads in a mere 10 months of sales and kicked off a revolution in portable computing. For those that enjoy taking a walk down memory lane, you can watch the iPad announcement on Apple's YouTube channel. We included the first part of this announcement after break. The lead up to the first mention of the iPad starts about 8 minutes into the clip.
Age of Conan's anniversary hiccup
In what some are calling "their biggest debacle since launch," Funcom's anniversary bash for Age of Conan (EU) experienced a hiccup this past weekend, and unfortunately, it wasn't alcohol-related. A combination of miscommunication and technical glitches left hundreds, if not thousands, of party-goers in poor spirits.Funcom's initial announcement invited players to take part in "small festivities" outside Conan's castle at a particular time and urged them to bring along celebratory fireworks obtained with a "/claim" command. Due to some time zone confusion, many players showed up over an hour early. When the event didn't even kick off when it was supposed to, the forums lit up with agitated players.The Senior Community Manager, Tarib, showed up and explained that the festivities were actually intended to be player-driven rather than a scripted or GM-led world event. This did not sit well with many in the community who pointed to the event promotion, which led them to believe otherwise. Tarib apologized for the miscommunication and also stated that technical issues prevented certain merchants from showing up in certain instances. He later called off the North American event of the same name.Funcom is now running an Easter egg hunt where fans can search through their favorite community sites in search of special silver and golden King seals. The prizes are quite good, including: free lifetime subscriptions, monthly and multi-month subscriptions, in-game items, and custom forum avatars.
