James-Phinney
Latest
Undead Labs talks about surviving the zombie social scene
James Phinney believes in the power of a persistent virtual world, and he's not shy in sharing his excitement when it comes to the landscape that Undead Labs is building for its new zombie-themed MMO: "We believe a persistent world should be living, dynamic, and evolving. We believe your decisions should affect the state of the world and the state of the world should matter to you. We believe you should get to be the hero; not because you were able grind your way to some artificial achievement that everyone else will eventually grind for too, but instead because you achieved something unique and heroic -- something that people actually care about because it has an impact on the world." In this post on Undead Labs' site, Phinney talks about how the company isn't trying to build a shell of an MMO around a mere action game, but is actually working hard to build a connected, persistent place where players have meaningful choices that could lead them to being heroes. His vision for this post-apocalyptic world is one that is "living, dynamic, and evolving" instead of remaining static. And while the MMO will contain zombies, Phinney stresses that the core is about survival, not just a headcount. He sketches out some of the choices that will need to be made, including finding power, scrounging for food and developing safe zones. You can read more about this vision over at Undead Labs.
Four ArenaNet team members joining Undead Labs
In all the excitement over the Guild Wars 2 MMO manifesto, a quiet announcement on the Guild Wars wiki was very nearly lost in the shuffle, but it gained the attention of some sharp-eyed fans. ArenaNet founder Mike O'Brien put a post on his wiki talk page entitled "Departures," and bid farewell to four members of the ArenaNet team. Design Director James Phinney is leaving ArenaNet to join his former colleague Jeff Strain over at Undead Labs, and he's not going alone. Joining him are designer Richard Foge, as well as artists Scott Albaugh and Doug Williams. It's been very quiet on the Undead Labs front for a while now, so this may signal the beginning of some progress on the zombie front. As for ArenaNet? "Of course we're disappointed to see them go, but I also know these guys are each individually huge zombie fans and are going to work on a zombie game, so I'm excited for their opportunity and wish them all the best," says Mike. We at Massively join him in wishing the group the best of luck in their new venture.
James Phinney discusses Guild Wars 2 classes, events, and combat at Comic-Con
Comic-Con may be over, but the news keeps rolling in. The newest video over at GameTrailers is of a chat with ArenaNet's Design Director James Phinney. James gave a brief rundown of what we know about Guild Wars 2 so far, explaining the combat roles of the classes we know: elementalist, warrior, and ranger. He also covered the dynamic event system that we've heard so much about, as well as the reasoning behind it. Finally, he addressed the burning question of "When?" Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to wait for that coveted date a bit longer: "When it's ready." For now, you can look after the jump to see the video for yourself.
Flameseeker Chronicles: Prince Rurik is on the phone, and he says you got banned
Last week's Massively outing into Guild Wars was another success, with [MVOP] -- Massively's Thursday night Guild Wars group -- tearing through the Great Northern Wall and Fort Ranik missions. As usual there was much fun and hilarity, including the above pictured gangsta Necro and someone's incredibly loud cellphone ringing on Vent in the middle of a cutscene. In the end we were divided over whether Rurik was making or receiving a phone call, but either way it was another dose of our standard silliness. Guild Wars -- as with any MMO -- is so much better when you have a good group that you can have fun with along the way, and [MVOP] has it down to an art. So what's up next? Well, at the end of our last outing we all landed at the Frontier Gate, so we'll be picking up the primary quest from Warmaster Riga. That will take us on to Ruins of Surmia, then to Nolani Academy. Once Nolani Academy is finished, we'll land in Yak's Bend and it's time to wave goodbye to Ascalon as we enter the Northern Shiverpeaks. I want to make a quick note about our overall goals for [MVOP]. The overall goal of the group is to play through Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall, then Eye of the North, moving through the campaigns and expansions in the order of release just like they did back in the olden days. Guild Wars is a huge game, with side quests and extra towns in every area. To try to do them all together would take us a few years, so on Thursday nights we're going to focus strictly on missions and the main storyline. One of the great things about this group is that so many of us are playing together outside of the scheduled time, so if you get a chance, make sure you explore some of these extra quests in the places we've been. Finally, if you'd like to join [MVOP], we'd love to have you. It's certainly not too late to catch up, so send a whisper to my IGN -- Rubi Djinn -- and I'll be happy to add you to our group. Now that we're all caught up on Thursday nights, what's going on in the rest of Tyria? It's been an interesting week, so follow along after the jump as we look at why the population of Tyria is suddenly a little thinner.
[Updated] If you cheat in Guild Wars, Dhuum will kill you
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Cheating_in_Guild_Wars_gets_you_banned_by_the_God_of_Death'; No, seriously. Guild Wars players hanging out in Heroes' Ascent this afternoon noticed an interesting sight. Dhuum in all his giant shiny glory was popping in and out of different districts, banning people with a swing of his scythe. What was it all about? ArenaNet announced today that they have banned over 3,700 accounts and disbanded over a dozen guilds in Guild Wars for botting and match manipulation. Design Director James Phinney, addressed the issue in the newest ArenaNet blog post, explaining more about what they're doing. First of all, if you break the User Agreement, you may get banned at any time in the future, it's as simple as that. "...there is no expiration date for breaches of the User Agreement or RoC." Just don't cheat. Second, they plan to take a much more active and public approach to this problem from here on out, so you'll see more in the future. All Guild Wars players need to read through the blog post to understand what's going to happen from here on out, but James' closing statement encompassed it nicely: "For those of you who raised concerns about this issue, we're sorry it took as long as it did to put these changes in place. We should have been faster and more prepared. With your help, we will be more responsive in the future. We are listening, and we are ready to take action." [Update] The Guild Wars team, including Emily Diehl, spent some time in Great Temple of Balthazar this afternoon, and Emily stated: "We checked and have been told that the following mods are OK: KSmod, GWstats, TextMod, and MultiLaunch. NOTE THOUGH: this is the original code of these guys. So we cannot guarantee that future updates of these mods will remain pure. So use caution, and if you're truly unsure, err on the side of caution." Regina chimed in as well on the forums to remind us that while it's okay, you are on your own should anything go wrong. Want to see the Dhuum-slaughter for yourself? Follow along after the jump for a video.
ArenaNet's Design Director looks at past and future of Guild Wars
As the citizens of Tyria celebrate the fifth anniversary of Guild Wars, we at Massively have been looking both at the future of Guild Wars as well as the past. The things in store for Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 are of great interest to fans, but what came before set the stage for this long-running game. We had the opportunity to spend some time with ArenaNet's Design Director James Phinney and talk about how far Guild Wars has come in five years. Follow along after the jump to see what he had to say.
Guild Wars 2 to be bigger and badder than Guild Wars
Prepare to have your mind blown away by design insights that normally don't leave the developer think-tank. James Phinney, the game design team Lead on Guild Wars, shares the genesis, methodology and reasoning for a Guild Wars sequel and the outline details why a traditional campaign or expansion won't work. The gist and core reason why is the Guild Wars team wants to develop a Guild Wars sequel that is closer to a MMORPG while the original Guild Wars is a CORPG. Some major differences that will distinguish Guild Wars 2 from the original is less instancing making the world more persistent with improved freedom of control to move (jump!) around and explore; a higher level cap as the original is capped at level 20, there might even be no level cap; a realm-versus-realm like PvP system. To get all these features in Guild Wars the game would have to be radically altered -- a sequel is the best solution opposite to a "new game experience" that would only end up butchering the original Guild Wars. After mulling over the list, everything proposed looks outstanding. I'm definitely more excited about Guild Wars 2 than Guild Wars, I would love playing a Guild Wars game that was more like a MMORPG with no monthly subscription cost. You heard me right, no monthly subscription cost for a MMORPG.Guild Wars 2 takes place roughly 250 years after the Eye of the North expansion, presumably the last Guild Wars expansion pack. The Guild Wars 2 open beta is currently scheduled sometime for the 2nd half of 2008.
