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The Repopulation recaps a successful June
Well, it's a day ending in "y," so it must be time for another indie sandbox update (though thankfully this one has little to do with Kickstarter). In all seriousness, Above & Beyond Technologies has released its June summary for The Repopulation, a sci-fi title that's heavy on nods to genre classics. As you can see if you read the lengthy new post, the devs have been busy little bees. Alpha has officially started, a successful Kickstarter campaign is in the books, and the last four weeks saw the release of three gameplay videos as well as a ton of progress updates to the actual game client. Head to the official Repopulation site for the full scoop.
The next Tribes: Ascend update helps you level up guns even faster
Tribes: Ascend's June update adds more than a couple new Capture-and-Hold maps, a whole variety of weapon variants, and "significant balance adjustments." Beyond all that free stuff, Hi-Rez is doling out a speed boost to the game's weapon upgrade system, and has thusly dubbed its latest update "Accelerate." Rather than solely upgrading weapons via XP earned in-game, each weapon will accordingly level up through use. The system seems like an interesting workaround to adding tons of weapons and players feeling unable to master any particular one. Hi-Rez demonstrates the system in the video above.
Guild Wars ups the ante for PvP
"This has been a longstanding problem with our competitive formats," the June Guild Wars dev diary bemoans. "There are a great variety to try, but many people haven't found enough reasons to jump in." Hence the impetus behind Guild Wars' June update, which contains a number of new incentives to entice players into the PvP arenas. Some of the biggest changes include the ability to trade Z-coins, new PvP quests, and additional formats that award Zaishen Strongboxes. Another significant change to Guild Wars is that Alliance PvP formats now award Imperial faction. Imperial faction can be converted to one of three types, depending on the player's need: Luxon, Kurzick or Balthazar. This way a player can fight for one side but earn points toward the other, which should go a long way to increasing the frequency of matches. ArenaNet hopes that these changes will encourage players to branch out into different types of PvP instead of sticking to one format that's tied to specific rewards. There are plenty of other tweaks in this update, so be sure to read the full dev diary to learn about changes to titles, the Codex Arena, GvG emotes and more!
Asheron's Call shifts gears in latest update
It might show its age a little, but Asheron's Call is one of the oldest MMOs still running, and it continues receiving regular content updates from the fine team at Turbine. June has brought with it another huge influx of new content, starting with the inclusion of an entirely new race known as Gear Knights. These clockwork entities interact with gear in unique ways, requiring them to integrate their armor directly into their being. The addition of a new race carries with it a free extra character slot, as well as some introductory fiction explaining these new arrivals. Not content to simply add a new race for free, however, Turbine has also put the Town Portal Network into play, updated the landscape textures, and added several other improved touches to the game. The full hub for June updates is located here, and the full patch notes can be read here. Amidst everything else going on at the studio, it's good to see that Asheron's Call is still high enough on the priority list for some impressive upgrades. [Thanks to Greg for the tip!]
