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TOME: Immortal Arena MOBA lands on Steam today
KIXEYE's brawler-MOBA -- not to be confused with those other daisy-picking MOBAs -- TOME: Immortal Arena officially launches on Steam this afternoon. TOME's claim to fame is the voice of Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell, who acts as the title's in-game announcer. Feature-wise, it boasts short matches, in-lane healing, no last-hitting, auto-buying, and 20 playable characters to date. The latest trailer awaits your eyes below.
Museum hopes to resurrect Habitat, 'world's first MMO'
So here's a bizarre little piece of MMO news for your Friday morning: This weekend, with the help of Kixeye and Fujitsu, a volunteer-driven, public museum in Oakland, California, hopes to relaunch an antique Lucasfilm game called Habitat, which it's calling the world's first massively multiplayer online game (that part is probably debatable, but let's hear them out). "The Museum of Art and Digital Entertainment (The MADE) will be spending Sunday, September 28th, attempting to resurrect the world's first massively multiplayer online game, Habitat. The project seeks to relaunch the Habitat server on original Stratus Technologies hardware from 1989, and to allow users on the Internet to connect to the game server for free using a Commodore 64 emulator. The MADE is the first videogame museum to attempt such a relaunch. In fact, there has never been an attempt to relaunch a 28 year old, dead MMO before, primarily because MMO's are mostly a phenomenon that has existed only over the last 15 years." According to Wikipedia's curators, Habitat was created in 1985 as the "first attempt at a large-scale commercial virtual community that was graphically based" and is "considered a forerunner of the modern MMORPGs." MADE even claims the game invented the term "Avatar" for use in online games. The 1989-era server hardware it'll run on can today support 10,000 users, says the museum. Massively's very own Game Archaeologist, Justin Olivetti, investigated Habitat's history in a two-part series in 2012. The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 1 The Game Archaeologist moves into Lucasfilm's Habitat: Part 2
PAX Prime 2014: Tome makes for a more aggressive MOBA
One interesting trend that I noticed among the up-and-coming MOBAs that I previewed at PAX Prime this past weekend was how there's this real desire to challenge the status quo and cut out what's hurting rather than helping the genre. Tome may not look much different than its contemporaries, with a grounded fantasy setting and typical setup, but underneath the hood it's sporting a few ideas that should make it more friendly and convenient to a larger audience. The team's decided against including last hitting while putting in handy features such as healing quickly and buying items anywhere while not in combat. Another core principle of Tome is that it embraces aggressive gameplay. Matches should take 12 minutes or less to complete, with design elements such as hardier minions and limited ammunition towers making turtling an undesirable option.
Rise and Shiny: Vega Conflict
You might be familiar with Kixeye for many different reasons, but this week I am discussing one of the games from its line-up: VEGA Conflict, which is typical in many ways but can definitely be surprising when it needs to be. Many of my favorite MMOs are made up of mechanics we've seen before, but those mechanics are delivered so smartly that the end result is a game that is worth more than it should be. As far as browser-based MMORTS titles go -- and there are scores and scores of them -- VEGA Conflict is a fun and unique blend of strategy, city-building, and Gratuitous Space Battles. It implements none of its designs flawlessly, but the game is almost perfectly balanced between casual play and powergaming. I did receive a wad of coins from the developer shortly after I spent 10 dollars on some myself, and those coins bought me resources and sped up development and building. It's not directly a sell of power and is typical for the genre, but some might find it distasteful. The community didn't seem to mind the model much.
Zynga settles data theft suit with former employee
Social game publisher Zynga has settled its lawsuit against former Cityville general manager Alan Patmore over alleged theft of company secrets. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Zynga filed the suit in October of last year, accusing Patmore of copying more than 760 files containing "confidential game designs from teams around the company" to his Dropbox account before departing for his current position as the vice president of product at rival online game producer Kixeye. "I accept responsibility for making a serious mistake by copying and taking Zynga confidential information when I resigned from Zynga," Patmore said in a statement today. "I understand the consequences of my actions and I sincerely apologize to Zynga and my former colleagues." TechCrunch reports that the two companies issued a joint statement yesterday: "Zynga Inc. and KIXEYE Inc. have reached a mutually agreeable settlement of their litigation involving Alan Patmore in San Francisco Superior Court."
Kixeye launches VEGA Conflict, a space-themed MMORTS
Kixeye has deployed its latest online strategy title in the form of VEGA Conflict, an "immersive" MMORTS set in the cold, dark depths of space. Players leaping into the game will be able to manage fleets, loot other players' bases, customize warships with weapons and armor, and participate in real-time PvP and NPC combat. The game is, of course, free-to-play, and joins War Commander, Battle Pirates, Tome: Immortal Arena, and Backyard Monsters on the Kixeye roster. Hit the jump for the launch trailer. [Source: Kixeye press release]
Zynga moving forward in lawsuit against former Cityville GM over theft
Zynga has earned the requisite crystals to move forward on its lawsuit against former CityVille general manager Alan Patmore, who it accuses of stealing company secrets for use at his new employer Kixeye. All Things D reports the social games company has been granted its request to depose Patmore, have forensic experts search his electronic devices and extend the restraining order preventing Patmore from destroying or deleting any information he obtained."Patmore does not dispute that he took 763 files from Zynga, which contained confidential game designs from teams around the company, and that he transferred those files to his computer at Kixeye where he's currently the VP of Product," Zynga attorney Jay Monahan said in a statement.All Things D also received a statement from Kixeye CEO Will Harbin, who obviously didn't feel like pulling any punches: "Zynga is burning to the ground and bleeding top talent and instead of trying to fix the problems - better work environment and better products - they are resorting to the only profit center that has ever really worked for them: their legal department."Zynga claims the files Patmore allegedly took would help someone replicate its business, along with projections and plans for 10 unreleased games. Harbin concluded his statement by asking why his company would want to emulate Zynga's business when The Ville publisher has seen a 75 percent decline in its stock since its debut?
Zynga suing former Cityville GM over theft of trade secrets
A former Zynga general manager has allegedly stolen trade secrets, the social games company claims in a new lawsuit. Zynga believes Alan Patmore, who previously worked on Cityville, uploaded a number of company assets to a Dropbox account from his company computer, both on the day before and day of his departure from the company. Said assets included, among other things, information on Zynga's game mechanics, internal assessments of Cityville's performance, monetization plans, company emails and design documents (including the final design document for an as yet unreleased game).Zynga feels Patmore, who now works for social game company Kixeye, will use the information to directly compete with his former employer. Specifically, Zynga states that the stolen data "could be used to improve a competitor's internal understanding and know-how of core game mechanics and monetization techniques, its execution, and ultimately its market standing to compete more effectively with Zynga."Furthermore, the company claims that, upon leaving the company, Patmore refused to sign a "termination certification," which "merely reaffirmed" his contractual obligations, among them not to take any of the company's "sensitive data."
