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The Daily Grind: What MMO would you like to see locked in time?
I logged into classic Guild Wars for the anniversary last month, and all it did was break my heart. I truly think it was one of the more original MMOs to launch in World of Warcraft's wake, and I'm still sad that it's essentially in permanent maintenance mode and eclipsed by Guild Wars 2, even though I understand the reasoning and am grateful that ArenaNet didn't just pull the plug. On the other hand, sometimes locking a game in time might be a good thing. My recent attempts to return to Lord of the Rings Online have been thwarted by several years' worth of expansions, the deflation of my characters' currency, multiple class reworks, and combat and crafting levels that have continued their powercreeping march upward. I don't really recognize much about the game, and it'd take me a lot of time (and money) to get caught up again. At least my Guild Wars characters are exactly the way I left them! LotRO is probably a bad example because it really does need to get to Pelennor Fields and beyond some day, but I'm sure many of you have an MMO you'd love to see locked in time for your own personal reasons. Which one and why? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Game Archaeologist: The care and feeding of older MMOs
When an MMO has reached a certain age and dwindled to a certain player population, what do you do with it? Do you put it out to pasture, nurture it, or put it down? With some of our older graphical MMOs approaching their 20th anniversaries, the question of what studios should do with aging titles is becoming very important. It's not just important for the games in question but as a precedent to the population of games that will one day become just as old. Lately we've seen different studios act on this topic in a wide variety of ways, all of which I find fascinating. Some of these games have seen tragic ends, while others may be entering into the enjoyable golden years. If nothing else, it's shown me that there isn't just one set answer for this and that some devs are hoping to do the right thing by their companies and their players.
Asheron's Call limits updates, goes free, and plans player-run servers
Once Turbine applies a March 4th update to Asheron's Call, the studio plans to move the game into maintenance mode -- with benefits. Producer Severlin dropped the news on the forums today: "Once this next update is in the hands of the players, the updates to Asheron's Call will be limited. We intend to fix critical bugs and continue maintenance and support on the game. While there is always a chance we will put out a small update if time permits, players should have the expectation that updates will be limited to maintenance, bug fixes, and perhaps balance iterations of February content such as the new Coliseum." Severlin elaborated that "this change of focus is necessary for the company." Asheron's Call is perhaps best-known for its monthly story updates that have gone out since the game went live in 1999. The good news is that Turbine says there are no plans to close the game and will be working to make both Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2 free in the near future: "We are working on a date in the not-to-distant future where all active accounts will be able to play the game for free. Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2 will be a gift to our loyal players." Also, Turbine is starting an initiative to allow player-run servers by the end of the year. "Our intent is to help these players build a community so these processes can be created and distributed to people interested in running an Asheron's Call game," Severlin said. [Thanks to Padre for the tip!]
ArenaNet ceases Guild Wars 1 live development, automates game
Guild Wars 1 has seen the end of an era of live development today, as ArenaNet stated that it is switching the game over to automation. The studio said that players should not expect any further content other than the systems being put into place to keep the game running on auto-pilot for the foreseeable future. "Over time, our focus has shifted to updates that not only help maintain Guild Wars but help the game maintain itself," ArenaNet posted. "With this focus in mind, we'll no longer be releasing any new content for the live game except in support of automation. Our goal is to get the game to a place where it can continue to run and be available to all of our fans. We have a lot of love for Guild Wars -- it's the game that made us what we are today -- and we want to continue sharing it with everyone!" Tournaments, events, and birthday prizes will be moved over to automation during this transition. The studio said that automating the game will keep it running longer and that it will keep a live team on Guild Wars to handle critical fixes and troubleshooting.
The Daily Grind: What game do you still hope will be revitalized?
I do not play Warhammer Online any longer, but it holds a special place in my heart. I greatly enjoyed playing the game when it was selected for Choose My Adventure back in the day, and I still hold out hope that the game will emerge from its slow stagnancy to be some sort of WAAAGH-based phoenix. The odds of that happening are low, but I'd love to see it happen just the same. Games have a life cycle, and after a certain point, even the most beloved online title slips into a maintenance mode. But we all have titles that we'd love to see get updates once again, allowing us to relive the glory days. This isn't about games that had been shut down; this is about games that are still running but are no longer at the forefront of the gaming zeitgeist. So what game do you still hope will be revitalized, even if you don't expect it to happen? Would you like to see Ultima Online get another day in the sun, or do you just hope that Champions Online will get a big expansion and some development love? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Daily Grind: Is maintenance mode better than nothing at all?
In the last few years, long before rumors that Vanguard would be heading down the F2P path were confirmed, players groused about the state of the game, complaining that SOE was allowing the game to languish with no devs and no updates. Those were exaggerations, of course, but the players were vocal about their perceived neglect, throwing around dirty words like "abandonware," and worse, "maintenance mode" -- the idea that an MMO is just kept as is with no updates and only enough attention to keep the servers running. Of course, players whose games were sunsetted entirely (Tabula Rasa, Asheron's Call 2, and The Matrix Online, to name a few) might have wished for maintenance mode rather than death. Getting no updates might suck, but at least you still have a game to play. What say you -- is maintenance mode better than nothing at all? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Wii Maintenance Mode: 'It's a secret to everybody'
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/nintendo_wii/Internet_sleuths_find_Maintenance_Mode_in_the_Wii_But_what_is_it_VIDEO'; Besides switching off the Message Board, we're not sure what exactly this newly uncovered Maintenance Mode accomplishes. Several people who've tried it out have reported a number of different effects -- disabled System Settings options and deleted notes on the Message Board -- but nothing of consequence yet. Could hackers eventually manipulate this strange function to run homebrew software and unauthorized code? Who knows!Provided that your firmware isn't old and busted, like your rhyme style, you can try out this Maintenance Mode yourself! Just follow these simple instructions: Turn on your Wii. Hold down the + and - buttons during the Health and Safety screen While holding down those buttons, hit A Pour yourself a glass of sweet tea Load up Rush's "Red Barchetta" Rock out Really, you could just skip the first three steps.[Via DCEmu]
