milestones
Latest
RuneScape offers exclusive item to celebrate Facebook milestone
The game with over two million registered users has now reached one million likes on Facebook. To celebrate hitting this milestone, RuneScape is giving all fans an exclusive in-game item -- the Book of Face. This cosmetic item is a mask emblazoned with the RuneScape logo and the symbols of Zamorak and Saradomin, the game's two most prominent gods. However, the item won't be available long, so players who want to claim theirs will need to log in and grab it quickly! [Source: Jagex press release]
Google Play hits 25 billion app downloads, holds celebratory yard sale with $0.25 games
Google Play crossed a rather significant milestone this morning: something to the tune of 25 billion app downloads. While the accomplishment is weighty enough on its own -- especially given that the store also offers books, music and movies, which aren't included in this tally -- Google is celebrating in symbolic style with a number of apps and games for sale at just $0.25 over the next five days. Among the mix of discounted titles, you'll find publishers such as Gameloft, Electronic Arts, Rovio, Runtastic and Full Fat. Not to stop there, shoppers will also discover a curated collection of 25 must-own movies, 25 banned books, 25 albums that changed the world and 25 top-selling magazines. With today's announcement, it was revealed that 675,000 apps and games now live in Google Play -- a healthy increase when compared to 600,000 titles and 20 billion installs just three months ago. As you might expect, Apple still claims the largest selection with 700,000 titles in its App Store, although with such a thin separation between the two, we may see Google Play eclipse its rival in short order.
Apple readies $10,000 prize for 25 billionth app milestone
It keeps growing. More downloads, more hard-to-comprehend milestones. This time, Apple's gearing up to hit its 25 billionth app download and it's got another $10,000 prize for the lucky soul that claims that very app. The App Store doubled its download count in the last year -- and then some -- so it's got good reason to be in a celebratory mood. To enter, you can either go grab yourself an app or enter via the prize form below. $10,000 for a random download? Count us in.
SWTOR: When do I get...?
BioWare has created an enormous world with Star Wars: The Old Republic. Over and over again, developers explained that this is absolutely™ the biggest single project BioWare has ever undertaken. This also means that it is the most complex, and not everything you want to know about the game is easy to find. Every week for the last three years, the community team at BioWare has released tidbits of information, and sometimes when the information trickles out over that span of time, it's hard to keep track of it all. Therefore, the crew here at Massively decided it would be a good idea to compile some of the more common questions that have been asked about SWTOR, all in a single place. Catch all the questions and answers after the break, and if you have any other (serious) questions, feel free to ask them in the comments -- we will do our best to get them answered for you!
Massively's guide to SWTOR's launch and beyond
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, we first heard mention of a new Star Wars MMO set in the popular Knights of the Old Republic era. Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare named it, and we've waited patiently impatiently through months years of hope and hype, fanboys and haters, and at least eight million articles about the fourth pillar of story. This week, The Old Republic is the new hotness, and the Massively staffers are right there with you, champing at the bit to get in the head start already! But what if you're not an expert on Star Wars lore or TOR's gameplay? What if you don't know the first thing about purple lightsabers, astromechs, and the Kessel Run? What if you can't decide which class to play? When do you get a starship? Can you really romance your companions? How do flashpoints work? And why are there no bathrooms on Coruscant?! Relax, young Padawan. Put your blast-shield down and let Massively be your guide... literally. We've rounded up a massive collection of helpful introductory guides for each of the eight classes, along with overviews of gameplay mechanics like companions, starships, flashpoints, warzones, and crafting. We've also curated the most illuminating lore essays from our regular SWTOR column, Hyperspace Beacon, in addition to our extensive hands-on previews from the last few years. Take your first step into a larger world...
World of Tanks closed beta registrations hit the one million mark
It can often be difficult to judge how much anticipation is building for an upcoming title. For MMOs, a fairly good milestone for comparison is the number of registrations entered for the closed beta phase. If its closed beta registrations are anything to go by, there's a great deal of interesting building in Wargaming.net's upcoming MMO World of Tanks. The first round of WoT's closed beta ended in August and at peak saw over 4,000 concurrent players. Last month, we discovered that the second round of closed beta testing saw a peak concurrent user total of over 53,000. Much of the dramatic increase can be attributed to release of the Russian closed beta test, as Russian players have taken a massive interest in the title. One month ago, Wargaming.net reported the total number of active players to be 150,000 for the US/European closed beta and 350,000 in the Russian beta. These players came from a total of 700,000 registered beta accounts, half a million of which were from Russia and 200,000 of which originated in the US and Europe. Within the last month, the number of registrations has now skyrocketed past the one million mark, proving that there's significant interest in the game. On reaching this milestone figure, Victor Kislyi, CEO of Wargaming.net, took the opportunity to thank players for their interest. "We would like to thank all the WoT fans for their support." he told us. "Wargaming.net will continue to work hard on adding new content to the game regularly to guarantee that our community gets maximum fun from playing World of Tanks". To celebrate the milestone, Wargaming.net has released a series of screenshots from its closed beta tests. %Gallery-96260%
App store milestones: Windows Phone 7 hits 5,000 as Android passes 200,000 available apps
Apps, apps, apps! Everywhere you look, more apps. Both Android and Windows Phone 7 have reportedly crossed a couple of round number milestones recently, giving us a decent idea of the maturity gap between the two. Microsoft's brand new OS with an old OS' name has rounded the 5,000 available apps corner -- that's according to two sources keeping track of what's on offer in the Marketplace -- while AndroLib's latest data indicates Android's crossed the 200,000 threshold when it comes to apps and games taken together. We're cautious on taking either of these numbers as hard truth, particularly since AndroLib was reporting 100,000 Android apps when there were only 70,000 -- but they do provide rough estimates as to where each platform is in terms of quantity, if not quality. Now, where do you think each will be this time in 2011?
HP Labs teams up with Hynix to manufacture memristors, plans assault on flash memory in 2013
The memristor's come a long way since being hypothesized back in 1971. If you ask HP Labs, the history of this particular memory technology didn't hit its next milestone for almost four decades, when the company produced the very first memory resistor chip. Just last month, the Labs group proved its little transistor could handle logic and data storage, and as of today, the company's announcing a joint development agreement with Hynix Semiconductor, with a goal of bringing these chips to the market -- and rendering flash memory obsolete. That challenge against flash (not a very popular naming convention these days, it seems) was thrown down by HP Labs Senior Fellow Stan Williams, who posits that the memristor is "an universal memory that over a sufficient amount of time will replace flash, DRAM, magnetic hard disks, and possibly even SRAM." But onto the immediate, albeit aspirational goal (i.e. not a commitment, which he stressed on multiple occasions): Williams hopes to see the transistors in consumer products by this time 2013, for approximately the price of what flash memory will be selling for at the time but with "at least twice the bit capacity." He also claims a much smaller power requirement of "at least a factor of 10" and an even faster operation speed, in addition to previously-discussed advantages like read / write endurance. With Hynix on board, the goal is to make these "drop-in replacements" for flash memory, whereby the same protocols and even the same connectors will work just fine. For HP, however, Williams says there'll be an initial competitive advantage for the company due to its comfort level with memristors' unique properties, but that other companies will be encouraged to license the technology and experiment with new possibilities in hardware design. Williams wouldn't give any specific product examples where we might initially see the memristor, except to repeat that it'll be anywhere and everywhere flash memory is. Fighting words, indeed. We normally don't get excited about minute hardware components -- not often, at least -- but we gotta say, the seeds of the future look mighty interesting. Can't wait to see what germinates. Highlights from our talk with Williams after the break. %Gallery-100780%
Anti-Aliased: Don't hate the playa, hate the developa
So I noticed something last week, in the comments section of my piece on UI design, that finally kicked me back into "endless rant" mode. It's a sentiment that I've noticed in the video game community at large for a while now, but I never really knew how to approach it until recently, thanks to my own life experiences with games. It's an idea that's pretty misinformed on how the industry works. It's the idea that the developers behind any given game are an idiots. According to commenters, they're all blind, non-gamer morons, bumbling around in the dark without the slightest sense of what game mechanics are actually fun. Why are these bumbling morons in the industry? Why don't they listen to the endless array of golden ideas that pop up on game forums? Don't they realize that these revolutionary ideas will turn every game into double-rainbow-crapping unicorns? Why haven't 15% of my readers (a totally accurate statistic, mind you) figured out how sarcastic I'm being at this point in the introduction? This week we're going after some of the common misconceptions about developers and game design, and how making a game as complex as an MMO is really never as easy as you claim it is.
Fantasy Earth Zero hosting double experience week
If you're a fan of Fantasy Earth Zero, then odds are good that you've also become a fan of the game on Facebook. (You can't escape from that site any more, really.) But if you do enjoy the game's hybrid of real-time strategy elements and fantasy battles without having become a fan of the game on social networking... you owe the Facebook fans a big "thank you." As a celebration for having reached 5,000 fans, the game is running a week of doubled experience. Running from August 10th to the 17th, the effects are obvious -- every character will receive doubled experience, presumably from every source. While the game doesn't require high levels to be competitive in PvP, it does offer up more options. In addition, players who logged on between July 1st and August 9th will receive a few special in-game items as an additional thanks for playing. Another celebration is planned for 6,000 fans, so Fantasy Earth Zero players are encouraged to become a fan if you're not already.
EVE Online turns 7 today, BIG corp runs huge anniversary lottery
On May 6th 2003, a little online space game by a relatively unknown independent Icelandic games company was officially released. Fast forward seven years down the line and that little company is a megalithic giant in the games industry. Spanning four countries and leveraging hundreds of staff, the company has begun to expand its portfolio with a console MMOFPS and a new MMO based in the World of Darkness setting. Under CCP's development, EVE Online has stood the test of time and enjoyed a steady increase in subscriptions. At EVE's sixth anniversary last year, they announced having reached 300,000 active subscriptions with a peak concurrent user total of 53,850. Some time in December of last year, the number of EVE subscriptions finally surpassed the number of citizens in CCP's home country of Iceland. That number rose to 330,000 active subscriptions by March of this year, with a peak concurrent total of 56,021. With the Tyrannis expansion around the corner, EVE is sure to see the same characteristic growth this year too. CCP took the time to start a congratulatory thread on the EVE forums to mark the day. To celebrate, they're also donating massive prizes to EVE's oldest and most respected player-run lottery. The BIG lottery's anniversary draw is open now for entry and closes on Sunday, May 16th, with a live prize drawing the following day. The first place winner takes home a colossal 25 billion ISK prize, with the second place reeling in a huge 10 billion ISK. CCP is sponsoring prizes of a year's free game time, a battleship model from the EVE store, a copy of the new EVE: The Burning Life novel and an EVE T-Shirt. Not to be left out, E-ON Magazine is offering the latest four issues of the magazine plus a copy of their EVE Strategic Map booklet. Finally, EVE player "Ash Tre" is sponsoring the contest with a pack of faction cruisers. From all of us here at Massively, happy birthday EVE Online!
The Classifieds: Buttering up the Panera Bread WoW Man
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com. Remember back during the holidays, when we had a nice cozy Breakfast Topic chat about the fellow who's been spotted schlepping his entire iMac to the local Panera Bread to play WoW? Sharp-eyed reader Paul discovered a followup article at Gizmodo, featuring five questions with the Panera Bread WoW Man. It's no headline news, but it's an interesting peek into how a fellow WoW player gets his fix. Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: WoW player/MMA fighter on the mend
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. In news from the WoW community, guildmates of MMA grappler Haydn Clasby, aka Croc of <Defiant Hearts>, US Bloodscalp-H, are rallying in support after he suffered a broken neck in what was called a freak accident during a match in New Zealand last month. Friends and fans are publicizing a Recovery Fund to help Croc out with the medical costs of the devastating accident. Our friend Jens "Little Evil" Pulver, also an MMA fighter and inveterate WoW player (and seen in yesterday's 15 Minutes of Fame), offered these words of support for Croc: "My heart and thoughts go out to you, brother. Make sure you keep your spirits up and tackle this with the same grit and guts you used to get in there in the first place. Take the time to heal and get well soon. Chin down, hands up and always come out fighting; don't let this stop you. I wish you all the best." Best wishes, Croc, for your continued recovery! Let's open up The Classifieds ...
The Classifieds: News briefs on guilds and players
The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail The Classifieds. Welcome to our first installment of The Classifieds, an evolution of our former Guildwatch feature. As more and more players move into endgame raiding, we thought it fitting that our guild news should evolve, too. The Classifieds gives you more of the news you can use: who's progressing, who's marking milestones, who's recruiting. But it's not only about guilds. Because we're all down there in the trenches of Dungeon Finder groups at every opportunity, The Classifieds lets you send a shout-out to that player who made your last PUG a thing of real beauty (whether through pure technical finesse or a winning attitude). And if you're curious about how WoW intersects with the world at large, we'll be passing along links to academic research studies seeking participants, as well. Editor's Note: One thing you might notice missing in Guildwatch's new incarnation is the "Drama" section. In the interest of fostering community growth and positive interaction, we're checking the drama and negativity at the door. Let's open the Classifieds!
MapleStory announces over 92 million users worldwide, 4 year anniversary
We often marvel at the sheer numbers of subscribers and users some MMOs and virtual worlds are able to reach. You can look at a title like World of Warcraft, with over 11 million subscribers and just picture a massive green tidal wave made of dollar bills sweeping over Blizzard HQ. Every month. But WoW's millions of customers, while impressive, pales in comparison with what Nexon announced this week with MapleStory: 92 million users worldwide, with 6 million users in North America alone. Sure, comparing success stories of a subscription title with a free-to-play game is a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Each of those 92 million "Maplers" probably isn't dropping $15 each month to play, but the fact remains that many of those users are paying real money for their virtual goods. The numbers we ran for MapleStory's virtual items sales in the US, roughly one year ago, had 5.9 million US users spending USD 29.3 million on these goods.
EVE Online turns 6 today, announces over 300k subscribers
EVE Online is the first massively multiplayer online title from CCP Games, one that's redefined what we can expect from a sandbox game. They created the gritty far-future setting of New Eden, a place where EVE's players can do as they choose in a vast galaxy comprised of thousands of solar systems, both mapped and unexplored. Today CCP Games celebrates EVE Online's sixth birthday. They state, "A 6 year persistent history. A living history where truly brilliant strategies have unfolded. Truly terrible betrayals unveiled. We are excited to see what will happen next." CCP also announced their new subscriber milestone: EVE now has over 300,000 active subscriptions (not including trial accounts), up 22% over the past five months alone. Their peak concurrent user record has also climbed to 53,850 players interacting in the same space, a record we've noticed they seem to shatter with increasing frequency. "That is exponential growth," CCP says. "We couldn't think of a better birthday present than having more people play EVE Online than ever before. It is another sweet reminder of EVE's boundless potential."Congratulations to CCP Games from the team at Massively, and here's looking to the next six years.[Via Warp Drive Active]
The Daily Grind: MMO Anniversary Extravaganza!
This next week is quite a big week for anniversaries, birthdays and celebrations in our favorite MMOs. We kick off the festivities today with Lord of the Rings Online's 2-year anniversary, and finish off next Tuesday with a 5-year for City of Heroes, a 5-year for Lineage II and a 4-year for Guild Wars. Each of these games promises to have their own unique anniversary celebration in-game and out.So the question is, which of these games have you stuck with since day one? As traditional MMOs are entering their golden years, yelling at those younger F2P games to get off their lawn, it's becoming increasingly more difficult to stick with one game. Even if it's not one of these games celebrating a milestone this week, which games have you stuck with for years and years?
GDC09: Interview with The Secret World's creator, Ragnar Tørnquist
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/GDC09_Interview_with_The_Secret_World_s_creator_Ragnar'; With our unveiling of The Secret World, we were also able to have some time to ourselves with Ragnar Tørnquist, the creator of Dreamfall and, of course, The Secret World. While our look at the videos and basic fact sheets were interesting, we wanted to get to the heart of the matter. What should lure us into this dark, fantastic world? What had Funcom learned since the launch of Anarchy Online and Age of Conan? And how many times can we have one man say the words, "I can't talk about that?"We put Ragnar to the test in our interview, and his responses were certainly enlightening. Interested? Join us as we brave The Secret World with the creator himself.
Apple sells 100 millionth iPod, deems experiment a success
Has it really only been five and a half years since the first iPod rolled off the assembly line and into the initially-skeptical arms of music-loving consumers worldwide? Well since that time we've seen an entire ecosystem of third-party and DIY accessories sprout up around Apple's ubiquitous little jukebox -- from the pretty handy to the just plain weird -- along with endless humorous anecdotes, an infinite number of knockoffs, serious political, legal, and environmental movements, and of course, an almost daily barrage of wild rumors the likes of which the world has never known. So it's with mixed emotion that we welcome the 100 millionth iPod into the world (enough for almost every man, woman, and child in Mexico): on the one hand, it gives us warm fuzzies to see perennial underdog Apple come out on top for a change, but we also hope that the company employs its leadership position responsibly, such as being a little less quick to sic the lawyers on anyone who dares use the "Pod" name in vain. And as for the next 100 million iPods? Is PC-less downloading just over the horizon? When will we finally see the move to an all flash lineup? Will Apple finally take the leap and merge its prize pig with -- gasp! -- a cellular telephone? As always, only time -- and Uncle Steve -- will tell.
2 million European Nintendogs
Despite a later launch in Europe, those pesky puppies have managed to sell well. Really well--with two million copies of Nintendogs sold so far, Europe's managed to outsell both the US and Japan. Only yesterday we heard how innovation is nowhere to be seen in the UK charts; perhaps it's the chill of February rather than a general distaste for new titles. Nintendogs was a chart favourite over Christmas; with its three variants, and a huge female appeal, it's still going strong. The upcoming PSP knock-off will help prove whether virtual pets are trendy again, or whether it's just puppy love.
