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Neo Steam celebrates one year
Free-to-play steampunk MMO Neo Steam has been around for a full year, and the team at Atlus Online is ready to celebrate with a month-long party. June 11th is the anniversary date, but you can find celebratory events every day in June by going through the Neo Steam calendar. Click on events that look interesting to find more information as well as specific locations and times -- some promise more details to come, but there is plenty to do in the meantime. If you haven't tried Neo Steam and are interested in giving it a look, be sure to check out the daily beginner hour that is part of the celebration. The GMs will be appearing at different spots each day to help new players. In-game events aren't the only part of the celebration. Each day you log in during June will earn you a brass gear that serves as a raffle ticket for a Neo Steam-themed iPad. During the month of July, Atlus Online will draw from those raffle gears and ship the iPad to one lucky winner. The event is going on now, so check it out and have fun!
Neo Steam versus the volcano
One of the many new free-to-play games launched last year, Neo Steam kind of got lost in the shuffle among several other contenders, but that hasn't stopped it from gaining a following. Plus, it's about as close as you're going to get for the time being to a true steampunk MMO, which is something that's going to vary in importance depending on how much players like things that are awesome. We've recently gotten word on a major content update for the game, featuring the last-known source of the eponymous Neo Steam that fuels much of the game's technology: Rope Isle. Covered in jungle and active volcanoes, Rope Isle would be a fairly easy romp toward the precious steam if not for the fact that the island already has inhabitants who aren't pleased with the idea of anyone else coming in. Since they're unlikely to respond to a reasonable discussion about the demands of industrialized economy, Neo Steam players can expect to be pitted against a difficult battle. The update will also increase the level cap to 70 and two new battlefields, to help hone players and improve their skills for the dangerous island.
Neo Steam opens realm vs. realm combat and new dungeons
The two kingdoms of Rogwel and Elerd are finally facing off on the territory of Rope Isle for control of the neo steam! Yes, realm vs. realm combat is finally being enabled on the Neo Steam servers, letting players go at it for control of new stretches of land and the dungeons that dwell beneath. Players will be able to both fight on foot and in siege engines for the glory of their kingdom!However, realm vs. realm combat in Neo Steam works a bit differently than most MMOs. For one, it's actually timed. Currently you can only engage in RvR once every weekend. Once a side wins the battle, the areas are locked until the next week.
So that's how they localize a game...
If you thought localization was just a developer running everything through an auto-translator and shoving the game out the door, you're pretty far off according to Atlus U.S.A. The team over at the company that produces some of the best game localizations in the business have written a very insightful post into why game localization takes so long.Atlus doesn't just take a game and throw it through a quick translation process. There's the weeks of the translators playing the original game to get a feel for it, then the weeks of the actual translation, the weeks of re-programming to make the new text, voice-overs, and graphics line up. Then you have the weeks of testing to remove bugs and finally the packaging and shipping process. On a good game release, you're looking at around three and a half months for the localization. For MMOs, you're looking at something much more intensive thanks to the amount of text involved.Interested in the full process? Check out Atlus's production diary number 12 for the full rundown.
The Daily Grind: Do you wish test realm characters could be transfered to live realms?
I regularly play on testing realms (it is in my job description after all) but my biggest gripe is that I can never get that enthusiastic about it because I know I will lose my characters. Last week we told you about the open beta for Atlus Online's MMO Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent and the interesting news that characters created could be kept and resurrected on live realms. Now this is pretty revelatory stuff. Any one who has played an MMO on a test realm knows that you can usually copy your toons over in order to rest higher level content but there's no way to re-transfer them home after your done. They just get deleted along with the server.My problem with this is I am less likely to do quests on a test realm because I don't want to slog through them again later. At the same time it's nice to get the chance to use a premade from a different class to see how they play. However I do think that if more companies were to follow Atlus' example (however implausible it might be for the bigger MMOs) that people would be more inclined to hang around after the beta ended. What do you think, constant readers? Would you play (insert upcoming MMO title here) for longer than the beta if you got to keep your carefully crafted toon?
Neo Steam editor Jason Ruper on bringing steampunk to MMOs
One of the upcoming free-to-play titles that Massively had a chance to see this month is Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent from Atlus. Our hands-on gallery feature is a good introduction to the look and feel of the game world, but now that Neo Steam is in open beta, we're expecting more info about the game to be forthcoming. We came across a ZAM interview with Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent lead editor Jason Ruper, conducted by Andrew "Tamat" Beegle. Ruper gives some background on the game's setting and lore, saying, "The game has a lush, fantasy-steampunk setting, and everything -- from the machine wasteyards and polluted rivers to the rickety vehicles and the ancient ruins from before the shattering -- contributes to this setting and reminds you that your nation is in a state of reconstruction as well as in the middle of a cold war."
Neo Steam launches into open beta, promises beta accounts will become permanent characters
Not only has Atlus Online begun their open beta of their first game, Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent, but they've also unleashed a second piece of interesting news -- characters created during beta will be available when the game goes live.Yes, that's right, Atlus Online will not be doing the standard database purge once the open beta is over and switched into live mode. All of your hard work leveling up your characters during the open beta will roll over into the live game.Plus, Atlus will be giving one lucky tester a set of handcrafted steampunk goggles created exclusively for Neo Steam. The goggles are shown in the picture above and they don't look too bad, if you ask us. All you have to do to be entered is simply play in the open beta and hit level 20! That's it!You can run on over to the Neo Steam website and grab the open beta until June 8th, or visit our sister site, Big Download, for the client as well..
European NeoSteam reveals closed beta
We've spoken about Neo Steam a few times now as the upcoming steampunk MMO being re-engineered for English speaking audiences by Atlus Online, the new division of Atlus Games. What we haven't mentioned, however, is that there will be two versions of Neo Steam for English audiences -- the Atlus American version and Gamigo's European version.Gamigo has recently thrown open the doors on their open beta test for Neo Steam, letting all interested parties enter the battle between Rogwel and Elerd. For the sake of not confusing the two games, Gamigo has subtitled their version "Steam Wars Begin" while Atlus has dubbed their version, "Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent," as we have reported on before.So if you're itching to see what exactly Atlus is working on, you can jump over to Gamigo to sign up for a free account and check out the game. We're excited to see what exactly Atlus is adding to Neo Steam, as they've said before that their localization is going beyond just a short translation and name changes
GDC09: Tinkering around with Neo Steam and Atlus Online
The World of Gatheryn isn't the only steampunk MMO on the block this year at GDC09. While Gatheryn certainly appeals to the Victorian steampunk crowd, Atlus Online's upcoming MMO Neo Steam will be bringing in those who like more fantasy mixed in with their brass and gear-driven inventions.Atlus may be a newcomer to the world of MMOs, but they're proving that they're no newbies with their initial offering. Our look into Neo Steam was quite informative and surprising, especially considering that this will be the second time Neo Steam will be releasing in North America. Atlus is putting a large amount of effort into making Neo Steam resonate with North American audiences, and not just putting out a rehash of the same game you've already seen.
Atlus Online to launch online games portal with new localization of Neo Steam
Atlus is planning to launch their online games portal with a bang, announcing the hybrid steampunk-fantasy MMO Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent as their first game.If Neo Steam sounds familar, it should. GameNetworks has already had an English version of the game running for a few months. However, with HanbitSoft changing the rights over to Atlus, GameNetworks has discontinued service for their version of Neo Steam.Neo Steam will be undergoing an extensive localization process, common to most Atlus Games, to make sure all of the dialogue is written properly and game features are tweaked to support the English language. The game will also be undergoing other updates, including graphical and content updates. Simply put, this will not be the exact same version of the game that has already been released to English speaking audiences.Interested users and previous Neo Steam players will be very interested to hear that signing up for early access to the Atlus Online portal will also let users sign up for the beta of the newly localized Neo Steam. Signing up also allows instant access to their forums, so you can talk and mingle with your fellow neo steamers to your heart's content!
