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Destiny combines arms in the Crucible this weekend
The next two community events for Bungie's Destiny will start this weekend. We had names for the two events before, Combined Arms and The Queen's Wrath, and now we have dates and descriptions for them as well. The Combined Arms event is an "all out war on a massive scale" in the Crucible multiplayer section. Players form fireteams of up to six, driving across the map and making use of increased heavy weapon ammo drops. The event starts today and lasts through the weekend. Next up is The Queen's Wrath, a set of bounty missions that begin on Tuesday, September 23 and runs through Monday, October 6. By completing the mission, players earn unique rare and legendary gear. The following two Destiny events are September's Salvage mission and October's Iron Banner mission. This week's Vault of Glass quest was first conquered roughly 11 hours after it opened. Bungie opted to double its well-broadcasted shooter's public events for players to encounter while patrolling areas in the game. [Image: Bungie]
BlizzCon offers up virtual tickets
If you really want to check out BlizzCon but can't quite manage a flight out to California, a solution is available. Virtual tickets are now available from Blizzard for $39.99, allowing you to watch the panels, the competitions, and the events live from the comfort of your own home. Sure, you won't get to actually be packed in the convention hall, but this way no one cares whether you're wearing pants or not, so you even come out ahead. Purchasing a virtual ticket will give you access to bonus in-game goods for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, StarCraft II, Heroes of the Storm, and Hearthstone, although the details are not yet available. All of the streams are also available in high definition and can be re-watched, so you needn't worry about missing something. If you've already purchased a physical ticket, you still have access to a virtual ticket as well, so you can still take advantage of the streaming. Everyone who wants to attend can at least get something like that experience.
Diablo 2.10 patch releases with week of in-game bonuses
It's time for new challenges in Diablo III, as Patch 2.10 crash-landed today to the delights of players and the screams of frustrated hellbeasts. Why won't you stop slaughtering them already? The big four features that arrive with 2.10 are seasons, greater rifts, leaderboards, and cesspools. Starting today, players can roll up a fresh character for a new season to earn special rewards without assistance from the player's other assets. To celebrate the patch, Diablo III has triggered a week of double gold find and double treasure goblin appearances. The patch notes are so long that, well, they descend into the deep blackness of the website. If you'd rather not go blind reading all of that, you can check out the patch overview video after the jump. Happy gaming!
Diablo III previews the Vault
There's nothing worse in Diablo III than seeing a treasure goblin waltz up and snatch a valuable item away from you whilst you're dealing with a pack of monsters. It's endlessly satisfying to catch the little monster and take it down. But what if you could head back to the goblins' base and start taking stuff from them for a change? That's the idea behind the Vault, a new area being added to Diablo III with patch 2.1. Whenever you take down a treasure goblin in 2.1, there's a chance that a portal to the Vault will spawn. Inside the Vault there's a ton of items pilfered by the treasure goblins, as you'd expect. There's also the Baroness Greed, who doesn't take kindly to having her space invaded and her pilfered goods re-pilfered by someone else. Still, it turns the game on its head; instead of being annoyed when a treasure goblin pinches your loot, now you'll have a chance to get something even better.
Capcom working to counter Street Fighter's Steam woes
Street Fighter fans are supposed to smash bumbling opponents and conquer long-standing rivalries, not grapple with shoddy netcode and general technical issues. Unfortunately, anyone running Steam copies of Ultra Street Fighter 4 (or its predecessor, Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition) is likely tangled up with the latter categories. Many issues are attributed to Capcom's switchover from the not-quite-dead Games For Windows Live, a change that already affects Ultra and Super, but the good news is that Capcom is aware of the issues and is working to fix them. On Ultra's Steam forums, Capcom's "wbacon" stated that Capcom is "aware of the online activity and [performance] issues with the game and are working to get them solved as quickly as possible." Wbacon added the developer will continue monitoring forums for reports of any other issues, so if there's something in the way of your frame-perfect 20-hit combo, head over to the forums and let them know about it. [Image: Capcom]
World of Warcraft drops another 800k subscribers; Diablo III has sold 20M units
Today's Activision Blizzard earnings call revealed that World of Warcraft has suffered another significant hit to its subscriptions: The game has lost 800,000 subs over the last quarter, bringing the playerbase down to 6.8 million subscribers. The game announced a loss of 100k last November, a gain of 200k in February, and another loss of 200k in May. WoW has lost over 3 million players in the gap between Mists of Pandaria and Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard claims that most of the losses were "disproportionately concentrated in the East." There is some good news for the company: ARPG Diablo III has sold over 20 million copies since its launch in spring 2012.
Bayonetta 2's co-op mode bets on your success
Platinum Games' Wii U-exclusive sequel Bayonetta 2 will include a two-player mode. That much was revealed at E3 2013 by Nintendo, and further details on the game's online multiplayer offerings are now available via Famitsu (translation courtesy of Siliconera). The game's "Tag Climax" mode allows players to team up online with friends, strangers and CPU partners to annihilate waves of enemies and large bosses. Online quick matches will also feature a betting system, in which players can wager in-game "Halos" to challenge their partner in a scoring contest to see who will rack up the most points in a match. The in-game currency can then be exchanged for additional weapon variations, accessories and techniques. Players will have the ability to pick their characters and weapon/accessory loadouts of choice as well as stages and their respective difficulty levels, with tougher matches resulting in higher Halos payouts (but at a steeper cost of entry). The equipment players carry in to Tag Climax mode is based on their progress in Bayonetta 2's main story mode as well. The game is slated to launch this October.
Original Spelunky gets online co-op mod
Before Spelunky became a household name on XBLA in July 2012, it arrived on PC in late 2008 in its original low-res state. Source code for the original game was made available one year later, and just now received a new mod called Spelunky SD courtesy of Ukrainian developer Vadim. The mod adds, among other things, online cooperative multiplayer to the first version of the game. In what started as a weekend project, the developer spent three months fine-tuning the mod for its first public release late last week. He tweaked the original game in a few ways, adding elements such as "sounds fading off-screen" or making enemies blink when they're about to get up off the ground. Vadim fixed a few bugs as well and made input precision "slightly more forgiving" in the game. The Spelunky SD mod is available to download through GameJolt. [Image: Mossmouth]
Rob Pardo leaves Blizzard
In a rather surprising move, Blizzard's Executive Producer Rob Pardo announced today that he is leaving the company. At this time he has announced no immediate career plans or subsequent goals, although he mentions a desire to spend the summer with his family and consider his next move. Pardo's forum announcement thanks the design teams for all of their hard work and notes that he has immensely enjoyed his time with the company; he expresses great satisfaction at the growth of the company and all of the changes that have come about during his tenure there. Pardo mentions that he began working with the studio during development of the original StarCraft, having since worked on titles including Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and Heroes of the Storm. He has promised fans that he will attempt to be communicative about his next move via Twitter. [Thanks to Dystopiq for the tip!]
Diablo III is closing the auction house for good next week
Diablo III's auction house is on its last leg, giving up its ghost, and seeing a hellish light at the end of the tunnel. As of June 24th, all traces of the controversial feature will be removed from the game for good. Blizzard sent out a reminder today about the auction house, stating that while its economic functions were disabled in March, the studio left it up for a few months past that to allow players to retrieve items and gold. Any items and gold left unattended will be sucked into the abyss on next Tuesday, so beware!
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls' first update bringing seasonal play
Diablo III has begun testing its first big update for Reaper of Souls, which will add an updated version of Diablo II's ladder system and more. Patch 2.1.0 will also add "seasons" to the game. These are a new type of play that requires players to start a fresh character to level up. Why would someone want to do something so obviously crazy? Why, for the exclusive rewards and the chance to climb the leaderboards! There will also be season-only achievements called conquests that will be awarded to the first 1,000 players to get each one. Once a season is over, the exclusive legendaries will be added to the rest of the game. Patch 2.1.0 will also impliment cesspool levels, combat balance changes, and greater rifts. The latter will have players racing against the clock to kill monsters and try to beat the end boss before time runs out.
Destiny gets classy with PS4 gameplay trailer
Destiny, the Bungie-developed multiplayer shooter set in "the last city on Earth" (our guess is Boise, Idaho), received a new video today. The developer discusses its approach to crafting the game and briefly explains the skills and abilities players will use that are unique to each of Destiny's character classes. The gameplay shown in the trailer is from Destiny's PS4 version, but the game will also arrive on September 9 for Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PS3. Bungie recently offered a look at the game's loot after announcing plans to launch a beta version of the cooperative FPS in July. We spent some time with the "$500 million bet" from Activision in video preview form back in April. [Image: Bungie]
EVE Evolved: Eleven years of EVE Online
It seems that every year another few MMOs have closed their doors or convert to free-to-play business models to stay afloat. EVE Online has always enjoyed a level of insulation from these market trends elsewhere in the genre, and just last week on May 6th it celebrated its 11th year of year-on-year subscription growth. Following on from my previous column celebrating the EVE Evolved column's sixth year of operation, this week I'll be summarising all the major EVE news stories throughout the year. It's been a big year for EVE fans, one that many of us can be proud to have been a part of. The EVE community turned its financial wizardry toward the real world and raised over $190,000 US in relief aid following a typhoon hitting the Philippines, and CCP even built a monument dedicated to the community. Several massive player battles once again put EVE on the global media's radars, and the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions revitalised the game for explorers and PvPers alike. But not everyone can hold his heads up high this year, with details of more cyberbullying within EVE coming to light and several players being banned for defacing the EVE monument in Reykjavik. In this anniversary retrospective, I summarise all the major EVE news from the year in one place and take a look at what the future may hold for the EVE universe.
Massively's hands-on with EVE Valkyrie on the Oculus Rift DK2
At last year's EVE Fanfest, the press and attendees got a rare glimpse into something other than CCP's major IPs -- a virtual reality tech demo produced by a handful of developers during their down time. Originally codenamed EVR, this VR dogfighter on the original Oculus Rift development kit drew a surprising amount of attention and went on to win several awards at E3. It's now been a year since that project first sprouted legs, and last week at EVE Fanfest 2014 it sprouted wings as well. Now named EVE Valkyrie, what started as a side-project has become one of CCP's key intellectual properties and the poster-child for virtual reality gaming. The game's success now ultimately relies on the adoption of VR tech and the appeal of its gameplay, both of which are still open questions at this point. I got some hands-on time with the latest build of Valkyrie during Fanfest to see how the game and the technology that powers it have come along in the past year, and I was pleasantly surprised. Read on to find out how Valkyrie has changed in the past year and for a first look at the new Oculus Rift Development Kit 2.
Don't Starve Together multiplayer expansion coming this summer
Klei Entertainment's single-player roguelike survival game, Don't Starve, will receive a free expansion that adds multiplayer options late this summer. While the developer noted some uncertainty on what the final version of the expansion will look like, Don't Starve Together is expected to have "most (if not all) the normal features in Don't Starve, balanced for multiplayer," and "potentially" new features. Klei believes that Don't Starve Together will "support 2-4 players simultaneously. Could be more, but we are aiming for 4 minimum." The expansion will be free for all current Steam or standalone PC players to download, though the price of the standard game will increase by $5 (to $19.99) once the alpha version of Together launches. Meanwhile, Klei just launched its single-player Reign of Giants DLC. Update: When asked about multiplayer support for the game's PS4 version, Klei tweeted that it would "like to do PS4 as well, but it's far away from knowing if it's possible." [Image: Klei Entertainment]
EVE Evolved: Six years of EVE Evolved
Six years ago to this exact day, I joined the Massively crew and published the first edition of this column dedicated to the ins and outs of EVE Online. The column has been home to over 300 featured articles since its creation, offering everything from guides and expansion reveals to opinion pieces, fiction, and tales of real in-game events. It's been my pleasure in the past six years to offer the Massively readers a digestible glimpse into the ordinarily somewhat impenetrable world of EVE Online and to introduce new players to the only game (other than Master of Orion II) that's managed to keep me hooked for over a decade. It's been a fantastic year to be a fan of EVE Online, with CCP announcing its long-term vision for deep space colonisation and the game being revitalised through the Odyssey and Rubicon expansions. I've had the opportunity to explore both expansions in this column and to share some hands-on experience with DUST 514 and CCP's upcoming dogfighter EVE Valkyrie. There's been no shortage of opinion pieces this year either, with articles on everything from PvP consequences and twitch controls to whether Star Citizen and Elite are a threat to the sandbox giant. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I round up the best articles from the column's sixth year of operation in one place.
Super Smash Bros. online play split between 'for fun' and 'for glory' modes
Nintendo announced today that its upcoming Wii U and 3DS brawler Super Smash Bros. will feature online play split between casual and hardcore fanbases, with specific measures taken to minimize cheating and abusive play. When joining Super Smash Bros' online mode, players will be asked to join either the "For Fun" or "For Glory" gameplay modes. "For Fun" matches players with random stages and items, and only wins are counted on a player's record. "For Glory" appeals to series fanatics and tournament players, disabling items and restricting play to the "Final Destination" stage. Both wins and losses are counted in this mode. Nintendo also announced that many themed stages will now feature "Final Destination"-style variants that eliminate platforms and other gameplay-altering gimmicks, allowing greater stage variety during tournament play. Nintendo plans to heavily moderate Super Smash Bros. online play, and will issue bans to players who repeatedly cheat, abuse glitches, or harass other players. Nintendo Network IDs will be displayed during online play, and while players aren't ranked in a traditional sense, player skill will be taken into account when searching for matches online. Super Smash Bros. will launch this summer for the Nintendo 3DS, and in the winter for the Wii U. [Image: Nintendo]
Diablo III: Reaper of Souls launch day roundup
Did you stay up late last night to watch the official kick-off stream for Diablo III's Reaper of Souls expansion? Did you wait in long lines at a brick-and-mortar store to buy your copy of the game? No, of course not. You already had it digitally pre-loaded and were playing while those other suckers were out in the cold. Yes, as of 12:00 a.m. EDT this morning, the Reaper of Souls expansion, complete with its new locations and bosses and class and loot, was officially live. Enjoy our roundup of coverage leading up to the launch, and let us know what you think about the upgrade!
Blizzard is going on a PAX East road trip
Blizzard is refueling the company RV and making a mix tape of John Denver and Megadeth for its upcoming cross-country trip to PAX East. The studio announced today that it will have a presence at the convention to show off Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, and World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor. Blizzard will be at booth #848 from April 11th through the 13th. Hearthstone will be available to play not only on demo stations but on the iPad as well. Fans can also check out a hands-on demos of Warlords of Draenor, Diablo III for PS4, and Heroes of the Storm with new heroes. The studio won't just be confined to its booth for the duration of the weekend, as it's planning a presentation on April 11th at 10:30 a.m. EDT about Heroes of the Storm. This presentation will be livestreamed for those who can't make it.
Watch the fury of Diablo III's Crusader in action
With all of the fun that players seem to be having with the recent Diablo III pre-expansion patch, it might be easy to forget that there's still more to come with Reaper of Souls -- including a new class, the Crusader. Blizzard hasn't forgotten, of course, and the studio posted a new video today to spotlight the class' mechanics, lore, and visual flair. On paper the Crusader sounds like a near-invincible melee class, but how does it look in action? Check out the video after the break and you tell us.
