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Rise of Immortals launching September 12
It looks like the MOBA genre will be getting a new entry in just under two weeks. Developer Petroglyph has announced that its minion-stomper Rise of Immortals will officially launch on September 12. Like its closest kin, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, Rise of Immortals will be free-to-play and will allow users to purchase new characters and items with the money of real Earth. Petroglyph reminds prospective online gladiators that there's still time to take part in the open beta. Doing so will reward players with 1,000 Petroglyph Coins (worth more than ten dollars) and an exclusive "King of Bling" character skin, which the studio describes as "a dazzling gold version of the robot-suited Psychozen." Seems like a pretty good deal for anyone thinking about trying the game -- and, really, who doesn't want to be dazzled once in a while? You can register for the beta right here.
Rise of Immortals MOBA launching September 12th
Ready for another MOBA title? Ready or not, there's a new one on the way, and Petroglyph has just announced that Rise of Immortals is set to launch on September 12th. The game is currently barreling through the final days of its open beta test, and as such you can still sign up and get a free preview as well as take home 1,000 Petroglyph coins and an exclusive immortal skin. Rise of Immortals is free-to-play, and the dev team is looking to expand the MOBA genre by adding features like social hubs, emotes, persistent character progression, and collectible combat and vanity pets. That's not all, either, and we'll have more details for you in next week's edition of Not So Massively!
End of Nations video features factions and explosions
Trion Worlds is known primarily for its wildly successful RIFT MMORPG, but that will soon change thanks to an upcoming MMORTS called End of Nations. The title, developed by real-time strategy specialist Petroglyph (and published by Trion) is a two-faction romp through a future earth that has been decimated by war and is teetering on the brink of societal collapse. Today, Trion and Petroglyph have released a three-minute trailer for the game that touches on the lore behind the opposing player factions. The clip also features more explosions than your average Michael Bay film, but we'll get to that in a minute. The Liberation Front and the Shadow Revolution factions are mortal enemies who share a common goal: the destruction of the tyrannical Order of Nations. Said destruction involves a lot of things blowing up, and despite the fact that the video features a few talking heads pontificating on factional lore, the focus is on gameplay-related mayhem. Helicopters, tanks, and even closing title screens are liable to burst into flaming fireballs at any moment, and fans of gratuitous military violence will no doubt want to click past the cut to check out the full trailer.
Trion Worlds releases new End of Nations video feature
The world's economies have crashed, governments are crumbling as a result, and a totalitarian regime is looking to assume control over the chaos. This is the world of End of Nations, the upcoming MMORTS from Trion Worlds and Petroglyph Games. The game sees players rising against the aforementioned tyrannical organization, known as the Order of Nations, in a struggle for control over the world's resources. To tease the new title, Trion Worlds has released a new video that showcases some gameplay clips, fills players in on the game's setting, and includes snippets from the game's developers explaining their goals and hopes for the game. If you're itching for more information on this upcoming addition to the MMORTS genre, Massively has not one but two hands-on previews and a Q&A with the game's developers. If that's not enough for you, the End of Nations official site has gone live as well, and there's sure to be more information to be gleaned there. And lastly, of course, you can jump past the cut for the video itself.
End of Nations preview: Real-time synergy
A few years ago around this time, Trion was suggesting to gamers that despite the overwhelming domination of World of Warcraft, there definitely was room for more than just Blizzard's opus in the MMO market, though the suggestion didn't raise much more than an eyebrow among those interested at the time. A few years later, Rift is out and stealing both players and mindshare, even getting hinted at on a conference call as one reason for WoW's numbers being slightly down. As much as Trion has been able to do with Rift, that game is only the beginning of the company's plan. As we saw at a pre-E3 event last week, the next step is to break ground on a second MMO title, this one built as an "MMORTS" with veteran strategy developers Petroglyph. We only got to play through part of a short match, but what's there showed that Trion is aiming to do with this genre what it did with Rift, even if there's a long way to go. %Gallery-124499%
Rise of Immortals closed beta kicking off April 5
Rise of Immortals, Petroglyph's entry into the rapidly expanding multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) genre -- which includes Heroes of Newerth, Demigod, League of Legends and Dota 2 -- will invite nearly 10,000 applicants into its closed, friends-and-family beta test on April 5. Actually, we guess once those invites go out, it'll become less of a friends-and-family beta and more of a friends-and-family-and-thousands-of-strangers beta. Check out our preview of Rise of Immortals to see if it's the kind of thing you'd like to play before its official launch. And by "play," of course, we mean "rigorously stress test and check for bugs." We're basically talking about a job, people. Freeloaders need not apply.
Rise of Immortals preview: Potent Dota-bles
The Defense of the Ancients mod for Warcraft 3 has spawned no less than four retail titles now (Heroes of Newerth, Demigod, League of Legends, and Valve's upcoming Dota 2), and Las Vegas' Petroglyph Games is throwing its hat into the ring with another, called Rise of Immortals. Petroglyph, which has its roots in EA's Westwood Studios and is also working on an MMORTS for Trion, showed the game to me at GDC last week and, while it's safe to say that the growing "MOBA" (multiplayer online battle arena) genre is probably well covered already, they are planning to put a few new twists and turns on the still-developing formula. The most central of these is more of an emphasis on PvE -- while League of Legends or Heroes of Newerth is centered around five players battling it out with five others online, Rise of Immortals plans to make playing versus the environment a viable goal, with levels that spawn monsters to fight and even award persistent items for you and your team. There are some other innovations, too, and Rise of Immortals seems like it will be an interesting experimental entry into this quickly evolving genre. %Gallery-118760%
Petroglyph announces Rise of Immortals, closed beta sign-ups begin
Petroglyph has announced that its new multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game, Rise of Immortals, is now accepting sign-ups for a closed beta test. Rise of Immortals is a free-to-play MOBA -- i.e. "it's like Defense of the Ancients" -- that features persistent character creation and, of course, plenty of microtransaction-fueled goodies. The game allows players to choose from twelve customizable Immortals with different abilities and take them into battle in either player-vs-player or player-vs-environment matches. Those wishing to sign up for the beta should head over to the Rise of Immortals website; the test is currently offered only to "friends & family," though it will expand to more players in the coming weeks. Check out some screens in the gallery below and find a trailer after the break. %Gallery-117314%
Massively's hands-on with End of Nations' PvE and PvP
You know that scene in Contact in which Jodie Foster is looking out at the cosmos, telling the folks at mission control that they should have sent a poet? All the while I was playing End of Nations at Trion World's Gamer's Day event, I kept thinking, "Massively should have sent a StarCraft guru!" I initially felt very much out of my element. MMOs and RPGs are my shtick; I only rarely dive into turn-based strategy games. And RTS games? Forget it. They don't agree with me. If it doesn't have a pause button, I probably don't have time for it. I'm too easily distractible, too impatient, and too exhausted after a work-day of multi-tasking to spend my playtime multi-tasking even more. There's just no time for cooking meals, browsing lolcats, and chatting with the spouse when you're neck-deep in an RTS. RTS games are serious business; they require my undivided attention and concentration, and I don't like doing things halfway. And yet maybe that makes me just the right person to try out an MMORTS hybrid like Trion's EoN. Most people who give it a spin when it hits the market will probably have a lot in common with me -- they'll be loyalists to one side or the other, not to both. Maybe an RTS novice is just the sort of person who can test out the game, present it to MMO gamers, and explain just what the heck this game thinks it's doing playing around in our end of the pool. Or maybe I'll end up sobbing amidst the charred remains of my tank minions. You'll never know if you don't hit the break! %Gallery-99563%
Rise and Shiny recap: Mytheon
Each week Rise and Shiny asks you to download and try a different free-to-play, indie or unusual game, chosen by me, Beau Hindman. Some of the games will be far out of your gaming comfort zone, and some will pleasantly surprise you. We will meet each Tuesday and Friday night at 9 p.m. EDT (8 p.m. CDT time) followed by this column the Sunday after. I welcome any suggestions for games, either in the comments or at beau@massively.com. I'm a simple man. I need a strong cup of coffee in the morning, walks with my two dogs, a kiss from my wife -- and giants. Lots of giants. Mytheon is a perfect game for a simple man like me. It installs easily and the controls are basic. It is by no means perfect, but I am not sure that it is trying to be. Like me, it's simple. It wants you to control miniature armies of centaurs, cyclopses and skeletons, and it wants you to kill things while controlling that army. See? Simple.
Mytheon gets EU publisher, shows off new screens and video
With the US launch of Mytheon slated to hit its official launch date of July 13th, and the lawsuit seeming to be a thing of the past, the teams behind Mytheon have been working on trying to send this upcoming free-to-play fantasy MMO across the pond. Well, today we've gotten news that Gamigo will be picking up the overseas publishing while UTV True Games handles the North American servers. Yes indeed -- those across the pond who were waiting to see if they'd have an option to check out Petroglyph's MMO based on various bits of world mythology will get a chance to play as well. To add to this news, they've also released a video and a bundle of new screenshots for people who may not have seen the polish put on Mytheon as it nears launch. EU players can register for the closed beta on the Gamigo site, whereas US players should head over to the UTV True Games site to get in on the action. Meanwhile, as those clients are downloading, don't forget to check behind the break for the video, or click through the gallery below for all the new eye-candy. %Gallery-68215%
Mytheon introduces lifetime subscription package
After months of wrangling over development and source code followed by a lawsuit that was settled in record time, True Games and Petroglyph are moving quickly to meet Mytheon's planned launch date of July 13th. The latest announcement from Mytheon comes in the form of the "Champions of Mytheon" purchase option, a lifetime subscription offer with plenty of extras. There are 2,000 Champions packages available, and well worth it for those who pay the $129.99 price tag. Champions of Mytheon includes a long list of extras both in-game and out, from a t-shirt, hat, keychain, and poster, to early game access, exclusive weapons, and even a mention in the game credits. Check out the Mytheon site for the full list of items included with the lifetime package.
Petroglyph and True Games resolve lawsuit, announce launch date for Mytheon
The last major news we heard about fantasy MMO Mytheon was regarding a legal skirmish. Publisher True Games was suing developer Petroglyph for the Mytheon source code, citing a long list of actions on Petroglyph's part which prevented the game from seeing release. In a surprise announcement, the two companies announced today that they have resolved their differences and are set for a July 13th launch. While it seems like a dangerously short leap from lawsuit to launch, keep in mind that Mytheon was originally scheduled to be ready for release last November. Chuck Kroegel, CEO of Petroglyph, sums up the decision: "From the beginning, we have been committed to creating a critically and commercially successful online game that brings something fresh to this space. Despite the fact that neither company acknowledged or admitted any wrongdoing, both companies recognized this mutual agreement as the right step, especially for the players with the official release of Mytheon to the world this summer. We've received a great deal of positive feedback on the game, from both the media and the community, and we encourage online gaming fans to jump into the ongoing open beta test and experience Mytheon's unique gameplay and amazing mythological world." Beta signups are available on the game's site.
True Games Interactive sues Petroglyph for Mytheon source code
MMORTS Mytheon has hit a development snag: True Games is suing developer Petroglyph, claiming that the company has failed to deliver what was promised -- a working game -- and is preventing True Games from doing so as well by refusing to release the source code. According to the court documents, the original agreement required Petroglyph to deliver a "Gold Master" (ready for distribution) copy of the game by November 15th, 2009 -- a delivery date later amended to February 1st, 2010. In mid-March, Petroglyph stated that a Gold Master version of Mytheon should be ready by the end of March, but additional funding was needed. The publishable copy was not received by the end of March. True Games' complaints can be summed up in a short paragraph from the official document: "The repeated, unreasonable demands by Petroglyph for additional funds and concessions, combined with Petroglyph's apparent unwillingness or inability to deliver the final product, poisoned the working relationship between TGI and Petroglyph, such that the entire multi-million dollar venture is in danger of collapsing." For Petroglyph's part, CEO Chuck Kroegel claims: "It was NEVER conceived to be a full-blown MMO, which costs upwards of $15 million and three to five years to complete. The trend, however, over the last months has been to move this game to the scope of a full-blown MMO." The full court document has all the details.
Impressions: End of Nations
Last week, I got an early look at End of Nations, the latest RTS from Petroglyph, the developer of Star Wars: Empire at War and, more recently, Universe at War: Earth Assault. Founded by some of the principals behind the original Command & Conquer at Westwood Studios, the team is pouring its experience in the genre into End of Nations for publisher Trion Worlds. Due for release in 2011, the game is being pitched as the first "MMORTS" with a persistent game world, community features and player-vs-environment gameplay with support for 50 simultaneous players "and growing," according to the developer. End of Nations will undergo many enhancements and a lot of fine-tuning before release, but even in its current state, the game is unquestionably impressive. Specifically, the scale of the action is simply astonishing. The demo map I saw spanned many (virtual) square miles, featuring an array of locations and topography. One second I was seeing a skirmish in a burning forest, and in the next, several players were working together to bring down a massive Panzer Hulk (think: battleship with tank treads) at a heavily fortified construction facility. %Gallery-91784%
Trion Worlds 'Syfy Action MMO' likely coming to consoles; publisher shows off two additional MMOs
Four years and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment capital later, Trion World Network finally has a couple of "connected" games to show ... and a new name, to boot. Now known as Trion Worlds, the company held an event in San Francisco last week to take the wraps off of the Petroglyph-developed "MMORTS" End of Nations and its home-grown MMORPG Rift: Planes of Telara (formerly known as Heroes of Telara). End of Nations is the latest game from the developer of Mytheon, Star Wars: Empire at War and Universe at War, which hopes to break new ground in the RTS genre by introducing elements such as a persistent game world and player-vs-environment battles that support more than 50 players simultaneously. It's set in a near future where resistance fighters battle a totalitarian one world government that possesses superior technology, including battleship-sized tanks called Panzer Hulks. (Check out our End of Nations image gallery for a closer look at the title.) Shown at E3 last year, Rift: Planes of Telara has undergone more than a name change. The game's visuals have improved substantially and its new hook -- "rifts" that appear randomly and spawn creatures from other dimensions -- is something Trion Worlds is focusing heavily on, calling it "dynamic content" that only its server platform can deliver. (Peep the Rift: Planes of Telara image gallery here.) Both games are due out in 2011 and are expected to be playable at E3 in June. The company is also working with Syfy on a hybrid action MMO / TV series believed to be called One Earth. The project is not being shown just yet, but it was revealed that factions and players from the game will be written into the show -- should they emerge victorious in tie-in challenges. We were also told by a Trion World rep that the game, while currently announced only for PC, will likely be released for console platforms. Check out the first concept art from the game in the gallery below. %Gallery-91785%
Mytheon has both PvP and Co-Op on the menu
Mytheon wants to know: what's your poison? Do you want a tall glass of beatdown with live players, or a cooperative shot of teamwork in a PvE environment? We haven't heard a lot about this title over the past year, but Petroglyph is increasing the game's profile as launch looms for this "online multiplayer action RPG." As the beta period winds to a close, the devs are excited to reveal the game's two primary modes: PvP and Co-Op play. Mytheon appears to lean toward PvP, as Petroglyph emphasizes both the PvP arenas and PvP scenarios. The arenas -- such as the Ring of Destiny and Olympus -- are ranked, and come in either 1v1 or 2v2 varieties. If 4v4 is more your style, then head on over to one of their three PvP scenarios, such as the Forest of Despair. However, Co-Op mode is available for a different flavor of gameplay, challenging two teams of players to compete against each other in a PvE setting until there's only one victor, who then fights a unique scenario boss. All of these modes offer experience and loot as a matter of course. Producer Randy King encourages players to find their own style: "Giving players the ability to group together, or play against each other was only the start. It was important to us to use the rich setting of Greek mythology to provide these incredible scenarios that they can experience with others."
Panzer General: Allied Assault attacks XBLA this fall (no Dragoon in sight)
Ubisoft announced today that World War II-themed card game Panzer General: Allied Assault is ready to draw from a deck of destruction this fall on XBLA. The game is being developed by Petroglyph and is a different take on the strategy game classic, to which Ubisoft apparently gained the rights after the most recent installment back in 2000. Along with the digital game, Petroglyph will also release a physical board game with 240 action and unit cards. The game is being called a "lite" WWII game and will also be available this fall for $60. We're currently following up with Ubisoft to see if the game will be playable at GamesCom. %Gallery-69972%
Mytheon site launches with trailer, game to release in Q1 2010
Mytheon from Petroglyph Games is a title we've mentioned in the past, as it's a different take on the type of games we cover at Massively. Essentially it's an MMORTS, and as such may be comparable to titles like Dreamlords the Reawakening or even Atlantica Online. As its name implies, Mytheon is rooted in ancient world myths, which could be a nice departure from the numerous pure fantasy games on the market. At launch Mytheon will have content based in ancient world Greece and Egypt. The game mechanics seem to be heavily tied in to power stones, which provide different benefits to the game's three classes. According to Petroglyph: "The collection and casting of Power Stones is the backbone of Mytheon. Power Stones initiate every in-game effect possible, from summoning minions and structures that fight for the player, to conjuring fireballs and lightning bolts and healing a party." Mytheon can be played solo, but will also have group and PvP gameplay options. The game's first trailer might give you a better idea of what to expect. It's embedded on the new game site, and offers some of the first glimpses at Mytheon's gameplay as well as the setting of Hades.
Petroglyph general manager Chuck Kroegel on Mytheon's union of MMO and RTS
We've been seeing a number of new options in online gaming, some clearly definable as being 'massively multiplayer', others less so. One of those game categories that blurs the line a bit is the MMORTS (massively multiplayer online real-time strategy) game... we'll probably just stick with the acronym from now on. But we've wondered, what exactly can we expect from RTS titles as they adopt more features traditionally associated with MMOs? Steven Crews from The MMO Gamer spoke with Petroglyph Games general manager and executive producer Chuck Kroegel about their upcoming title Mytheon. The game is a free-to-play, downloadable title that will be supported by microtransactions and focuses on the myths, heroes, and monsters of the world's ancient cultures. Crews asks the questions we think are on a lot of people's minds when they hear "MMORTS" -- "Why bring strategy games into the MMO space? What do you get from a persistent universe that you couldn't get out of something like Battle.net?"
