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Netflix releases worldwide subscriber stats by region for the first time
For the first time, Netflix is reporting its international business operating results by region. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Netflix shared its streaming revenue and membership info for the US and Canada; Europe, Middle East and Africa; Asia-Pacific and Latin America. This change in how Netflix reports its earnings data highlights how important markets outside the US have become -- especially as Netflix faces new competition.
'Pokémon Go' gets a little bigger with 'Diamond' and 'Pearl' monsters
The Pokémon Company has announced that monsters from the Sinnoh region -- the Diamond and Pearl games -- are now available in Pokémon Go. Players will now be able to capture favorites like Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup as they make their debut in the still-popular mobile AR game.
Pandora's CEO is doubling down on podcasts
By JP Mangalindan Pandora CEO Roger Lynch wants to offer listeners an easier way to discover new podcasts as the company adds more podcasts to its service and beefs up advertising. Indeed, podcasts will become a more significant aspect in the months and years ahead for Pandora, which has over 75 million monthly active users -- 5.5 million of which use Pandora's paid features and services. The key to growing those users, according to Lynch, who joined the company in September, is offering a more comprehensive catalog of content. "In the car, 80 percent of listening is music, while 20 percent is other stuff," Lynch explains to Yahoo Finance. "As a service, if you don't have that 20 percent, it doesn't mean you capture the 80 percent, because then people will just stay on their FM Radios. But if you can create audio content for people that gets packaged with the music content in a way that doesn't give them a reason to go back to that FM dial, then you capture much more than just the spoken word."
The Daily Grind: Does a studio's home country impact your faith in an MMO?
I've been cautiously excited about the development of Skyforge, although something's really been holding me back from gushing too strongly about it: the fact that its dev team (well, one of them at least) is located in Russia. Maybe it's silly and even a bit nationalist, but I am somewhat less trusting of MMOs that hail from other regions than my own. Maybe it's a fear of making payments to studios in countries across the world. Maybe it's a fear that the studio won't have my own best interests in mind in operating that product. Maybe I've been let down by too many titles that were developed overseas but never made the transition to my home shores. Does a studio's home country or region impact your faith in an MMO? A reminder: Let's keep the discussion free of nation-bashing, please! 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!
WildStar shows off the Mystery of the Genesis Prime
The nature of the Genesis Prime is one of the major elements of WildStar's story as presented to players on the road to level 50. Even once you get there, though, you still have questions, ones that will hopefully be answered by the end of the game's next update. Lucky for you, a new trailer for the Mystery of the Genesis Prime update is now available, along with a look at the Defile region that should help bring much of this storytelling to a conclusion for the time being. Inside the Defile, players will be exploring solo content in the Sonic Plaza and the Strain Maw, taking on five-person tasks in the Black Focus, and fighting through large-group challenges with the Siege of the Lightspire. Carbine intends to have content in place for you no matter what your preference is. The update was originally scheduled to launch in November, but no formal date has been announced. Check out the trailer past the break, scope out the locations available, and get ready to find some answers to one of the game's biggest mysteries. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
RIFT explores the heights of Tarken Glacier
Beneath the waves lies the city of nightmares, but RIFT players exploring the Nightmare Tide expansion will not stop there. Far above those waters sits Tarken Glacier, a massive edifice of frost that stretches to the very boundaries of the cosmos. Players will be exploring this towering mass of ice, obviously, starting at the most basic ascent before moving up to the most distant reaches of the land. Along the way, players will be working with Skelf pilgrims, fighting off vicious frost giants, and seeking the last stronghold of the near-annihilated Pelagic Order. There are port cities nestled within the glacier, great structures devoted to researching the frostbitten land, and marauding enemies from all sides. In short, it's exactly the sort of place players will love exploring and fighting through when the expansion goes live; check out the full preview for more details on the lore of this region. The open beta for the expansion went live yesterday, with the full launch planned for October 8th.
Destiny shows off a Venus trailer
What lurks beneath the cloudy exterior of Venus? In the real world, a blighted hellscape that's about as conducive to human life as the heart of a nuclear reactor. In Destiny, though, it's a lush landscape full of ruins, plant life, and stunning vistas, though considering the large number of gun-toting robots that appear to be popping out of the woodwork, one suspects it might not be all that comfortable for humans just the same. Yes, the latest Destiny trailer is giving a quick peek at the planet, and while it's not replete with detailed information, it's enough of a tease to get fans excited. Click on past the break to see the planet for yourself before the game launches on September 9th.
Defiance launches the Silicon Valley update
It's time to take it to the ruins of California in Defiance's latest patch, which introduces a large free expansion in the form of Silicon Valley. Karl Von Bach has disappeared into the region with plenty of his followers, but it turns out that the area is slightly less pleasant than advertised. Specifically, it's overrun with a cult called the Pilgrims of the Guiding Light as well as Grid, giving players plenty of things to shoot. The team behind the game has put together a new trailer to help players get excited about a trip through the valley. Aside from new missions, players can unlock new outfits and synergies, new weapon mods, and an expanded EGO cap. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and start shooting; those cultists aren't going to deal with themselves. That's the Acolytes of the Getting Out Of Your Way Conveniently -- that's not even in this expansion. [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's first dose of Strain
The funny thing about launches is that they're like every other aspect of the game industry: They're based on momentum. Create the feel that you're coming out with new content on a quick basis and you get points from players, even if it's inevitable that some of this content is stuff that was almost-but-not-quite ready for launch and just had to be trimmed back a little before we first got to dip our toes in the official swimming pool. You can see the zones on your map in WildStar right now, even. Does it matter to me? Nope. I have to admit it doesn't. I'm satisfied. The bulk of the news this month has been about the game's first major patch, which is due for "early July" without a harder date. I have not yet gotten to go hands-on in this content; I've been too busy focusing on the live game and advancing there (up to 50 on one character, at least!), but let's talk a little bit about what's being added in the patch. Fair warning: Spoilers may ensue.
World of Warcraft previews the Tanaan Jungle
The first two zone previews for World of Warcraft's next expansion focused on the areas that will lie at the heart of each faction, but Warlords of Draenor doesn't start in either of those areas. No, players will begin by setting foot (or hoof) into the Tanaan Jungle, a lush land filled with warriors of the Iron Horde as well as no shortage of vicious beasts. Yes, it's dangerous even without the orcs, that's kind of a running theme here. Players using characters boosted to level 90 will be learning their classes for the first time in the jungle, meeting orc luminaries such as Grom Hellscream and Khadgar Bladefist. (They're with the Iron Horde; they won't be happy to see you.) Players are also teased that they might need to make a deal with the warlock Gul'dan to get out in one piece, which is an activity that has never worked out well for anyone. Check out the full preview and all the lore it implies on the official site.
WildStar previews the zones of the Strain drop
The first major update for WildStar is due out in early July, and it's bringing plenty of content along with it including two zones for players to explore. Blighthaven and the Northern Wastes are being unveiled in more detail today, both of which contain plenty of opportunities for adventurers to take on all sorts of new challenges. Blighthaven is a landscape dominated by the Strain's mutated minions along with uncontrolled Eldan machinery, featuring such comfortable-sounding regions as the Cankertube Swamps, the Globellum, the Sanctuary of the Keepers, and the Genesis Chamber. It's prime territory for new content to explore what happened to the Eldan as well as understand the virulent opponent that is the Strain. The Northern Wastes, meanwhile, brings players back to the Northern Wilds after the events in the early game, with both Dominion and Exiles struggling to claim the territory... until a new threat emerges from the Eldan bio-labs in the area. New events, challenges, missions, and path content awaits players in the zone. It's all adding up to plenty of content for a first update; you can check out the official reveal page for a few extra details. [Source: Carbine Studios press release]
Phantasy Star Online 2's beta ends in Southeast Asia
While Phantasy Star Online 2 is unreleased here in North America, the residents of Southeast Asia will soon get to experience the game in English. The servers for this version of the game are region-locked, but it's still as close as the game has gotten to a local release thus far. Curious about how it went? The team working for local publisher Asiasoft shared thoughts regarding the beta experience in a recent interview. The team states that while the game already has new race/class options available in Japan (as it has been out for some time), releasing these options in the localized version will depend partly on player progress. Tie-in events such as those found in the Japanese version are also nixed, as most of those cross-promotional events are strictly for Japanese marketing and wouldn't make much sense to the audience. For more details, take a look at the full interview.
EVE Evolved: Designing EVE Onland, part 2
When it comes to living sandbox MMOs, there really isn't a bigger name than EVE Online. Throughout its decade-long history, EVE has produced some huge gaming headlines, delivered record-breaking in-game thefts and heists, and played host to the complex political machinations of dozens of warring alliances. EVE's sandbox design has even made it remarkably resistant to changes in the market, with subscription numbers remaining relatively stable in the face of new releases and the free to play phenomenon. It comes as no surprise then that the sandbox genre is seeing a triple-A revival, with games like Star Citizen, EverQuest Next Landmark, and Camelot Unchained on the way. With the sandbox genre due to explode back onto the fantasy scene, I've been left wondering how much of the core gameplay that makes EVE tick could be easily adapted for an avatar-based game on land. Even features such as EVE Online's trademark territorial warfare and player-run economy have roots in classic fantasy MMOs like Ultima Online, so they should be easy to convert to modern fantasy equivalents. Last week I started this game design thought experiment with a territorial warfare system and free-for-all PvP with harsh consequences for attackers, but there's a lot more to a good sandbox than smashing people's heads in. In this week's EVE Evolved, I delve into the hypothetical world of EVE Onland again and tackle issues of realistic world scale, exploration, economics, and the evils of global banking.
Perfect World reassures players regarding the future of RaiderZ
There are certain things that trigger instinctive fears from MMO players. Things like having your game of choice shut down in its country of origin, which rarely bodes well for the future of the game as a whole. RaiderZ has shut down in both South Korea and Europe, but Perfect World Entertainment's senior product manager Mark Hill insists in a recent interview that this does not mean the title is in any risk of shutting down in North America. Hill states that the game is still developing a new expansion for release in the near future and that the development team is in close contact with the North American staff. He also points out that the game is not region-locked, allowing players to still register and play for the American version regardless of their countries of origin. While this doesn't mean the game is invincible in this market, it should help make current players a little more comfortable while playing.
Guild Wars 2's Zadorojny clarifies that Cantha and Elona are still possible
There's a lot of space covered in Guild Wars that doesn't exist in Guild Wars 2 at this time, the sort of space that would seem to be tailor-made for expansion content. Yet earlier this week Mike Zadorojny, the game's lead content designer, told reporters that expansions are off the table at least for the moment. But if you're worried that the regions of Cantha and Elona are equally inaccessible, fear not: Zadorojny has clarified that he will not rule out either area for inclusion. Zadorojny explained that these regions still have stories to tell and that the living world setup allows the Guild Wars 2 devs to explore these regions in the future and add permanent content down the road if they so choose. He further stressed that the game has added what he considers to be an entire region's worth of content since its launch, with more coming as part of the game's current update schedule. [Thanks to Andy for the tip!]
Looking at the wildlife of WildStar's Galeras region
If the pirates, bandits, ancient machines, and military forces in WildStar weren't bad enough, players are going to be contending with a lot of the native wildlife. Last week's WildStar Wednesday focused on the top-level overview of the Galeras region, but this week is focused on the local flora and fauna, which are just as dangerous as the invading armies with gunships. More so, in some ways, as a stemdragon doesn't care why you're on its land, just that you are. Stemdragons have been seen by fans before, having starred as the antagonist in the game's first trailer. Buzzbings and Scrabs are new, however -- the former is an insect the size of a small car that traps its enemies with honey, the latter is a cross between a beetle and a crab with thick armor and a propensity for burrowing. Read more on the tactics of these monsters and the lore surrounding them in the full article.
EVE Evolved: Four things MMOs can learn from EVE
New MMOs are released every year, and we often see them repeating the same mistakes as previous games or releasing without tried-and-tested mechanics. It just seems like common sense to learn from the years of mistakes and successes of other companies and previous titles, but it isn't always clear how to apply game mechanics or lessons from dissimilar types of game. EVE Online is as dissimilar from the typical MMO as you can get, but there are lessons to be learned from its turbulent nine-year history that can be applied to all MMO development. EVE has helped prove that you can start small and grow rather than raking in huge launch sales and then fading away. The past year has also shown conclusively that iteration on existing features can trump big expansions. EVE's market system and single-shard server have both been commended countless times over the game's nine-year history, and yet in all that time, few games have tried to replicate those features. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look at four lessons learned from EVE Online that could easily be applied to other MMOs.
Localized Flipboard Content guides available for UK, Ireland, Australia and Canada
Flipboard added another feature to its popular social stream and news reading app that'll please international users. Announced earlier this week, the company will be sending out three new Content guides for readers in Australia, Canada and the UK and Ireland. Folks in those countries will soon receive news that's custom-selected for those regions. These areas will join China, France, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, which already have local recommendations. If your iPad's or iPhone's region is set to one of the countries mentioned above, then you will automatically receive your local guide. To switch back to the original, un-filtered content, you'll have to set your device's country location to the United States. That's somewhat inconvenient, but Flipboard says it will soon let you choose your country from within the app.
The Daily Grind: Have you been IP blocked?
Do you live in Australia? Perhaps you live in Eastern Europe, and you love your MMOs just as much as anyone else in any other part of the world. Unfortunately, several countries around the world have been suffering from blocks to their IP, essentially meaning that they can't enjoy the same online games that the rest of the globe can. Sometimes this IP block is for marketing purposes; sometimes it's for legal purposes according to that country's specific media laws. Most recently, Star Wars: The Old Republic barred Oceanic gamers from pre-ordering their highly anticipated MMO, and Rusty Hearts presented a long list of countries where their game is unplayable. But whatever the reason, it pisses a lot of people off, and here at Massively, we hear all about it through our tips line. Now we want you to speak your mind on the topic here in the comments of this post. Have you been affected by an IP block or regional lockout? Tell us your experience, but be sure to abide by our code of conduct (no cursing or name-calling). 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!
Updates on migration issues for Lord of the Rings Online
It's been about a week since European players of Lord of the Rings Online began the migration over to Turbine's servers, and the transition has not been nearly as smooth as one could hope. That having been said, the team is working diligently behind the scenes to try to address the issues many players are experiencing, with community manager Sapience making a post today outlining the two major fixes coming up to try to alleviate the issues. The first fix will be a simple patch to the migration tool itself, which is expected to be live on Friday or shortly thereafter. The other fix will require some server downtime as the team works at fixing some database issues. Sapience also explains that Codemasters had previously flagged some accounts incorrectly with the database migration, and he promises that the players missing VIP time will be addressed sometime next week. While it won't remove the Lord of the Rings Online migration issues, it's at least a step in the right direction.
