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Layoffs hit Infinite Crisis developer Turbine
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment confirmed today that a round of layoffs will soon affect The Lord of the Rings Online developer Turbine, Inc. "As part of our normal business process, we're routinely looking at the strategic alignment of our company," a Warner Bros. representative told Joystiq. "Unfortunately, in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine, we have to eliminate some positions. These are always tough decisions, which we don't approach lightly, but it's crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace." After debuting its landmark MMORPG Asheron's Call in 1999, Turbine continued with a string of successful PC follow-ups and expansions, including The Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online. The studio's latest project, the DC Universe-based MOBA Infinite Crisis, is currently in open beta, with a final release due by the end of the year. [Image: Turbine]
Anti-Aliased: End of line
Yeah, it's exactly what you think it is. It's one of those columns where the writer announces that she's packing up and moving out. It's a column where the writer talks about how she's been here for two years and 199 days, and has written over 1,018 posts that have included over 534,580 words. It's a column where the writer says goodbye, wishes that she wasn't moving on, but knows that she must. Guys and gals, it's been an amazing two and a half years and it has been nothing but an honor to write for all of you. I know sometimes we all disagree, and I know I say some really insane stuff that leaves people going, "Wow, she really said that aloud?" But, I'm glad that all of you still come back to discuss gaming here on my column, despite some of our disagreements. Anti-Aliased has remained one of the most popular columns here on Massively throughout these two years and I am very grateful for your readership. As I prepare to leave Massively and say goodbye, I'd like to take one final look at the MMO genre as a whole. Plus, I have a surprise announcement to make at the end! Yay surprises!
Friday Livestream: Player's Choice edition [Updated]
This week we decided to do something different with the Friday Livestream. Frankly, I couldn't make a decision on what game I wanted to play in front of everyone today. I have so many games on my hard drive, and so little time to play them all! So, I did what any good confused editor does -- defer the decision to the community! I gave you four games to vote on: The Lord of the Rings Online, EverQuest II, Aion, and Minecraft. The call went out over the Massively.com Twitter feed, and you guys didn't disappoint! The votes have been tallied, and the game has been chosen... but which one made the cut? Find out by checking out our livestream after the break, or just click the link above to be taken straight to the video! Come and join us for another great edition of the Friday Livestream! [Update: The livestream is over, but you can check out our recording of the event right after the break! The chosen game was Lord of the Rings Online! Grats to the LotRO community for so many votes for your game!]
We've got your key for The Lord of the Rings Online F2P beta test!
Step right up here friends, I said step right up! How would you, yes you, like to try out the title that has been 'causin a ruckus among us? That's right, friend, I'm talking about the one, the only, the hobbittastic Lord of the Rings Online™! But I'm not talkin' about the one that's already out there, friend! I'm talkin' about the one that's coming -- the free to play version! Are you gamer enough to take it on? All right, circus barker speech aside, our friends over at Turbine have supplied us with a special code for those of you who want to get in on the Lord of the Rings Online beta! However, there is a catch to this code -- it can only be used for 500 Massively readers who will be invited to the beta when the next wave of invites goes out. Want more information, as well as the code you'll need to enter when you sign up for the beta? Not a problem, just skip past the break for all of the information you'll need!
Anti-Aliased: LotRO will only go down in flames if you let it
Damn my column being on Thursdays. It makes me a week late to the "Lord of the Rings Online going free-to-play" discussion, and that makes me sad. Still, a short passage of time isn't going to stop me from sinking my teeth into this subject, so be prepared for an onslaught of opinion! So, I read a lot of opinions last week. I read the opinions here, I read the opinions on the blogosphere, and I listened to the chat room, Facebook, and Twitter. I was all over the place. While there was a lot of criticism and praise being flung around for Lord of the Rings Online making this absolutely crazy move, it's the criticism that I want to tackle in today's column. Specifically, there's one piece of criticism that I feel needs to have bull called on it -- the concept that the Lord of the Rings Online community will fall apart the second the free-to-play crowd is mixed in.
Free Lord of the Rings Online for former subscribers until August 24th
Do you miss the rolling hills of Bree-land? Home sick for The Shire? Well think fondly no more, as all subscribers are being welcomed back to Lord of the Rings Online! Past subscribers can jump back into the game until August 24th and enjoy all of the updates and changes made to the game. No links have to be clicked, and no accounts have to be re-opened. All you have to do is download the client, patch the game, and log in! Even more exciting is the fact that all players will be rewarded with a +25% exp boost, as is common with these welcome back periods. Free game play and bonus experience, how can you turn that down?But wait, there's more! Act now and you can go out adventuring with Massively's very own hobbit, Gibbi! Yes, the wonderful Gibbi, as played by Shawn Schuster, can be yours to adventure with all if you play on the Brandywine server.So what are you waiting for? Get to it!
Wandering through the hedge maze of Lord of the Rings Online's spring festival
Festivals come and festivals go, but how many games feature something as neat as a hedge maze for their spring festival event? A hedge maze with quests even!Tony over at MMeOw has put together a pretty nice overview of what the hedge maze in Lord of the Rings Online is all about. He goes over exactly why you want to chase chickens through the bushes, how to get through the maze in the fastest time possible, and the enjoyable parts of putting up signs of misdirection throughout the maze.Even if none of this sounds like it interests you, one of the possible prizes you can get is the fish slap emote, /fishslap. We are 100% confident on our side of the fence that none of you out there can turn down getting access to /fishslap.The maze isn't the only part of the spring festival, as all of the original trappings of last year have returned. The quests for the Inn-League, the eating contest in the festival grounds, and the other events are still making their yearly appearance. But if you're looking for a nice write-up of the hedge maze, look no further than MMeOw.
Exploring Middle-Earth: The Rift
While the high level area "The Rift" never made it into the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, it is another great example of how Turbine was able to expand the lore of The Lord of the Rings without treading on his toes and ripping apart the world. It is also the subject of the exploring Middle-Earth column over at the Europe LotRO community."The folk of Middle-earth's northern lands have long held the name of Angmar in dread, but in that fell kingdom are places that cause even the minions of Mordirith to tremble. At the feet of the Mountains of Angmar lies the terrible land of death and decay, Gath Uior. Even the Orcs and evil Men who gather there fear what lurks behind the great portal that leads under the mountains. It is said that ever-vigilant guards watch the gates, which were hewn long before the Witch-king first came to Angmar – not to keep enemies out, but to keep something in."If you wish to check out the full article, jump on over and look at the neat screenshots and all of the lore of the Rift in one location.
Anti-Aliased: Sometimes, it's the little things in (virtual) life
After playing so many games, there are moments that stick out in my mind that make me smile. Some of them are these really epic stories about boss battles, or hard fought PvP moments, or personal notes of glory and triumph. Yet others are drastically different. They're calm, touching moments, where the game either really affected me on an emotional level or wowed me with some attention to detail.In the frantic picture of game design, balancing, art direction, content, and bug squashing of making a highly complex MMO, development teams begin to miss things. Who cares about how a daisy moves when there's serious issues at hand, like item drop rates not working out the way they should be? Yet some development teams do see these little issues and they do take the time to program them in. Not every user may notice them, but some users will, and appreciate them.This column is dedicated to the little things in our virtual lives. Come with me as we look through some popular and some unpopular MMOs, and highlight some of the things that development teams have done to really hook us into their world.
The hero's guide to the Lone-Lands of Lord of the Rings
Codemasters has released another entry in their "hero's guide" series of articles for The Lord of the Rings Online, this one centering on the Lone-Lands, home of Weathertop and many other dangerous locales.The Lone-Lands are marked by the ruins of ancient kingdoms, each once part of the human kingdom of Arnor before shattering apart and going their own ways. Those ways ended up leading to war, with the kingdom of Rhudaur siding with the minions of the witch king in order to conquer the other two kingdoms. It was in these battles that the watch post of Weathertop fell, as it sat right on the borders between each of the three kingdoms.For all the tasty goodies and lore-related treats about the Lone-Lands, check out the full guide located over at LotRO Europe.
The Daily Grind: Is phasing the new instancing?
Yesterday our very own Marc Nottke devoted his column, MMOGology, to the new technology of phasing and the effects it can have on gameplay.For those of you who are out of the loop, phasing is the new technology that World of Warcraft (and Lord of the Rings Online, to some extent) makes use of to change the world as the player completes quests and progresses in the storyline. For example, doing quests to retake a piece of the world map from the monsters might actually lead to a new base camp being set up by NPCs instead of just completing the quests and having no change occur in the world.But phasing has its own problems, as Marc has shown. Sometimes you may enter a phased state only to find that the event contained within it was started by another player, or you may find your epic storyline moment ruined by an inconsiderate person.So, with all of this in mind regarding phasing, here's the question: "Is phasing the new instancing?" Certainly it won't replace instancing completely, but should we put phasing into the category of "great leaps in game design" or should we stick it somewhere in "fads that will die in 2 years?"
No download, no problem: Browser-based MMOs
Not all of us have the high end computers to run graphics intensive games like Lord of the Rings Online. Others players may just not want to take the time or bandwidth to download a whole MMO client just to find out that it's not worth it. Plus, maybe we want a game that we can play easily from any computer -- something that we can access while on the road. What could be the solution?How about a good browser-based MMO? While we here at Massively tend to concentrate on the more mainstream titles, Dean Sherwin over at MMOHub has written an article in the defense of browser based MMOs, plus a list of some games that we can easily grab while on the road from any computer. Things like RuneScape, Adventure Quest, and many others are all listed easily on their website.
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A Lorebook look into Middle-earth: Bonfire Glade
Over at the official website for Lord of The Rings Online there's another tasty Lorebook entry for lore-junkies to enjoy. Sporting the Google-powered map as usual, the entry is about Bonfire Glade -- a clearing within the dark and foreboding Old Forest. There's a legend saying that the trees from the forest attacked Buckland and in retaliation the Brandybucks' invaded the Old Forest -- where they cut down many trees and created a large bonfire. The Glade which it created still exists now, making sure to remind those today of the terrible events from the past.We can't seem to get enough of these Lorebook entries, they're a great way to learn more about the world of LotRO in nice little chunks. It's especially nice that they seem rather consistent, because if they were to stop suddenly we might find ourselves suffering from withdrawal!
