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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 returns from the shadows with a new developer
Paradox Interactive has brought in Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture studio The Chinese Room to work on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The sequel is now expected to arrive in fall 2024.
Paradox Interactive will refund physical pre-orders for ‘Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’
Paradox Interactive announced today that it will refund all physical pre-orders for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. The long-delayed sequel to the 2004 cult classic was last available for pre-sales in early 2021. That was when Paradox announced it was parting ways with developer Hardsuit Labs and pushing back the title’s release date indefinitely. However, there may be a glimmer of hope for holdouts as the publisher teased more news in September about the vampire game.
Paradox outlines a revenue-sharing plan for Vampire: The Masquerade fan games
Indie devs can now make non-canon, officially sanctioned games based on the franchise.
'Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2' is delayed indefinitely
Publisher Paradox Interactive has parted ways with the game's developer and delayed the title indefinitely.
‘Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2’ won’t arrive until 2021
The makers of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 are pushing the game’s release date back to 2021.
World of Darkness development shown at EVE Fanfest 2013
When the World of Darkness MMO was first announced in November 2006, it was just an idea and we knew that it wouldn't be released any time soon. The chance to play a sandbox game set in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe nevertheless made fans of the series go nuts, but now over six years later we haven't seen much progress on the game. At EVE Fanfest 2013 today, CCP laid the current state of development bare for all to see and showed some plans for the coming year. There are now 70 people on the WoD team, and they've spent the past week working on everything from art tools and server infrastructure to vampire powers and social options. "You're a powerful, immortal lord of the night. You don't want to stitch a shirt." Development plans for 2013 include working on out-of-game web-based social tools, clothing systems, and PvE game environments. There are also plans to work on item creation, but direct crafting is probably not on the cards. As the presenter put it, "You're a powerful, immortal lord of the night. You don't want to stitch a shirt." Though the game is still in the pre-production stage, CCP was keen to show off the tools it's made to speed up the development process. "Some of these videos are a bit dry and technical," joked the presenter, but it came across as more real and honest than another trailer or musings on theoretical gameplay.
EVE Evolved: Massively's plans for EVE Fanfest 2013
There's just over a week to go until EVE Online's massive tenth anniversary Fanfest, and you'll be pleased to hear that Massively will be there this year to cover the action! CCP is aiming to make this the biggest Fanfest yet, promising huge reveals and announcements about EVE's summer Odyssey expansion and beyond. We can also expect to hear some big news about upcoming console MMOFPS DUST 514, and fans of Vampire: The Masquerade will undoubtedly get to see some of the year's progress toward making the World of Darkness MMO a reality. Tickets to this year's Fanfest sold out in record time, so many players who really wanted to be there for EVE's tenth anniversary celebration weren't able to secure a spot. CCP is running its usual livestream of the main talks for those not in attendance, but only certain parts of the event are being streamed. Here at Massively, we plan to give you an inside look at Fanfest with ongoing news coverage from April 25th to April 27th and in-depth opinion pieces on what each announcement means for players. In this week's short and sweet EVE Evolved, I lay out Massively's plans for in-depth coverage of EVE Fanfest 2013 and ask what you'd like to see reported on.
Chris McDonough talks about the development of the World of Darkness
With layoffs having hit CCP, there's been a lot of apprehension about whether or not World of Darkness would continue in development or suffer a quiet death. But a recent interview with Senior Producer Chris McDonough makes it clear that the title is still very much in development and very much following in the footsteps of its older brother, EVE Online. Both games will share the single-shard setup, and McDonough states that several technologies developed for World of Darkness have been incorporated into EVE Online (something many players suspected about player avatars from the beginning). McDonough also talks in depth about turning the game into an MMO, claiming that a pen-and-paper game naturally translates into an MMO better than other properties because of the lack of iconic characters who players wish to play. The challenge, of course, is bringing over some of the feel of a tabletop setting into an online environment, with McDonough explaining that several of the computer games such as Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines have been used as a point of common reference. Click past the break to see the full interview.
Massively Exclusive: World of Darkness interview
The 2011 Grand Masquerade in New Orleans is over, and the monsters have all gone home. In their wake, we're left with a series of exciting revelations relating to the upcoming World of Darkness by CCP Games. While it's only in pre-production, it has already sent fans of the World of Darkness setting into a frenzy of anticipation. The new details only give rise to more questions, however, and speculation has run rampant, especially given how radically CCP's new game departs from the standard MMO model. Thankfully, Massively has some answers. Shane Defreest, the Community Developer for CCP North America and White Wolf Publishing, was kind enough to take the time out of his hectic schedule to answer a few of our questions relating to the game. He sheds a bit of light on World of Darkness, discussing the choice of setting, player factions and playable clans, the business model, and how he views the experience of the game. Enjoy!
CCP reveals World of Darkness details to bloodthirsty fans
Details about CCP's World of Darkness are popping out of White Wolf's The Grand Masquerade in New Orleans this weekend, and they're definitely worth draining for every last sweet drop of... information. While the game is still in pre-production -- and as such, nothing is set in stone -- the devs weren't hesitant to dish out a lot of the ideas and features that they hope will make this the best vampire MMO to date. It's CCP's desire to emulate LARPing (live-action roleplaying) as much as possible with World of Darkness, with plenty of metaplots running inside the game and without. Players will begin as a mortal human who can make the choice to become a kindred (vampire) or stay mortal for the duration of their characters' lives. There's a very real danger that characters might experience "final death" -- permadeath -- if they take too many risks. If you get in over your head, you can retreat to your character's Haven for safety. The entire game will take place at night and on one server, and CCP is definitely aiming it toward the hardcore set. Nudity, gore, and insanity effects are all par for the course. If players push outside of the acceptable boundaries too often, they'll lose "humanity" points and could become flagged for constant attack by other players and NPCs. Play your cards right and you may become the prince of the city. The game will change over time with dynamic events, and CCP promises that there will be real consequences for player decisions. Look for our World of Darkness interview with CCP coming later this week. [Thanks Pilgrim for the tip!]
CCP and White Wolf celebrating Vampire's 20th anniversary with new rulebook, fan gala
Vampire: The Masquerade is gearing up to celebrate its 20th birthday (20 years!?), and while two decades may be a drop in the proverbial bucket to your average vampire, it's quite a chunk of time for mere mortals. White Wolf (which MMO aficionados probably know as a subsidiary of CCP) is celebrating the milestone with a limited-run anniversary edition of the RPG's core rulebook. The tome is available via pre-order and will set you back a hefty $99.99. The book's release will coincide with The Grand Masquerade 2011, a fan event scheduled for September 15th to 18th in New Orleans that will feature, among other things, "the next look at the future of the World of Darkness MMO."
The Perfect Ten: Halloween MMOs
We're only a few days away from Halloween, and already the Massively office staff is dressing up in anticipation. Shawn's post-apocalyptic gear is at odds with Rubi's tastefully modest Guild Wars Elementalist outfit. Greg's Squig is in the corner battling it out with Larry's Chewbacca. Bree is dudded up as a giant red corrective marker; Jef's free-to-play outfit requires microtransactions to view in full; and Kyrstalle is photographing it all with her Poloroid One-Shot camera. I think Eliot showed up in full plate armor and riding a mechanical bull, but that just may be his normal work attire. So as everyone else is goofing off in the spirit of the holidays, it remains to me, your lovable intern, to hack out a top 10 list in honor of All Hallow's Eve. It's the least I can do since they're paying me in candy. While every MMO incorporates horror at some point (even, yes, Hello Kitty Online's Cat-Tastrophie zone), and it's nearly impossible to escape a clutch of giant spiders in any game you visit, I've picked out 10 MMOs that best deliver a slice of October 31st. Some are old, some new, some canceled and some yet to come, but these are 10 of the spookiest MMOs in the world.
World of Darkness confirmed, based on Vampire: The Masquerade
reddit_url = "http://massively.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/world-of-darkness-confirmed-based-on-vampire-the-masquerade/"; Tweet "Some secrets are best taken to the grave..." While it wasn't that closely guarded, we were waiting on the edge of our seats to hear the official word of CCP's World of Darkness this weekend. At The Grand Masquerade convention in New Orleans, the developers not only confirmed the project, but revealed that it is set in White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade setting. Vampire: The Masquerade was indeed the old World of Darkness RPG, so this MMO should send fans into paroxysms of joy. Ardwulf's Lair reports that the MMO will come out in 2012 at the earliest, and that it "will have a focus on player politics and social interaction." The two-minute video reveal sets a gothic tone as a woman narrates the secret world of the vampires: "They're all around us, they control everything, they've always been here, waging their secret wars, devouring everything that gets in their way... It all begins after you die." We'll bring you more details as they pour in, but in the meanwhile, check out the video reveal (NSFW, this is World of Darkness after all) after the break.
MMOrigins: The play's the thing
When it comes to my roots in MMOs, I actually have to start fairly early on with my general introduction to tech geekery. Growing up in my house was a somewhat strange affair. You see, back when computers used to take up entire rooms and ran on giant reels of tape -- later plastic key cards and paper tapes -- my father was working with them. Being part of our household meant one was essentially living with a highly technical mind that worked on and loved things like supercomputers. I experienced ideas and machines that many in the world hadn't, save in movies or on TV. It also meant that there were some pretty strange technical odds and ends floating around our home.
The Gaming Iconoclast: Whither Shortcomings?
Many MMO aficionados cut their roleplaying teeth on one of the many pencil-and-paper titles that formed the early generation of multi-player gaming. In addition to rolling (and rolling, and rolling, and rolling) some dice to come up with their basic stats and traits, character generation involved a lot of "wet work" when it came time to acquire skills. Often, players would bargain with their Game Master to get special dispensation for pushing the envelope.Player: I want to run this adventure as a zombie elf with three arms.GM: Okay, but if you do that, none of the other characters will trust you. Also, you will spend 50% more on shirts and body armor. Still want to do it?Thus, the mechanic of trading character flaws for enhanced abilities was born. One of the hallmarks of tabletop gaming is this trade-off -- saddling yourself or your character with a shortcoming in order to obtain an advantage elsewhere, either as a skill, or a talent, or just another way to go about Min/Maxing. The huge number of available options in some games (Vampire: The Masquerade, for instance) ensures that any player, with only a few minutes' consideration, will have an almost absolutely unique character, fully their own creation.And yet, almost without exception, the online iterations we all enjoy seem to have omitted this altogether. We are an immense legion of perfectly-formed, mentally-stable, socially-adept übermensch. Even the so-called "ugly" races -- World of Warcraft's Forsaken or Tabula Rasa'sHybrids -- don't explore the depth and breadth of this concept too deeply. Racial traits and differentiation are the merest tip of this particular iceberg.Why does this rich milieu, this fecund ground of roleplay fodder and character diversity, languish? (And who left this thesaurus on my desk?)
WoW's Spectral Safari grants chance to win a Spectral Tiger mount
The stalwart worthies at Allakhazam drop news of a one-day-only WoW Trading Card Game tournament to be held in hobbyist stores all over the world on March 1st. The winner of each tournament will walk away with an extremely rare card that redeems for an in-game Spectral Tiger mount. The full details of the tournament can be found here, including entrance fee, deck details, and extra prizes, including an 'extended art' Wyneth Harridan card, and a Robotic Homing Chicken loot card, also redeemable in-game. It's nice to see folks playing together face-to-face; makes me miss my Vampire: The Masquerade days. If you think you can take on this challenge, hie thee to the nearest tournament location! Oh, and if you win, please send us a shot of your lovely new mount! Heck, send us one of your Chicken!
