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Latest Aion news offers contests and free game time
The latest news from the Aion team offers up lots of good things for people who love freebies. (You know, everyone.) To begin with, Aion is introducing a "Refer a Friend" program for veteran players. If you've had an account for 90 days, you should find a little "refer a friend' button on the Aion page of your NCsoft master account, which means you're eligible for the program. For every referred friend that subscribes to Aion, you'll receive a free month of game time. The latest Eye on the Community had news on a few contests and giveaways as well. Zam.com is doing the Unidentified Flying Daevas Sweepstakes, and the big prize is an Alienware gaming rig. Quite a few copies of Aion are up for grabs as well, so be sure to check it out. Aion Source is also giving away copies of Aion -- Steelbook editions at that -- in a contest that will put your creative skills to the test, so be sure to check it out. 'Tis the season for gifts, so don't miss a shot at getting some from the Aion team and community!
Black Prophecy Creative Director on state of the game
It's clear from the comments on our Black Prophecy posts that a number of Massively readers are looking forward to this latest sci-fi MMO from Reakktor Media. They've been releasing more info periodically but it seems Reakktor is still in stealth mode when it comes to any big reveals about the game, given they're in the process of finding a publisher. Still, they've been dropping more info about the title and the latest Black Prophecy interview we've come across is over at ZAM, with Creative Director Timo Krahl. The interview hits on some of what we've heard before about the game's lore written by Michael Marrak and the core game mechanics, but there's some new info there as well. Specifically, the interview explains some of the technical efforts Reakktor has put into developing Black Prophecy. Timo comments to ZAM, "We are getting very close to our aspiration of providing a nearly cinematic game experience." If you're curious about what Reakktor hopes to deliver with that game experience, give the ZAM interview with Timo Krahl a read and check out the the new screenshots as well.
Runes of Magic community manager Jörg Koonen on game currencies and reducing gold spam
With only two months of operation under its belt, fantasy game Runes of Magic already seems to be enjoying a great deal of popularity. Runes of Magic uses the free-to-play business model, which is discussed in an interview with community manager Jörg "Kerensky" Koonen. Sam "Azerian" Maxted from ZAM caught up with Koonen to discuss the game's launch and where the title is headed in future updates, but their talk quickly turned to some of the details of how the game's economy operates. Koonen discusses how players have responded to Runes of Magic's microtransaction system through the in-game Item Shop, and that by design the Item Shop doesn't sell certain types of items. "We do not sell any weapons or armour or such," he says. "All of this has to be collected by the players through the game." However, Runes of Magic also uses non-microtransaction currencies and some players are concerned that their gold lacks real value in the game. Koonen says that the developers are looking into this. They're presently gathering feedback from the playerbase and are willing to introduce other measures, if necessary, to ensure that non-microtransaction currencies serve a purpose in RoM.
Neo Steam editor Jason Ruper on bringing steampunk to MMOs
One of the upcoming free-to-play titles that Massively had a chance to see this month is Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent from Atlus. Our hands-on gallery feature is a good introduction to the look and feel of the game world, but now that Neo Steam is in open beta, we're expecting more info about the game to be forthcoming. We came across a ZAM interview with Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent lead editor Jason Ruper, conducted by Andrew "Tamat" Beegle. Ruper gives some background on the game's setting and lore, saying, "The game has a lush, fantasy-steampunk setting, and everything -- from the machine wasteyards and polluted rivers to the rickety vehicles and the ancient ruins from before the shattering -- contributes to this setting and reminds you that your nation is in a state of reconstruction as well as in the middle of a cold war."
Jumpgate Evolution interview explains UI customization and emphasis on story
Attendees of the LOGIN Conference last week had a chance to see NetDevil's demonstration of Jumpgate Evolution. The writers at ZAM were among the gaming press attendees and came away from the demo with some positive impressions, but some questions as well. They caught up with NetDevil president Scott Brown who discussed the inspiration for creating the original Jumpgate and how Jumpgate Evolution will live up to its name.The interview specifically touches on how Jumpgate Evolution aims to engage players in ways the original wasn't able to. In that context of how the follow-up title compares to the original, Brown says, "We have a much stronger story now, with help from Keith Baker (the creator of Eberron for D&D) and we have significantly more focused PvP so players have even more reason to fight the other nations."
New EQII site features live in-game data
With the help of SOE, Zam has launched their new EverQuest II site, which boasts an impressive set of features. The site draws a lot of its information directly from the game data itself now -- you really can't get much more accurate than that. It's pretty safe to say that we know where we'll be heading next time we're hunting down an elusive quest mob in EQII. Here's a list of some of what's on offer: A live Broker feed that allows you to track sales, items, and their pricing data across all servers Loc's and other detailed information on every mob Drop information of every item, including drop tables with exact percentages Quest data from the game Complete recipe information The site overhaul is being celebrated with a contest, offering daily giveaways and a grand prize of four tickets to the SOE Fan Faire. To enter, visitors must create an account and contribute to the wiki, the forums, or the various comment sections, with each contribution granting one entry into the draw. That sure sounds like a recipe for some spam-tastic action, but we don't doubt that the folks at Zam are ready and waiting with ban-hammers drawn.
A Lawyer's take on the new UI policy
The intertubes are abuzz with the new UI policy enacted by Blizzard a couple weeks ago. Not being able to charge for add-ons or solicit donations has caused quite a stir amongst some folks. Certain add-on authors are even going as far as to boycott their projects until Blizzard changes their policy.ZAM networks, who runs the WoW information site Allakhazam, got a chance to sit down and talk with Connie Mableson, a lawyer specializing in Intellectual Property Law and Computer and Internet Law. You can read the full interview over at their site.One of the highlights of the interview is that Connie thinks Blizzard will begin monetizing the UI. "Based on all the changes Blizzard is making, I believe the Blizzard business model is to "Monetize" UI Mods/add-ons by developing them in house and offering them for sale to players "Now I don't necessarily agree with the end analysis, but her arguments are compelling and make sense. It will be interesting in another year or so to see where this UI policy change lands us. We'll have to wait and see!
Legal action between ZAM and Curse results in dismissal
So remember when Curse introduced their database last year called WoWDB, and we pointed out that it bore a strong resemblance to that other popular WoW database, Wowhead? Turns out ZAM, the owners of Wowhead after the acquisition a little while ago, agreed: completely under the radar last May, they filed a lawsuit for copyright infringment to the tune of no less than $1.5 million. ZAM says in the suit, copies of which we've obtained, that they've "expended substantial resources to maintain, update, and promote use of the WOWHEAD website so that it would become... one of the most recognized, and utilized websites designed to attract individuals" who play World of Warcraft. They claimed that WoWDB stole their look and layout purposely to create confusion among customers. This story wasn't reported in the WoW community at the time -- we hadn't heard about it at all until now.And then, in January of this year, the case was dismissed completely by a judge. We've also seen a copy of the order for dismissal, and from what it says, both sides wanted out: "Pursuant to the parties' stipulation for dismissal, the court hereby dismisses the above-captioned action without prejudice." We don't have any information, however, why the case was suddenly dismissed, but there may have been an agreement made between the two parties -- either money changed hands or WoWDB offered to change its look (as you can see, there's still many similarities between the two sites). Or, as a third option, ZAM just decided it wasn't worth fighting -- according to the comments and activity on both sites, WoWDB doesn't seem to be a serious threat to Wowhead.We've contacted both sides for comment, and we'll let you know if we hear anything from either one. On the front of it, this looks like ZAM was merely covering themselves -- they filed suit just in case, but never found cause to follow through. But there may be some other agreement between these two companies that lead to the case's dismissal.
Allakhazam gets a refresh
Well, this was certainly unexpected. Allakhazam, one of the WoW database sites that has been around the longest, has undergone a complete revamp. There are all sorts of new features, including: User-editable pages Tagging Profiles, with 3D model viewer and upgrade searching Not to mention a re-skin which makes it look much more up-to-date. That's not all – they're currently running a contest, wherein every contribution to their wiki, forum, or comments, for the entire month of June, has a chance to win one of the following: One of 72 60-day game cards One of three Wii Galaxy bundles Grand prize: a gamer-friendly laptop So go forth, and make Allakhazam a more complete site. Overall, I like the redesign; it makes Allakhazam feel much more relevant, and helps answer the quest of what's going to differentiate it from sister sites Wowhead and Thottbot. I'll still probably go to Wowhead most of the time, but that's just me.
