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Shroud of the Avatar raises $3 million in crowdfunding and prepares for Release 2
Shroud of the Avatar has hit a significant fundraising milestone and is throwing a party to celebrate. Richard Garriott announced that the title has crossed the $3 million mark and he will be hosting a late-night video hangout on Thursday, January 23rd to mark the occasion. In other Shroud of the Avatar news, the game will roll out Release 2 next week for select backers. Details of the release will be, erm, released on Wednesday the 22nd. If you haven't backed the game and want to experience Release 2, it will cost you $45. Portalarium also showed off the Founder Edelmann Village Waterfront Cabana, founder starter weapons, and the incredible cooking pot of prosperity.
ArenaNet sells three million copies of Guild Wars 2, looks to the future
We've got a whole passel of Guild Wars 2 news for you today, courtesy of ArenaNet Game Director Colin Johanson, who took to the company's blog to talk about some of the game plan for 2013. Johanson kicked things off by nonchalantly dropping the fact that Guild Wars 2 has now surpassed three million copies sold. (The last million milestone was hit in early September.) He then moved on to goals for 2013 -- specifically, to "build on areas of the game that were successful in 2012" and to "learn and apply lessons from things that didn't work as well." ArenaNet has plans to add more events (since more events means fewer repeats all around), build new storylines, and give players of all levels a good reason to go back and re-examine content. Some of those good reasons will come in the form of tokens for achievements (which can be traded in for stuff like ascended gear and infusions), re-imagined daily achievements (and eventually, the option to complete only a certain subset of dailies to get the reward), and more vanity items. Guilds will be getting more love with some new types of content, due "in early 2013," which will allow members to go on missions together. Over time, that system will be expanded with new rewards, missions, and tools to strengthen the importance of guilds within the Guild Wars 2 community. World vs. World will be seeing a lot of the same tweaks as the rest of the game, with the addition of improvements to culling and the introduction of paid server transfers. PvP will also be getting some polish. Revamped reward systems, matchmaking based on skill, the ability to observe other matches, custom arenas, and leaderboards have all been listed as part of the plan. In case that's not enough for the first half of the year, there are also plans to improve the looking for group tool, fix up the Fractals dungeon, set up leaderboards on the website, redesign world and dungeon boss encounters, continue the war on bots, and otherwise tighten up the game as we know it. Skip below the cut to let Johanson speak for himself.
Castle Crashers clocks in over 3 million 'knights in the making'
The Castle Crashers leaderboards crested 3 million players this month, meaning "over three million humans have hacked and slashed their way into a castle in hopes of gaining animated glory," as The Behemoth puts it."Reaching the 3 million in leaderboards means a lot to us for so many reasons," The Behemoth writes. "It shows us that there is still demand for 2D games like Castle Crashers. It motivates us to keep on creating fresh and original content like in Castle Crashers."Castle Crashers launched on XBLA the summer of 2008, came to PSN in 2010 and was recently announced for Steam. It consistently remains one of the top-selling XBLA games each month and has sold more than 2 million copies on XBLA alone.The Behemoth's next game, Battleblock Theater, has been in development since 2009 and we eagerly await a release date any day now.
Novatel celebrates sale of 3 millionth MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot with an intelligent rager
Today marks a momentous occasion for Novatel Wireless, because shipments of its MiFi Intelligent Mobile Hotspot have now surpassed the 3 million mark. The company confirmed the milestone in an announcement yesterday, and took a moment to look back on how far their router has come since it was first introduced in 2009. Since then, Novatel has launched its family of MiFi devices with 25 operators across the world and is looking to build upon its record. For now, though, just grab a bottle of bubbly and join the PR party, after the break.
MapleStory Adventures scores 3 million players -- before it even launches
The Facebook spin-off of MapleStory has hit a big milestone today -- a very big one indeed. Nexon announced that MapleStory Adventures crossed the three million registered player threshold. This feat is more incredible when you consider that the game is still in open beta. MapleStory Adventures is Nexon's first Facebook game, and it is soon to be joined by the company's second: Wonder Cruise. Nexon's been making strategic moves into the social gaming market this year, including a recent partnership with developer 6waves Lolapps. The company saw an impressive 59% increase in revenue last quarter. MapleStory was an obvious choice for a Facebook conversion, considering that the title was already in 2-D and has a mass-market appeal. While MapleStory Adventures is similar in many ways to its predecessor, some elements have been simplified for the platform, such as the number of classes and skill trees.
Ford installs Sync in more than 3 million cars, takes a moment to congratulate self
Ford and Microsoft's little voice control in-car connectivity project seems to be doing pretty well for itself, judging by the latest milestone it has passed. Sync has just been announced to have crossed the three million mark when counting the cars it's installed in, with recent data suggesting takeup for the $395 optional extra is growing. Nearly 80 percent of purchases of current 2011 Ford models include Sync, while over 80 percent of those already using it say they'd recommend the service to others. The latter number has improved by a robust 5 percentage points over last year, so clearly something's being done right here, but we're more interested in finding out what alternatives the other car and electronics makers will come up with during this year's CES. Rest assured, we'll explore them all.
The Queen's subjects enjoy their 3 million DSs
In subtle retaliation to Sony's announcement of 165,000 PS3 units sold during their UK launch, Nintendo sent out a little press release casually mentioning that 3 million citizens of the UK have a Nintendo DS. Nintendo says the DS was the best-selling console in 2006 and is on the same track for 2007.Comparing the PS3 launch to the Wii launch does show that the PS3 bested the Wii by 60,000 units. During the Wii's launch week where it sold 105,000 units, the DS whistled along selling 110,000 units. Whatever is going on with the big boys, the DS can sit in the corner and smile at them all. She may be petite, but that queen is already the king.
3 million served in the UK (and counting)
It's been a good year for Nintendo, and we're still at the beginning. The latest jewel in the big N's crown? The news that sales of the DS and DS Lite have surpassed three million in the UK alone. The DS was also Britain's best-selling console in 2006 -- period. Despite delayed game releases and the general gnashing of teeth, the little handheld that could continues to dominate the competition. While the incredible array of games is probably to thank for most of the system's success in the UK, we've yammered plenty about the goodness of British ads, too, so color us totally unsurprised by the news that the DS might be selling a few units here and there.
