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NCSoft pledges Sony support, exclusive PS3 online games
During Sony's E3 2007 keynote, President and CEO Jack Tretton announced a new partnership with developer NCSoft, creators of online titles like Lineage, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes. As part of the partnership, NCSoft will begin developing exclusive online titles for the Playstation 3 and its Playstation Network.This exclusivity can apply to both new and current IPs, although no specific games were mentioned. "Only the Playstation Network can support the types of games that NCSoft has become famous for" says Tretton. At the moment, it is unknown whether NCSoft will continue to support other platforms.
NCSoft looking for apprentices in game testing
A GamesIndustry.biz report details a new endeavor by NCsoft to enrich its UK segment of the games industry with trained game testers. In conjunction with City College Brighton, PartnerTrans and Skillset, the Guild Wars publisher is launching an apprenticeship program in the field of quality assurance. The Trump-less program is not only trumpeted as a means of enhancing a vital part of gaming development, it also acts as an entry-point for those aiming for a spot in game development.Four trainees have already enrolled, with three joining NCsoft's Brighton-based QA department for year-long stints. They will be given regular training at City College, constant input from an "experienced practitioner" and, depending on the size of bugs encountered, a very large mallet. Perhaps other developers could gain some insight by adopting a similar program.
Guild Wars 2 -- console bound free MMO decency or not?
Yes, Guild Wars is sitting on my desktop currently and no, I'm not level 20 or anything. Why? Because my laptop doesn't like to load it... and every map needs such heavy updating I'm pretty sure I'll never play it again. But that's not the point! It was free! Aside from the initial purchase price. What did that yield? A pretty decent following, but coupled with at-most decent gameplay focused primarily on teamwork. Maybe things have changed, but those were my impressions from the first few months of release.In any case, Guild Wars 2 is bound for beta testing in 2008 and they're releasing some other expansion pack later this year. An interview with Eurogamer brought up the question whether this sequel would come to consoles. Ben Miller responded to the question thus: "We are focused on PCs right now. I think consoles remain an interesting opportunity for Guild Wars in the future, but that's not something we've announced any plans for at this time." Basically, that means "Yeah, it's being tossed around."It would make sense for Guild Wars 2 to come to the PlayStation 3 at the very least, since online is already free. Would they be able to throw the game up on the PS-Store at a cheaper price to get even more interest? I'd give it another shot, for sure, if it was easy to get to. And the PS3 certainly has more processing power than this aging dinosaur of a laptop. Thoughts?
Guild Wars expansion, sequel announced
NCSoft subsidiary ArenaNet has announced two new Guild Wars titles: a full-blown sequel and an expansion for the original that serves to bridge the full games together. Guild Wars 2 will follow in its predecessor's footsteps by foregoing a subscription fee but feature a fully persistent world. Little else is known; the current planned release date is second half 2008.An expansion for the original Guild Wars was also announced. Entitled Eye of the North, the expansion will unlock exclusive items and weapons in Guild Wars 2 for those who continue with the series. In the meantime, Eye of the North will feature more of everything, including weapons, titles, items, armor sets, 18 dungeons, 10 new heroes, and 150 new skills spread across the ten professions. The expansion is planned for a holiday 2007 release.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Try Guild Wars expansion free ... again
The next expansion in the Guild Wars series, Nightfall, is just around the corner -- but for anyone who can't wait until October, NCsoft are running an open preview event on September 22-24. During that weekend, Nightfall will be free to play for just about anyone, regardless of whether you have Guild Wars already.The previous expansion, Factions, had a very successful preview event, so it's no surprise the idea's being repeated. It makes sense for NCsoft to capitalise on Guild Wars' free nature by, well, making it even freer -- if only for a short while. Those of us already resigned to paying monthly for MMOs may find it a nice change to try a new one without cost, but as every hour spent on a free game is one that we have already paid for on another MMO, it's hard to drag us away.
Guild Wars hits 2 million mark
Love it or hate it, Guild Wars -- you know that free MMO that is almost World of Warcraft's only competition -- has hit the 2 million units sold mark since its initial release in April 2005. It certainly hasn't reached the kind of astronomical numbers WoW has -- about 6.5 million active subscribers -- but, hey, it's a start. Piggybacking on NCsoft's announcement is the revelation that, according to a press release from the company, sales data from The NPD Group shows Guild Wars Factions as the number one selling PC game in North America for the month of May 2006. Pretty encouraging news, especially for future MMORPGs currently in development. Will developers continue to consider the subscription route or the successful freebie path that Guild Wars has chosen? I know MMOs aren't everyone's "thing," but considering the success of Guild Wars (not to mention the fact that it has no monthly fee), it seems like this is still the one to get initiated, so to speak.
Griefing and self-governance in online games
The Guardian has produced an excellent column that addresses the problem of "griefers", people that abuse, team-kill and cheat other players of online games, particularly MMOs. Griefing has always been a problem where real players compete against their peers, although with massively multiplayer online games the problem has become much more serious. Earning a battleship in Eve Online or crafting a special item in World of Warcraft can take weeks if not months of game time. On top of that, the recent trend for people to sell items on auction sites like eBay has meant that rare online items have a monetary value.The article cites several high profile situations where griefers have bent moral codes with the Guiding Hand Social Club's ruination of Ubiqua Seraph in Eve Online and the funeral crash in WoW being the two main examples. Solutions that companies have come up with to limit these types of situations from happening are also looked at with the Xbox Live points system and strong community measures (like guilds and friend lists) being top on the list of letting players self-govern the problem. Effective community governance is essential if companies want to keep players inside the game and so that the owners don't have to resort to more drastic measures, like Blizzard does with its periodic account banning binges.Update: fixed a couple of minor grammatical errors.
WoW Moviewatch: Guild Wars Vs. WoW
Ever wonder what it would be like if two big contenders in the MMO sweepstakes squared off against each other, MC Hammer-style? Yeah, me either...but it's pretty dang funny...
MMO players convene after E3
Those of us heavily invested in massively multiplayer games are part of a community, just as FPS clans have a brotherhood borne out of hours of playing together. Events like BlizzCon provide an opportunity for MMO guilds and players to meet up -- for the unknown to meet the infamous.E3 may have been over, but that didn't stop NCsoft arranging a player get-together last Saturday. Over 400 players signed up, some travelling from as far as Arizona for this one evening. While NCsoft had rented out a LAN centre for the event, players spent just as much time talking as they did playing, with a sizeable contingent of developers and community managers on hand to help the event along. NCsoft celebrities including Richard Garriott and Matt "Positron" Miller attended the event, showing a pleasing commitment to the player base.
Spectator sports: competitive MMOs
NCsoft is trying to establish Guild Wars as a competitive game as well as a more casual MMO, but appealing to such a diverse audience isn't easy. However, the crowds gathering at NCsoft's booth to watch two hardcore Guild Wars PvP teams duke it out seemed to enjoy the show.At this particular event, Team EvIL and Team PnH were going head to head. The commentator did an excellent job of both explaining the game and getting enthusiastic about the action. We're somewhat familiar with the Guild Wars mechanics, but the action was incomprehensible -- while it's fun to watch the truly skilled ply their trade, it's hard to follow the intricacies of MMO as a spectator.Guild Wars introduced an observer mode last December, but we'd have to spend a lot of time watching before tournaments like this became easily accessible. On the other hand, watching the pretty colours flash by is relaxing amidst the buzz of E3.
Guild Wars: Character slots for cash coming soon
Buying virtual goods with real money is becoming a trend these days, but this new Guild Wars announcement turns the game's small number of character slots (four) into a money-spinner: starting this summer, you'll be able to buy more slots for $9.99 each. The upcoming expansion, Factions, will also provide more slots, so the number of characters on a single Guild Wars account should be approaching that of other MMOs soon.Other virtual services that cost real money include realm-to-realm character transfers (EverQuest) as well as approved real money transfer (Second Life) -- micropayments for a little bit of database juggling are on the rise, though Guild Wars at least has an excuse for charging for extra functionality, as it has no monthly fee.
3 million hours spent on Guild Wars Factions preview weekend
For most of us, the weekend is just 48 hours — plus the fleeting time before midnight Friday night. But somehow, Guild Wars fanatics squeezed 3 million hours into the end of week celebration. Some 500,000 players logged into the invite-only Guild Wars Factions preview opportunity this past weekend, eager to get an early look at the upcoming PvP title.Factions will be a stand-alone game, featuring the same great "no monthly fee" policy as its predecessor. Expect the 3 million hour tally to be trumped soon after Factions' release at the end of the month.
Free preview of Guild Wars: Factions
Fancy slipping into the shoes of an Assassin for a weekend? Or perhaps you're more the Ritualist kind? These two new character classes are part of the upcoming Guild Wars expansion, Guild Wars: Factions, and ArenaNet are offering a free preview weekend for anyone (existing player or not) to try out some of the expansion's features.The free weekend runs from midnight PST on January 20th to midnight PST on the 22nd, and a game key and downloadable client are available from the Guild Wars website. Guild Wars has frequently featured free trials, and this may be part of the reason it's attained such healthy growth; although it's still squarely in the shadow of a certain other MMO, the lack of a monthly fee and these trials make Guild Wars a lot more accessible to some gamers.
