lineage
Latest
LineageOS update brings Android Pie to older phones
LineageOS (and its ancestor CyanogenMod) has a history of breathing new life into old Android devices, and that's truer than ever in 2019. The developers have released LineageOS 16, a ROM that introduces Android 9 Pie to devices that in some cases stopped receiving official updates years ago. The initial 30 supported models includes hardware from as long ago as 2014, including the Samsung Galaxy S5 and OnePlus One.
The first builds of CyanogenMod successor LineageOS are out
The open-source CyanogenMod project has been formally reborn as LineageOS, with the first experimental and nightly ROMs of the custom Android build now available to download. Only a handful of smartphones are officially supported at the moment, including the Nexus 5X and 6P, OnePlus One, Nextbit Robin and a few Samsung, Motorola and Xiaomi devices. Anyone up to speed with the latest CyanogenMod releases won't find anything surprising here -- LineageOS grabs the baton at version 14.1 (based on Android 7.1 Nougat), with the only real changes being the new name, logo and some behind the scenes stuff to support the transition.
CyanogenMod website unreachable, project will continue as LineageOS
When Cyanogen announced its services and nightly builds were ending, it said the CyanogenMod open source project would continue on. However, after the latter made a blog post calling the action a "death blow" for CyanogenMod, the DNS routing for its website went away and it has been unreachable. The open source team also said in its blog post that it would continue the project, and a new website indicates we'll get more information on its follow-up, LineageOS, on Tuesday.
The Game Archaeologist travels to Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds
I confess that I have a particular fascination for MMOs that came into existence in the 1990s. It's not only the fact that I was oblivious to them at the time (er, wild college days?) but that practically each and every one of them were true pioneers in their own fashion. And while your standard MMO fan might think that there were only three such games in that decade (four, if they are gracious and include Meridian 59), the truth is that there were far more of them. Today we are going to look at one of the most important MMOs to emerge from that time period, Nexus: The Kingdom of the Winds, although its influence was primarily located in Korea while being vastly downplayed in North America. Still, here's a successful MMO that not only beat Ultima Online out of the door by a year but has since won a Guinness World Record for longevity!
Norrathian Notebook: Five reasons to support EQ Next and Landmark
I like Landmark and am looking forward to EverQuest Next. There, I said it. It should be no surprise. And as such, I certainly have a vested interest in how these games fare throughout their development and launch. I want to see them succeed. But the thing is, so should you -- whether or not you actually want to play them. Unfortunately, it seems all too fashionable lately for folks to tear something down instead of build it up. So often when I'm following the discussions about EQ Next and Landmark, I hear plenty of reasons why folks don't like the games, and the reasons frequently have nothing to do with the games themselves. Detractors are going on about longstanding gripes and grudges instead of judging the games on their own merits (a practice that the whole world could certainly do without). Amid all the scathing comments I've heard directed at SOE for slights real and imagined, one recently gave me pause and made me reflect on the reasons that supporting these two MMO endeavors is worthwhile.
EVE Evolved: The Sleepers are coming!
Ever since the announcement of 100 new wormhole systems and the unique Thera wormhole hub system, some interesting things have been going on in EVE Online. A new star appeared in the night sky and began rapidly growing in brightness like a supernova, and curiously, the light from that star was able to be seen from every star system in New Eden simultaneously in clear violation of the laws of physics. Two days prior to the event, Sansha's Nation were seen scattering from an Incursion site and leaving the area without using wormholes, hinting that something big was happening in their home system. Combined with the intruiging story of Thera, this has had even non-roleplayers scrambling through the EVE lore to come up with theories about what's to come. Players slowly set apart picking the mystery to pieces, conducting a galaxy-wide search to find the origin of the bright star and sending people into the test server to get clues. The mystery intensified when players discovered that the star was likely near or within restricted Jove space, and soon after they began finding strange cloaked structures throughout known space. While observing these structures, players even found that an all-new form of Sleeper NPC called the Circadian Seeker was periodically warping into the site and using some kind of scanning beam on the cloaked structure. All of this comes in anticipation of the public release of the Rhea patch on Tuesday 9th, which will introduce hidden Sleeper sites in known space and kick off the arms race to discover tech 3 destroyers. In this lore-heavy edition of EVE Evolved, I look at everything we know of EVE's new Sleeper storyline event and try to figure out how it all fits together.
Lineage Eternal gets a gameplay demo at G-Star 2014
We've known about Lineage Eternal for a while, but actual details have been in short supply despite that fact. The game's showing at G-Star 2014 might put some of that curiosity to bed, however, as according to Steparu there's a gameplay demo and a 25-minute look at the game in play just past the break. While full character customization was not available on the show floor, those at the con can choose to play the heavily armored Guard Knight or the transparently armored Element Warlock while previewing different allegiances, outfits, and clothing colors. As for the actual gameplay... well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, nearly half an hour of moving pictures is surely worth even more words. So jump on past the break and check it out! The demo covers the early stages of several game regions as well as a 20-person quest leading players to defeat various raid monsters.
NCsoft promises a simultaneous global release for Lineage Eternal
NCsoft has today announced that Lineage Eternal, the third in the big-in-Korea series, will feature a simultaneous worldwide release both for the PC game and for the mobile edition. Yes, there's a mobile edition. Steparu.com has translated all of the G-Star 2014 documents relating to the game and confirms that it is indeed an "open-world MMORPG" with mouse cursor movement, 20-man raids, random and dynamic dungeons, PvP, and no "generic questing system." According to Steparu, NCsoft is testing a new cloud gaming system that will nullify the need for a Korean account to play the company's games. Instead, gamers can just link a social media account to play. Lineage Eternal is apparently slated for a "2016 or later" release; closed beta is now planned for the first half of 2015. Check out the new G-Star videos below.
NCsoft's third quarter report is glowing; WildStar's revenues are not
NCsoft's unaudited third quarter 2014 financial report is in. Do you want the good news first or the bad? Let's get the bad out of the way. WildStar's revenues plummeted between the second and third quarters, down 42.9% (the sales units in the table above, please note, are in millions of Korean Won). Variable expense, NCsoft wrote, also fell "largely due to decreased box sales of WildStar." Guild Wars 2's revenues also fell slightly over the quarter, down 8.5%. But the good news is that global sales and operating profit are very much up, up, up in total quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year, thanks primarily to the continuing popularity of Aion and classic Lineage.
Lineage Eternal will be playable at G-Star 2014
NCsoft today announced that Lineage Eternal, first revealed back in 2011, will be playable at this year's G-Star con in Busan, South Korea. The third entry in the outrageously popular Lineage series was originally scheduled to head into closed beta this winter and seems to share more in common with Lineage 1 thanks to its isometric view and heavy focus on guild warfare. MMO Culture reports that NCsoft MMO Project HON will likewise be playable and that the company plans to announce a "mystery game" a few days before the con opens on November 20th. We've included the G-Star teaser vid below; it includes quick flashes of Lineage, Lineage II, Aion, and Blade & Soul too.
Guild Wars 2 emerges unscathed by NCsoft's layoffs
Last night's revelation that a large chunk of the WildStar team had been let go is not the only bad news to come from NCsoft this week. According to a letter sent to Polygon, the NCWest layoffs affected all of NCsoft's western branches... except ArenaNet, which runs Guild Wars 2 and Guild Wars. Here's what NCsoft wrote: Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West. As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment. Moving forward, we will continue to focus on our core development capabilities and the intellectual properties (WildStar, Aion, Lineage, and Guild Wars franchises) that have made NCSOFT what it is today. However, we are looking to move into new business segments like mobile and tablet games as well as explore emerging technologies. Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavors. Polygon's unnamed source says around 60 Carbine Studios employees were let go; we don't yet know how hard the other teams were hit.
Lineage Eternal's first closed beta coming to Korea this winter
We haven't heard much about Lineage Eternal since its late 2011 announcement. Now, though, ThisIsGame brings word of the title's first closed beta coming to Korea this winter. Lineage Eternal is a hack-and-slash game that features a "drag action" combat system in which skills are activated by mouse gestures made on the screen, according to Steparu. You can watch a 14-minute gameplay trailer after the break.
WildStar and Guild Wars 2 boost NCsoft profits
The second quarter of 2014 was a very good time indeed for NCsoft, as the publisher announced today that revenues and profits are up thanks to WildStar's launch and Guild Wars 2's move into China. In today's earnings report, NCsoft shows that sales went up 20% and operating profit increased 46% from the previous quarter. The company said that it saw a marketing expense increase due to WildStar and that Lineage "recovered meaningfully" during this period. As for sales per game, Lineage is still at the top with 32.2%. Following that is WildStar (15.9%), Guild Wars 2 (12.6%), Blade and Soul (10.8%), Aion (10.4%), and Lineage II (7.7%).
NCsoft launches Lineage II's Ertheia expansion today
Lineage II's latest expansion, Ertheia, launches today, bringing with it a new race (the Ertheia), two new classes (Ertheia Fighter and Ertheia Wizard), a new racial skill (Alchemy), new stats (Charisma and Luck), a level 99 instance (The Dimensional Barrier), and two new hunting zones for -- you guessed it -- Ertheia characters. Former players can take advantage of a welcome-back promotion that includes a pack of goodies for veteran characters and a free mount for freshly rolled toons. We've included some concept art as well as videos describing the lore and new classes below.
Lineage II's new expansion to launch on July 30
NCsoft has announced today that its classic fantasy MMO Lineage II will be launching its next expansion on July 30. Entitled Ertheia, this free expansion brings new hunting zones, new adventures, and reveals the lore that explains the arrival of the Ertheia race. "As the last of Einhasad's four original races (Elves, Orcs, Dwarves, and Ertheia) enters the playing field, they will join forces with the other races and Heroes of Aden to save their world, all a part of the continuing saga within Lineage II's epic storyline," according to an NCsoft press release. Check out the video after the cut for more information on Lineage II's Ertheia. [Source: NCsoft press release]
Perfect Ten: MMOs from the '90s
The course of MMO history and the developer pioneers who forged a path to online gaming have long fascinated me (so much so that I write an occasional column about it). While we often think of MMOs as modern entertainment barely out of its infancy, the truth is that you can trace the industry back decades to see a fringe group of devs and players striving to make these games a reality. While the number of MMOs in existence exploded in the early- and mid-2000s (and hasn't stopped growing since), the 1990s are often an overlooked decade that featured more than the one or two games that are usually mentioned in brief history overviews. There were actually far more titles than most assume, even if you dismiss text-based MUDs and the like. Today we're going to run down 10 MMOs that were born during the era of the dot-com revolution, dial-up modems, and the peak of the Simpsons (third through seventh seasons).
Lineage Korea adds a new Warrior class
Who says old-school MMOs are dead? Here in North America, Ultima Online and EverQuest are still updating on a regular basis, while over in Korea, Lineage is quietly going about the business of being one of the most played MMORPGs in the world. The title, released in 1998, is still NCsoft's top earner, and now its loyal fans have a new Warrior class to play. This is the game's first new class in six years, according to MMO Culture, which also has a video of the Warrior in action. Click past the cut to have a look!
Lineage II expands to Ertheia this summer
NCsoft's popular Lineage II MMO announces a new expansion coming later this summer. Entitled Ertheia, this expansion brings with it a new race (the Ertheia), new hunting zones, and more. "Ertheia, born of the wind, were created by the god Sayha," the game's lore states. "Renowned for their beauty, everyone longed to keep them near. But like the wind itself, they never wanted to stay in one place for very long, and suffered if they were confined. For ages, the Ertheia made their home in the Wind Spirit Realm, away from interaction with the Material Realm. But a catastrophic event has thrust Faeron Village into Aden. And now these graceful, deadly warriors find themselves engaged in a life-or-death battle against Shilen in a strange place." Lineage II recently celebrated its 10th anniversary in North America and features NCsoft's Truly Free business model. You can find out more on the exmapsion by watching the video included after the cut.
Lineage II classic server detailed
Lineage II will be opening a classic server to appease those players who miss the original version of the popular MMO. This classic server will be a hybrid of C1 and C2, offering everything from the old inventory system to the old party system to the old skill system, and more. The open beta for this classic server is going on now for Korean players and will end on June 3. After beta, the classic server will be pay-to-play.
Lineage II turns 10 years old in North America
NCsoft's Lineage franchise has a lot to celebrate this week as the North American version of Lineage II turns 10 years old. Says the company, During the past decade, millions of players have joined the fight to defend the realm of Aden from Shilen, the evil Goddess of Destruction, and her dark forces. During that time, players have experienced 21 free expansions, defeated more than 350 raid bosses, explored 450 unique zones, mastered 2,200 plus unique skills, and interacted with (meaning "killed") more than 10,000 unique NPCs and monsters, making Lineage II one of the largest MMOs in the world based on content alone. The in-game celebrations will boast veteran packs and the Carnival of Aden, which includes login events, collection quests, special weapons, and weekend bosses. Happy birthday, Lineage II, and welcome to the short list of MMOs older than a decade! [Source: NCsoft press release]
