nathan-richardsson
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Richardsson replacing Caron atop 40K Eternal Crusade
Behaviour Interactive's Miguel Caron is leaving his post atop the Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade dev team. MMOGames reports that Nathan Richardsson, familiar to MMO gamers from his stints on Defiance and as an executive producer for EVE Online, is succeeding Caron. War40k moderator Vigilia Mortis posted his farewell to Caron on Twitter yesterday, telling fans that the switch will be final around Valentine's day.
Defiance Arkbreaker DLC lands in December
Trion Worlds today announced that Defiance's second DLC pack, titled Arkbreaker, will go live on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC in December. The post is accompanied by a promise for more information in the coming weeks -- Defiance players have already begun to speculate in the official announcement forum thread. Defiance's last DLC expansion, the Castithan Charge Pack, launched in August. Executive producer Nathan Richardsson noted in May that Trion has five expansions planned for "the next year," though he left the studio back in July.
Former Defiance executive producer no longer with Trion [Updated]
Nathan Richardsson no longer works for Trion Worlds, according to an entry on his LinkedIn profile. The MMO industry veteran served as Defiance's VP of Development and its Executive Producer beginning in October, 2012. Prior to that, Richardsson was a CCP board member and held various producer jobs on EVE Online from 2002 through 2012. The LinkedIn entry lists Richardsson's Trion tenure under the "past" subheading, and it also mentions an ending date of July, 2013. Massively confirmed Richardsson's departure with Trion earlier this afternoon, but the company declined to comment further. [Update]: New Defiance executive producer Chris Lena has penned an introductory blog post. [Thanks to our tipsters!]
Defiance team plans five DLC releases, first adds the Castithan race and more
Now that the MMO-slash-TV show Defiance has been launched, says executive producer Nathan Richardsson, things are about to really get good, in the form of five DLC releases later this year. He admits that fan response to the game has it pegged as "about as deep as a bag of chips but great fun," but adds that he'd "like to get to the two-bag of chip depth category or at least, add some salsas for various textures." Most of those spices will come in the form of DLC, and Richardsson has outlined what the game's first addon, tentatively titled "Enter the Castithan," will look like. There will be three elements to it: Those who buy the downloadable content for $10 will get access to the Castithan playable race, along with a new outfit and vehicle, and a new story mission line and game mode. There will also be free content, including new weapons, a new PvP map called Military Academy, and some other game improvements. And then there will be new items in the store, including weapon mods, more vehicle versions, and the ability to change your character's customizations. Richardsson says all future add-ons will have these paid, free, and store components, and the team's goal is to keep the updates and content flowing and focused on what players want. The first DLC release is expected to hit the game after a patch later on this month.
Defiance producer addresses issues in recent patch
No launch period is without its stresses, bugs, and crises. Defiance Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson took some time to address some of the recent drama brought on by patching in new content and fixes. He called on the old adage that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions," explaining that some of the problems in the most recent patch were due to the team wanting to get content out too quickly. "I could have pushed less and said 'no' and had it longer in testing and prepared better," Richardsson explained. He also stated that some of the problems couldn't have been caught with more thorough testing because of the differences between the live and test environments. He concluded that the team is determined to do its best by Defiance, as "she deserves it." It's quite the delicate balance, we're sure, to deal with the fact that your game is out and being adored and also that it's got some vital issues. Richardsson summed up those feelings with, "I can go from sad to twerk in a heartbeat." You can check out an ever-updating list of known issues here. Until the next patch, keep on twerkin' on.
Defiance hands out compensation package to players
Defiance players are in for a little treat for their patience during a tumultuous opening week. Trion Worlds acknowledged the various issues that the game and its community have gone through, and thus the studio has put together a gift package as a way to thank customers for their patronage. Current players have received several bonuses in their account, including a "Daredevil" exclusive title and one-week boosts to weapons skill, scrip, loot, and XP. "We hope this shows you that we do appreciate you on this journey of Defiance, trying out something new, trying something different," wrote Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson. [Thanks to Balance for the tip!]
Defiance's Richardsson on dev priorities, DLC, and more
Nathan Richardsson is back with another dev diary status update for Trion's newly launched Defiance shooter. The long and short of it is that yes, the team is aware of and working on issues like items disappearing in the salvage matrix, chat issues, and server crashes. Richardsson also says that the DLC he mentioned in the previous dev diary has now been pushed back to allow more time for bug fixes and post-launch polish. He also lists a loose outline of Trion's dev team priorities. Full cluster crashes get top priority, followed by game server crashes, live gameplay issues, upcoming patches, and DLC. You can read the full diary at the official Defiance website.
Trion apologizes for Defiance issues, outlines contract system
Ready for some more Defiance updates? Good, because Trion and Syfy are obliging with a couple of news blurbs and another TV spot. First up is executive producer Nathan Richardsson's day four game diary, in which he mentions that the dev team is hard at work addressing connectivity and patching issues, server crashes, chat and VOIP problems, and the problematic U.S. Xbox server cluster. "After five years of creating this, it saddens us and frustrates us that you aren't getting the great experience we strove to create. The upside is that it makes us quite determined to get you there," Richardsson writes. On a happier note, the Defiance blog updated on Friday with a look at the game's contract system. Contracts are basically missions that offer extra rewards, and you can find them under the goals section of your EGO menu. They refresh on a daily and weekly basis and offer scaling rewards. Finally, Syfy has released a new 30-second teaser for the television show which you'll find after the break.
Defiance team prioritizing fixes for crashes, lag
The excitement, fun, chaos, and occasional frustration that swirls around every MMO launch is squarely on Defiance's shoulders this week, so Trion Worlds Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson is back with a follow-up to yesterday's post to discuss what the team is currently addressing. Richardsson says that the team has to be agile and that its priorities change on a daily basis. Because of this, today's critical issues are different from yesterday's; the team is working on game server crashes, lag, patching woes, and client crashes. He promised that yesterday's issues were still being worked on, just that these were more important for the time being. He did say that console account linking with the Arkhunter website should be resolved, and that the team's already put out a couple of patches in the last 24 hours with another one on the way to make the play experience more smooth.
Trion Worlds promises that it's addressing critical Defiance issues
Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson has mixed emotions in regards to Defiance's release. "This first day of launch of Defiance has been as awesome as we expected it to be," he wrote in a state of the game post. "And by awesome, I mean we're neck deep addressing all the issues that come up when you scale something up to a million people from a test environment of thousands." Richardsson promised that the large Trion team is working hard to "update, patch, fix, and improve" Defiance post-launch. The most critical problems that he identifies are connectivity problems, missing pre-order items, the scaling of bosses and arkfalls, and broken chat and VOIP. "We appreciate the trust that you are showing us by coming with us and we will address all these issues," he concludes. Speaking of awesome, check out the main theme to Defiance, composed by Bear McCreary, after the jump!
Former EVE Online bigwig now producing Defiance for Trion
Earlier this year EVE Online players wondered what had become of Nathan Richardsson. The former CCP executive producer (known in internet spaceship circles as CCP Oveur) quietly disappeared after having been a major presence at multiple Fan Fests and in the online community since 2004. Now we know that Richardsson jumped ship to sign on with Trion, where he is currently serving as both the Vice President of Development and as the Executive Producer on Defiance. "Defiance is the future of entertainment, and the collaboration between Trion and Syfy means you have two powerhouses blazing a trail that will fundamentally change the way both gamers and viewers consume entertainment," Richardsson says of the third-person shooter and its television series tie-in. "It's amazingly ambitious and exactly the kind of immense challenge that I've been looking for." [Source: Trion press release]
GDCO 2010: CCP talks EVE, Dust, and World of Darkness
Gamebreaker.tv recently sat down with CCP's Nathan Richardsson at GDCO for a lengthy video interview about EVE Online, Dust 514, and World of Darkness. Unsurprisingly, the majority of the EVE discussion focuses on the new character generator, recently made live on the Singularity test server and representing the first step towards 2011's long-awaited Incarna expansion. Richardsson doesn't have a lot to say regarding Dust 514, even though he talks about it for several minutes. The gist of the conversation is that CCP will release it when it's ready, and they're not even close to being prepared to talk about it. He does reiterate the game's console focus, stating that "our goal is delivering the EVE experience on different platforms, console being one of them of course. We'll be looking at more platforms, we already are." Moving on to the recently announced World of Darkness, Richardsson again declines to answer most of the pressing questions, though he does drop an interesting nugget relating to control of the game's intellectual property. Turns out that CCP's plans for a WoD virtual world required a certain level of control over the IP that wasn't possible with it residing in the hands of another company, hence the acquisition of WoD parent company White Wolf. Check out the full 30-minute interview after the cut and on Gamebreaker.
GDCO 2010: Running MMOs for the long haul
In a year that seems overshadowed by the premature demise of big-budget titles, the question on everyone's mind is just what does it take to not only successfully launch an MMO, but keep it going for the long haul? At GDC Online this past week, several devs who find themselves struggling with this very issue got together for an informative panel entitled "Strategies for Successfully Running an MMO from Launch and Beyond." At the panel, Lorin Jameson (SOE), Nathan Richardsson (CCP), Jeff Hickman (EA Mythic), Jeffrey Steefel (Turbine), Rich Vogel (EA-Bioware) and Min Kim (Nexon) stepped up to the plate take a swing at the common pitfalls, the unseen consequences and the harsh realities of the industry. So if you're curious about why some titles thrive while others fall apart or why a particular MMO makes it to launch and beyond while another fades into obscurity, hit the jump and see what these industry experts have to say about the enormous and complex task of getting an MMO to lift off -- and then keeping it soaring for as long as possible.
GDC10: Massively set to appear on live Internet TV
Massively's own Editor-in-Chief Shawn Schuster will be appearing on Internet television today at 12pm PST live from GDC 2010. That's right, Gamebreakr with Gary Gannon is going to do a live streaming web show and this particular blogger thinks it'll be worth catching -- even if only so Shawn knows that countless people are staring at him while he's on air. Actually, the show's had plenty of interesting people from the gaming realm on already including CCP's Nathan Richardsson, President of SOE John Smedley and Christina Norman of BioWare. And, as our leader extraordinaire, Shawn will most definitely make for an interesting guest. We can't wait to see it! [Edit: see the recorded video after the jump]
GameX 2009: Video interview with Nathan Richardsson and "Alli" Óttarsson
After their panel at GameX 2009 (and some free lunch) we got to sit down with "Alli" Ottarsson and Nathan Richardsson from EVE Online and talk shop about the future of the game. Where are we going directly after the Dominion expansion releases this year? What other product tie-ins can we expect from the White Wolf end of the company? And what's Neocom all about anyway? Nathan and Alli were happy to take our questions and give some direct responses on what they hope to tackle in Neocom, how EVE's model is multiple game models, and what we might see take place in the highly-anticipated Incarna in regards to gambling and missions. To check our exclusive video interview, jump after the break with the "continue reading" button below!
EVE Fanfest 2009 videos are up
We mentioned some highlights from EVE Fanfest 2009 in Reykjavik the other day and Permaband's "HTFU" video went down very well with a lot of our readers. Now CCP Games have made video of some of the Fanfest panels, presentations, or general madness available on their YouTube page as well. Of course there's the main keynote that included DUST 514 info and gameplay footage, but the CCP Panel gave players in attendance the opportunity to ask the EVE Online developers whatever they felt like. The responses from the devs explain quite a bit about the choices CCP Games has made with both EVE and DUST 514, and there are some hints of what's to come. More than anything, it's interesting to see this kind of direct interaction between the players and the people who create the game. (Obligatory disclaimer: The CCP Panel video is a bit NSFW with the language in parts, but if you're watching something like this on the job... you probably don't care.)
EVE Fanfest 2009 highlights
The biggest player gathering of the year for EVE Online fans is EVE Fanfest, held annually in the CCP Games hometown of Reykjavik. Some interesting announcements of what's to come have been made over the past few days, as well as more details or clarification on previously announced aspects of both EVE Online and DUST 514. Read on for a few highlights of the info revealed at EVE Fanfest 2009 for the game and the IP beyond the Dominion expansion (slated for a December 1st launch):
AGDC09: EVE's Nathan Richardsson on the Dominion expansion and beyond
Massively was on the ground at the Game Developers Conference 2009 in Austin this week, and had a chance to sit down with Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson, Executive Producer of EVE Online. We discussed EVE's winter expansion, Dominion, and the new dimensions to the sci-fi MMO's setting that CCP Games hopes to introduce. We also learned a bit more about the company's plans to expand EVE into other platforms, namely through the COSMOS social network which will tie in with the game from Dominion onward.
Video interview focuses on emergent gameplay in EVE Online
Part of what's so interesting about video games, and MMOs specifically, is that players often do things the game designers never envisioned. This is especially the case with a sandbox MMO like EVE Online where the developers provide a setting and the players establish their own virtual society of sorts. The topic of emergent gameplay in EVE came up in a recent video interview from the Nordic Game Conference, where our friend Petter Mårtensson from Gamereactor spoke with CCP Games Executive Producer Nathan "Oveur" Richardsson. Their conversation touches upon what the players are doing with wormhole exploration (with around 2500 uncharted solar systems) and CCP's excitement when player alliances clash and create their own stories of conflict. The interview also covers Walking in Stations (avatars), the COSMOS social network that will tie in with EVE, and the company's intent to alter 0.0 space with more tools to build empires and more incentives to get people out there into these lawless regions. Stick with us for a video embed of the Gamereactor interview with CCP's Nathan Richardsson.
EVE developers to hold a meet and greet in Las Vegas
The major player gathering for EVE Online players is Fanfest, which is held in Reykjavik each year. However, the fact is many players can't make the trip to Iceland, and a number of North American players have hoped for an event that's more accessible to them. It looks like this is going to happen, and what's more accessible than Las Vegas? (Bonus: "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.")The 2009 EVE Developers Meet and Greet in Las Vegas was mentioned very briefly during the recent (and excellent) Alliance PvP Tournament, but more info is available now. EVE Vegas is a two-day event that will be held on May 8th and 9th at the Imperial Palace (on the Strip). It kicks off on a Friday with the Meet and Greet, followed up by a conference on Saturday.
