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Enter At Your Own Rift: The big takeaways from GDC
After dining on enough beef brisket to feed an army of hungry cowboys, I returned from Austin's GDC Online to chip away at the Ashes of History world event quests. RIFT had a nice showing at the GDC Online Awards ceremony, walking away with awards for Best Online Technology and Best New Online Game. In addition, Trion CCO and RIFT Executive Producer Scott Hartsman gave a talk about RIFT's pre-launch preparations and post-launch plans. GDC was dominated by a handful of common topics, like free-to-play, metrics, monetization, and technology. In this week's Enter at Your Own Rift, we'll take a look at a few of these to see how they apply to RIFT, and then we'll look at the big takeaways from GDC overall.
Massively's Guide to Dragon*Con 2011
PAX Prime is freshly finished and Gamescom 2011 is a distant memory, but con season isn't over yet! Not by a long shot, in fact. Dragon*Con is just around the corner, and we have undertaken the monumental task of putting together a what's-what for all of our adoring MMO fans. Now, just because Dragon*Con isn't as internationally renowned as Gamescom or as well-publicized as Penny Arcade's brainchild doesn't mean you should write it off by any means. There's still a whole truckload of events for MMO players at Dragon*Con. From Q&As to panels (including one on MMO podcasting that includes our very own Shawn Schuster!) and more, there's a little something for every MMO player at Dragon*Con. So whether you're attending or just want to see what kind of news you have to look forward to coming out of Dragon*Con (news that will, of course, be covered right here on Massively), jump on past the cut and see what the Atlanta-based con has in store.
BioWare announces PAX 2011 plans for The Old Republic
Are you going to Penny Arcade Expo? Is the Force strong with you? If you answered yes to these questions, then holster your blasters for just a hot second while we give you the skinny on BioWare's plans for Star Wars: The Old Republic at PAX 2011. For those of you interested in just getting your nerf-herding hands on The Old Republic for some one-on-one time, all you have to do is swing by booth 914, where demos will be running that allow players to experience content from each of the game's four origin worlds as well as letting players drop into the Alderaan Warzone for some Republic vs. Imperial action. If you want to go more behind the scenes, don't fret! At 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 28th, BioWare and LucasArts will be overtaking the Paramount Theatre for a Star Wars: The Old Republic panel. New reveals! Question and answer sessions! Live demonstration of the endgame Operation, the Eternity Vault! All of this and more can be yours if you manage to weasel your way in. And lastly, if you're more of a social butterfly, BioWare will be hosting a community meet-and-greet at the Grand Hyatt Seattle hotel. The soiree begins at 7 p.m., so dress your fanciest and don't be late!
BioWare talks Star Wars: The Old Republic vehicles and launches
Vehicles are cool. Not that having a trusty steed isn't cool in any game, but Star Wars: The Old Republic is a game emulating films in which every single vehicle was a character unto itself. In the most recent panel for the game at this year's San Diego Comic-Con, it's been made clear that the designers aren't limiting vehicles to simply spaceships for players and for ambient encounters. Landspeeders and speeder bikes will be available for players, with several styles shown off to the attendees. As always, iconic imagery is at the top of the priority list for development, up to and including the opening text crawl following character creation. A firm release date has still not been announced, but the team has once again reiterated that the game will be out for this year's holiday season. Frustratingly vague? Perhaps, but at least there's plenty of tasty information to chew on despite the insistent lack of clarity elsewhere.
iPad 2 panel shipments could break 10.5m this summer
This summer Apple iPad shipments may reach 10.5 million according to a report from Digitimes. Apple has reportedly tapped Chimei Innolux to boost their supply of panels for the iPad 2. CMI is is expected to produce up to 500,000 panels in June and may ramp up production to over one million in July. Between CMI, TPK Holding and Wintek, Apple should have an ample supply of panels to ship over 10.5 million iPads in the summer quarter. [Via Electronista]
SOE announces Fan Faire 2011 open registration
Summer is fast approaching, and if you're partial to Sony Online Entertainment's various MMOs, you know that Fan Faire is coming up quickly as well. This year's event is going down at Bally's Hotel in Las Vegas from July 7th through July 9th. Attendees can look forward to developer panels, live game tournaments, live quests, and of course, rubbing elbows with fellow SOE fans and industry luminaries. All-Access passes are currently on sale for $119.00, and the early-bird pricing gets you admission to forums, panels, and round-tables as well as a t-shirt, gift bag, exclusive in-game items, and digital copies of both EverQuest and EverQuest II expansion packs. Single-day passes are also available (they'll set you back $39.00), and you can view all the details at the official Fan Faire website.
Official video available for the Guild Wars 2 PAX East panel
If you were attending PAX East a couple of weeks ago, the odds are you wanted a chance to get in on ArenaNet's panel. Unfortunately, Guild Wars 2 fans were lined up outside the panel long before it started, filling the room to capacity and dashing the dreams of several hopeful attendees. Luckily, the fine team behind the games took the time time to record the panel in its entirety and has just made the full video available on the official blog. Posted in two parts and comprising just under an hour of total footage, the panel covers a variety of topics related to the development of Guild Wars 2 and includes a lengthy question-and-answer session from the audience. While it's not quite a substitute for being at the convention itself, the full video should prove interesting whether you weren't able to make it to Boston or just couldn't get inside the jam-packed panel session.
A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Linger
So I was originally going to dive into the matter of the next archetype on the list when it hit me that there were two big issues I didn't talk about in my last column, issues that were brought up on or around the PAX panel but weren't directly addressed. And if there's one thing that I'd like to think I'm known for in the City of Heroes community, it's darting off like a hyperactive badger whenever something catches my eye, regardless of what that means for the overall flow or pacing of a column. Being known as a good writer would be nice, too, but I like to keep a broader perspective. So we're going to take a second to talk about two matters that have stuck with us as an overall community -- the low-level game revamp and the mysterious Issue 20 NDA. The latter is especially mysterious because we now know what's in Issue 20, and it's certainly nothing that will rock City of Heroes to its foundations. Far from it -- the issue, while shaping up nicely, is pretty much standard stuff. Why the obfuscation?
PAX East 2011: One Massive roundup
PAX East has already begun fading into memory, but there was a lot to see and do over the three days of the convention. Even if we disregard the numerous fan gatherings and community events taking place, there were an awful lot of games on the floor, with showings from MMOs that dwarfed last year's offerings. If you were lucky enough to be there, we can only hope that you had fun and got to see all of the impressive displays. Of course, you may very well have missed one or two things, what with all of the sound and lines and people walking around with a pixel costume. Even if you were sitting at home, you might have missed some of our coverage of this event. Just jump on past the break for a full recap of Massively's coverage of the con, covering everything from the venerable City of Heroes to the highly anticipated Star Wars: The Old Republic.
The Daily Grind: What are you hoping to hear from GDC?
This week, Massively's own Shawn & Rubi are headed out to San Francisco to check out all the sights and sounds of this year's Game Developers Conference. In fact, this year marks the 25th anniversary of the event, one that has grown from a small gathering held in someone's house into an enormous industry-wide event. There are tons of topics to look forward to, from intricate development issues to the wider ramifications of online and social gaming. Given how many varied and interesting panels, discussions and more bedeck the conference's schedule, we thought we'd ask whether there's anything in particular you're hoping to hear from this year's event. Are there any games or topics you're really craving more news about? Grab your morning cuppa wake-up beverage goodness, check out the schedule, and tell us what you're hoping to learn more about in our upcoming GDC 2011 coverage! Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
A look at the updated UI for Final Fantasy XIV
The first major update for Final Fantasy XIV is tentatively dated for a little more than a week from now, and Square-Enix is beginning to discuss the specifics about what the new update will contain. With the most recent reveal centering around the user interface, players can get a look at the improvements coming to one of the game's least-loved features, and the updates range from smoothing off the rough edges of targeting and mouse interaction to the substantial improvement of more inventory space. The latter will be welcomed even by those not put out by the interface, as another 20 slots will be added to both the character's inventory and the retainer's inventory. Other updates include improvements to the chat client, ranging from keyboard shortcuts to the ability to create custom tabs for players. There's also a redesign of the current Attributes & Gear panel into two separate interfaces, with the Gear window having much improved functionality and the Attributes window providing a better rundown of information. Players can take a look at the preview for a full picture of how the UI will be altered to improve Final Fantasy XIV as well as a quick look at what some of the new windows will look like and how they can be customized.
Spiritual Guidance: What few shadow priest highlights BlizzCon 2010 could scrape together
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Even weeks when your shadowy messiah, Fox Van Allen, is nursing one heck of a headache -- along with, presumably, everyone else who's still suffering from the non-stop party atmosphere of BlizzCon 2010. Let's start by saying that BlizzCon 2010 was an absolute blast. I met most of the WoW Insider crew, got to smell Mike Sacco's hair yet again, got some amazing swag and got to eat at Jack in the Box no less than five times. The best part, though, was probably meeting Orkchop (pictured above with WoW Insider's moonkin blogger Tyler Caraway, who can only aspire to be as amazing as Orkchop). The dude is an internet celebrity. For real. But enough about how awesome Orkchop is. Let's talk shadow priests, and how awesome they are. Now, I'm not good at sugar-coating things, so I'll just come out with it: BlizzCon 2010 was pretty disappointing in terms of World of Warcraft-related content. The biggest news out of the convention was the new loading screen for Cataclysm. Really. That was the big news. Seriously. And it's just a palette-shifted version of the Sindragosa loading screen. Despite the lack of earth-shattering news, I made sure to take note of all the shadow priest action. There wasn't a heck of a lot of it, but what little ground was covered was hugely important to the future of the spec. The good, the bad and the non-answers -- we'll go over it all after the break.
Quaggan sad: A look back at the Guild Wars 2 Dynamic Events panel
At the top of my to-do list for Saturday morning at PAX was Designing Dynamic Events, a Guild Wars 2 panel with designers Eric Flannum and Colin Johanson. Talk and video of the panel have been everywhere this week, and I wanted to take a little bit of time to give my thoughts on what they did and how it was received. The panel was billed as a discussion about "how Guild Wars 2 designers create events in the dynamic, living game world and the many factors to consider when designing any kind of MMO content." It sounded interesting, but it was a ticketed event with limited attendance, which seemed strange to me. I managed to get a ticket and was even more confused when I walked into the relatively tiny room. Why such a small place for something that would certainly have drawn a huge crowd? It all became clear very soon, so follow along after the cut to hear more about my take on the new things we learned in Designing Dynamic Events.
PAX 2010: City of Heroes moves Fitness over to inherent powers
Big news got dropped today during the City of Heroes panel over at the inimitable PAX, the sort of thing that every veteran of the game will be interested in. Fitness -- also known as the powerset that is more or less mandatory by level 20, or the Stamina set -- is being moved from power pools into the inherent power set. That means that three of the default power choices in the game have just been rolled into every character from level 1, making builds more flexible and players very happy indeed. It wasn't mentioned specifically whether this means the powers will simply be under inherent powers or base movement speed, regeneration rates, and so forth will be increased. There has also been more information about the highly anticipated Incarnate System, with Issue 19 rolling out the Alpha Slot to start players down the road of improvement at Level 50. We'll have more on the panel as a whole and the details of the revelations, including news on the Issue 20 testing, but for now, all City of Heroes players should be happy to learn they have three new power selections to play with when 19 launches.
City of Heroes has plans... PAX plans
If you haven't already thought about PAX Prime coming up in September, odds are good you're not going. But if you are going and you're a fan of City of Heroes, you'll be happy to know that the team from Paragon Studios will be making a showing at the convention. The team will be hosting a panel as well as a meet-and-greet event for the fans over the weekend, similar to what was done during PAX East in March. Players will also be rewarded with a new disguise power -- in this case, the Praetorian Police Department's duty outfit. Since the convention will take place after the release of Going Rogue, the panel's topic will be on the new expansion as well as the future beyond release, most likely covering the Incarnate system and the further future. The meet-and-greet, meanwhile, is happening off-site and gives players both the aforementioned costume code and an exclusive lenticular button for the game. Take a look at the full rundown of the events with the City of Heroes team -- even if you're not attending, we'll make sure to keep everyone up-to-date on the information.
Destiny of Velious details announced for EverQuest II
This year's Fan Faire has been kind to fans of EverQuest II and EverQuest, with the announcement of new expansions and a mysterious further project for the franchise. The fine team at The EQ2 Wire sat in on a discussion of all of the new features and details of the upcoming expansion, Destiny of Velious, and they transcribed their notes from the event. While the notes are a bit disjointed, they should give players quite a bit to look forward to and a number of tidbits to munch on. If there has to be a downside, it's likely the fact that the Othmir will not be added as a playable race -- in fact, no race will be added to the playable roster. But there's a lot for fans to mull over even with the questions that the team declined to answer. Most interesting is that the expansion's release will be split into two parts, with part two possibly coming via update rather than a separate release. There are also plans for flying mounts in every overland zone of the game, rather than the "some" that was announced earlier. EverQuest II players should promptly take a look at the latest news, as it's going to be an interesting ride.
PAX East 2010: City of Heroes panel reveals many things
Unpacking the City of Heroes panel at PAX East is a big deal: there were huge amounts of information being thrown around, and a lot of new pieces of information to process. For that matter, there was far more than anyone expected, with information about the full spread of new issues up to Issue 19 and the reveal of Matt "Positron" Miller's heretofore unrevealed new endgame system. The panel as a whole featured a huge breadth of information about the game from concept into the future, and was filled with people long before the official start time, with fans vocally professing their adoration for the team the whole way through. We had the good fortune to be front and center at the theatre, and once we started taking notes we didn't really stop until the event was over. At the panel were lead designer Melissa Bianco, former lead designer and current lead system designer Matt Miller, art lead David Nakayama, and development producer Jesse Caceres. They opened off with a discussion of the game's history from launch back in 2004 to the present. The changeover from Cryptic to Paragon Studios was discussed in brief, mentioning that four of the major launch employees (Miller, Bianco, CW Bennet, and Brian Clayton) were still with Paragon even after the change.
IgroMir 2009: Cataclysm panel recaps
I touched on Blizzard's presence at IgroMir 2009, sort of the Russian E3, a bit previously, specifically about J. Allen Brack's panel regarding guild progression and leveling in Cataclysm. Of course, I had to Google-translate the panel from Russian (nyet, I do not know Russian, comrades), and not everything Blizzard-related from the whole convention was in the recaps I read. Thankfully, Blizzard themselves have released their own recaps of the Cataclysm panel. In his talk, Brack discussed rated battlegrounds, Tol Barad (briefly), and guild progression. It turns out that I was pretty thorough in the guild leveling post, but here's the stuff I didn't cover: Rated Battlegrounds will be an alternative way to gain Arena points for those who prefer large-scale PVP. Your personal rating gain for a win will vary depending on the specific Battleground. There'll be featured Battlegrounds each week with bonus rating gain for wins. You will not lose points or rating for a Battleground loss. Arena points can be used to purchase pets, mounts, vanity items, and perhaps best of all, the old honor system PVP titles like Grand Marshal. Tol Barad will provide bonus daily quests and instances for the faction that wins the battle for the zone, somewhat like, as Brack put it, a cross between the Isle of Quel'Danas and Lake Wintergrasp. You can check out our previous IgroMir post here, or read Blizzard's official recap on their IgroMir site. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
PAX 2009: ArenaNet offers a variety of videos for fans at home
While we've brought you all manner of tasty insights and asides into what happened at PAX 2009 this year, there's something to be said for being able to catch the panels yourself. Knowing full well that their fans were going to go completely berserk when they heard all the juicy details about Guild Wars 2, ArenaNet has gone to great lengths to make sure to record all of their panels at PAX 2009 for you to check out. How awesome is that? The topics for this year were two completely different question and answer panels on the Art of Guild Wars 2, an insightful talk with the Guild Wars Live team who currently take care of the game, and a really interesting panel on the Fall of Ascalon novel that will give us the backstory between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2. So if you weren't able to make it, be sure to check out the other half of the above lore video behind the jump, then head over to ArenaNet's official video channel to enjoy the rest!
Dragon*Con 2009: Massively is in the house!
It's that time of year again! For the next four days, the streets of Atlanta, GA will be transformed from a bustling downtown business center to prime acreage chock full of enormous nerd herds. With a handful of East coast writers, we here at Massively couldn't let all the geeky shenanigans - and MMO fun - go on without taking part. That's right, we have been invited back to participate for a third year as panelists and general party fiends at the MMO track. On site this year to take part in the fun are Colin Seraphina Brennan, Shawn Schuster, Elizabeth Harper for both Massively and our sister-site, WoW.com, and myself. When we're not lending our professional hands to various things, we'll be catching up with guests, attendees, and generally scouting for anything that might send gamer geek hearts fluttering.If you're also in Atlanta for this enormous pop-culture love-in and would like to catch up with the Massively crew, be sure to check out the listing behind the break for where we'll all be. Just remember there's tons of other great things going on for the MMO track, so be sure to check the pocket guide for a full schedule!
