Turbine-Inc
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DC's Infinite Crisis begins battle in beta this March
Infinite Crisis, developer Turbine's take on the multiplayer online battle arena genre featuring heroes and villains from the DC Universe, will launch its open beta on March 14. Turbine announced the upcoming PC title's open beta start date at an event yesterday, alongside reveals of three new characters: Green Arrow, Aquaman and Mecha Superman. Infinite Crisis is a free-to-play MOBA game, a genre that has exploded in the last few years with titles such as Riot's League of Legends and Valve's Dota 2. In the last ten to eleven months of development, Infinite Crisis content has drastically increased in size, Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel claims. "We now have three maps, three modes, a huge amount of different ways you can play the game. Twenty-seven characters and, in fact, we are adding a new character every three weeks." Steefel also outlined a plan to launch new costumes for existing characters every week.
Lord of the Rings Online dev diaries discuss new skirmishes
Turbine has given us a two-for-one deal today with the addition of two new dev diaries. The diaries -- from Turbine's Bob "Maurath" Hess and Joe "jwbarry" Barry -- detail two of the new skirmishes being introduced in Lord of the Rings Online's Update 3. The first skirmish, Attack at Dawn, takes place in the North Downs and sees players dealing with multiple different mechanics simultaneously. The second, The Icy Crevasse, is the first skirmish to take place in Forochel and is described by Barry as "a quick bite-sized romp," with the skirmish taking about 10 minutes to complete. It's truly an interesting look into not only what the skirmishes themselves entail but the design process that goes into bringing them to players on the live servers. Whether you play LotRO or you're just curious about the work and thought process that goes into these skirmishes, the diaries are certainly a must-read. If you're interested in gaining a new degree of respect for the effort that goes into the game, both dev diaries can be found on LotRO's official site.
Warner Bros. appoints Greg Ballard senior VP of 'Digital Games'
Warner Bros. has tapped former Glu Mobile president and CEO Greg Ballard to serve as its senior vice president of Digital Games. He will serve under Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, reporting to both division presidents. Ballard will be in charge of the company's broad digital distribution business as it pertains to PC, console, handheld and mobile games; online titles, including social games, owned and operated MMOs and "light persistent worlds"; and TV-delivered and on-demand streaming games. That leaves a lot to consider, but we'd be satisfied just to get a lot more Batman DLC for the next one. Make it happen, Ballard. Additionally, the new vee-pee will oversee Turbine, creator of The Lord of the Rings Online, and has been tasked with recruiting a new GM for the studio. Most recently, Ballard could be found in the cushy CEO chair of Transpera, a mobile video ad network. He's also held executive positions at Capcom and the now defunct Digital Pictures, developer of the famously "controversial" early '90s FMV classic, Night Trap. You know, the genre is making a comeback with iPhone ports ... Make it happen, Ballard.
Turbine hits $6.6m in $50m funding drive
According to news site Gamasutra, US MMO giant Turbine have secured $6.6m worth of investment in a drive where they aim to get $50m in venture capital. Turbine are synonymous with the paid-going-free-to-play title Dungeons and Dragons Online as well as the ever popular Lord of the Rings Online. They are also an independent company, which is where the investment side of things comes in, as in order to run the games they need the financial backing of other companies to survive. Given they are not a giant company like Blizzard Entertainment, it's an interesting glimpse into how the MMO industry can work. The info comes by way of an eleven page Form D (which you can read here) filed to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 10th. The document outlines info on the company, its director, their investors who include Highland Capital Partners, Tudor Ventures, Columbia Capital, and Granite Global Ventures and the amount of money involved. While the document is quite dry and filled with boring facts, it's good to know big businesses are acknowledging the roles MMOs have and how this is affected by their increasing mainstream popularity.
Turbine is seeking new headquarters and additional developer talent
Turbine Entertainment, the creators of MMO titles Asheron's Call, Dungons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online landed $40 million dollars in investment a few months ago. Speculation has run rampant on what console MMOG the company is developing, but now we know where some of that 40 million is being spent. The Boston Globe is reporting potential tax breaks for video-game development studios based in Massachusetts and spoke with Turbine chief financial officer, Peter Faubert regarding the proposed legislation. Game development is booming in Massachusetts and it turns out Turbine is looking for a new headquarters in the Boston area since they have outgrown their studios in Westwood. Faubert goes on to say that Turbine plans to add an additional 100 staff to Turbine's burgeoning ranks by the end of 2009. Many employment opportunities are available on the official Turbine INC. website, but any indication on the specifics regarding a new project is cleverly kept covert.
