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Inferno Legend begins closed beta on December 10th
Chinese developer Gamebox announced that its upcoming "reverse Diablo" MMO Inferno Legend will be going into closed beta testing on December 10th. The company said that it was inspired by the movie Avatar in the creation of Inferno Legend's air island world. Players will explore these islands brick by hexagonal brick, finding out what's on each when they step on them. The unpredictability that each brick brings, from a battle event to a treasure boon, is what Gearbox hopes will intrigue players. Inferno Legend has five classes: Vampire, Cyclops, Ghost Knight, Fairy, and Mummy. Battles take their visual cues from the comic books, and there's a demon summoning system that gives alternate skills and buffs for players foolish enough to toy with the underworld. You can check out the preview video of Inferno Legend after the break. [Source: Gamebox press release]
You asked, ZeniMax answered: Another TESO AMA is here
The folks at ZeniMax Online have posted another edition of their Elder Scrolls Online Ask Us Anything blog feature, this one tackling topics from equipment progression to lycanthropy. Information revealed in the post? Gear will not level, skills will morph only one time, campaigns last for three months and have persistent consequences, guild stores will be accessible by players of the same alliance, and book/chest spawns have some elements of randomness. The ZeniMax team also dodged hard answers on a couple of questions. According to the post, veteran system rewards may or may not remain cosmetic-only and players who become werewolves or vampires may or may not be able to cure themselves and switch sides. Make of that what you will.
Chaos Theory: The Secret World's Transylvania transition
A couple of weeks ago, I finished my first "playthrough" of The Secret World, having wrapped up the last quest and main storyline in Transylvania. Oh, sure, Funcom's going to push the finish line further away in the coming issues, but until that happens, this is the end of the road for the solo experience. I was so darn eager to get into Transylvania after Egypt. For me, Egypt is the weakest part of the solo game, with dull desert zones, statues you're supposed to empathize with, and a truncated main story that didn't really pay off in the end. It wasn't all bad, of course; Last Train to Cairo is six kinds of awesome, and Said and Nassir are two of the most memorable characters this game has produced. But Transylvania seemed like this juicy fruit that hovered just out of reach the entire time I was in Egypt -- and I couldn't wait to be there. I wasn't let down when I finally arrived, either. Transylvania's "old Europe" charm felt like a refreshingly distinct experience than what I'd encountered before, and I thoroughly enjoyed my journey through its three zones. Before my new Dragon alt dims my memories of my time among the bats and wolves of Romania, I wanted to jot down what I felt made this a special place to visit.
CCP taps EA's Sean Decker as new VP of product development
Big changes from Iceland today, as CCP announced that it has brought on Sean Decker as senior vice president of product development. Decker is a 12-year EA veteran and recently headed the publisher's free-to-play focused games group, along with previously overseeing DICE and EA Los Angeles. EVE Online, as crazy as it sounds, is entering its second decade of being a game about internet spaceships, and CCP is looking toward the future. The company referenced Decker's extensive industry experience as a valuable asset in helping guide EVE Online through its next 10 years and in ensuring growth through the eventually-maybe launch of World of Darkness and the expansion of DUST 514. Decker will be based out of CCP's Atlanta studio. Massively's Brendan Drain spoke with Decker and EVE's Hilmar Petursson at a press event yesterday. We'll have more information on how the new hire will impact EVE this afternoon! [Source: CCP press release]
AT&T to carry Samsung Galaxy S 4 in Aurora Red on June 14th
Looks like there are more smartphone-loving vampires than we first thought. Following Samsung's plans to offer the Galaxy S 4 in multiple new colors, AT&T has scored a US exclusive for the smartphone in a very distinctive Aurora Red. The crimson-hued Life Companion will be available for pre-order on May 24th, with retail stores getting their supply on June 14th. The lone disappointment is the capacity: AT&T is only offering red for the 16GB, $200 model. Still, we're happy that we won't have to wait for the Galaxy S 4 Active just to get a Samsung flagship in a livelier color.
World of Darkness 'years away' from launch
If you are hanging your hopes and dreams on World of Darkness coming along to rescue you from the humdrum of life and your precious mortality, well... be prepared to settle in for a good long wait. Executive Producer Chris McDonough said in an interview that the title is still in pre-production and that players shouldn't expect to see it for a few years yet. However, CCP did show a few technical videos to the press to assure folks that the game is still alive. McDonough did have good news to share, however. World of Darkness has a 70-person crew that is currently building the framework for the title, and according to the producer, they are "making phenomenal progress." The team plans to host the entire game on a single server where active combat and politicking between vampires will be the crux of the content. "We're making sure this is a next-generation MMO. It's very focused on movement and motion and capturing what it's like to be a vampire," he said. "People ask about our high level designs for World of Darkness, and we've called this a vampire simulator. What's it like to be a vampire. Not a superhero, but a super-powered individual. The way the characters move around the city feels very vampiric."
The Queue: Subscriptions, corruption, and vampire
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. "I am nowhere. I am everywhere. I am the watcher, unseen." Don't kill me if the elf in the picture above doesn't match the quote. You elf-vampires all look the same to me. ATreck1937 asked: Why doesn't Blizzard pick a different venue for Blizzcon? One that could accommodate a lot more people. It's more than obvious that they have the fan base to support it, given how quickly all the Blizzcon tickets sell out every time.
Make your EVE Fanfest plans with the official program
EVE Fanfest is next week and the faithful are preparing to descend upon Reykjavik, Iceland, for the three-day convention. If you're one of the travelers who are heading there or are just looking to follow along on livestream, CCP has released the full program with the event's schedule. Fanfest will have three keynotes about the past, present, and future of CCP's titles, respectively. There will also be several panels, including one discussing EVE Online's inclusion in the New York Museum of Modern Art. EVE Online also released a new dev blog talking about the team's war on unauthorized client modification and violations of the EULA. Apparently CCP has taken additional steps to beef up detection and prevention, and the team wanted to be clear with players as to what is and is not allowed.
EVE Evolved: Massively's plans for EVE Fanfest 2013
There's just over a week to go until EVE Online's massive tenth anniversary Fanfest, and you'll be pleased to hear that Massively will be there this year to cover the action! CCP is aiming to make this the biggest Fanfest yet, promising huge reveals and announcements about EVE's summer Odyssey expansion and beyond. We can also expect to hear some big news about upcoming console MMOFPS DUST 514, and fans of Vampire: The Masquerade will undoubtedly get to see some of the year's progress toward making the World of Darkness MMO a reality. Tickets to this year's Fanfest sold out in record time, so many players who really wanted to be there for EVE's tenth anniversary celebration weren't able to secure a spot. CCP is running its usual livestream of the main talks for those not in attendance, but only certain parts of the event are being streamed. Here at Massively, we plan to give you an inside look at Fanfest with ongoing news coverage from April 25th to April 27th and in-depth opinion pieces on what each announcement means for players. In this week's short and sweet EVE Evolved, I lay out Massively's plans for in-depth coverage of EVE Fanfest 2013 and ask what you'd like to see reported on.
The Elder Scrolls Online's gameplay and mechanics video
Can't get enough coverage of The Elder Scrolls Online? Did yesterday's hands-on and interview with Paul Sage leave you craving more? We've got you covered with some in-game video footage and a dash of extra details -- narrated by me! -- from my recent trip to ZeniMax Online Studios. Learn about the design philosophy behind ESO as well as some details about synergies, finesse, and character progression. There are also tiny bits of information regarding mounts and vampire skills. Is your curiosity sufficiently piqued? Let me tell you all about it after the break!
The vampires of Moonlight Online: Global come out March 21st
If you've got a thirst for a vampire-themed MMO, you're in luck. Starting at 9:30 p.m. EDT on March 21st, you can sink your teeth into Moonlight Online: Global, a new free-to-play game by IGG (which incidentally also made Angels Online). And if you just so happen to be a Twilight fan as well, you're in double-luck: The studio promises players the chance to create their own version of the cast to recreate and live the story themselves. Can't wait until tomorrow? Then jump on over to the official site, where four different forum events are going on, each offering the chance for prizes such as a newbie gift pack in game, superior weapons, and points. You can try your hand at Lucky Treasure Box, Counting Numbers, Sign Up for Snowballs, and Screen Grab Characters. [Source: IGG press release]
CCP employees 'losing themselves' in World of Darkness playtests
CCP's MMOification of the beloved World of Darkness IP is still a thing, apparently. CEO Hilmar Petursson tells Eurogamer that a "tiny" glimpse of the horror-themed sandbox will show its pasty white face at this April's EVE Online Fanfest. "We're playing it internally at CCP. It's actually a problem that some of our employees are losing themselves already in the World of Darkness as we go through the playtests," Petursson said. "And we'll be showing a tiny piece of that also at Fanfest. So that is all I have to say about that at this time."
EVE Evolved: Looking back at previous Fanfests
The annual EVE Online Fanfest is a massive event that brings together players from across the world to discuss the serious business of internet spaceships. It's three days of in-depth developer talks, sneak previews of what's to come, and roundtable events that let players discuss their ideas and feedback directly with developers. The EVE communty may not be as large as the community of games like World of Warcraft, but thousands of players pay a considerable sum of money each year to fly to the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik for the event. Fanfest started out as a very small and personal affair with just a few dozen people in attendance, but it's grown to absolutely massive proportions in recent years. This year's event promises to be bigger than ever as it will be celebrating EVE Online's 10th anniversary and the impending release of CCP Games' MMOFPS DUST 514. It's a special milestone for CCP and EVE fans alike, and tickets for the event have already sold out! If you didn't manage to snag a ticket, you should still be able to enjoy parts of Fanfest as key talks and events will likely be streamed live as in previous years and videos will be uploaded after the convention. In this week's EVE Evolved, I look back at the highlights of the past two EVE Fanfests and the social aspect that makes it one of the best experiences and EVE player can have.
EVE Evolved: Has EVE Online boxed itself in?
When I was first introduced to EVE Online in 2004, it was an empty shell of a game. There were only three classes of ship, no alliances or starbases, and neither exploration complexes nor level 4 missions existed yet. EVE consisted of 5,000 systems of almost completely empty space populated by less than 50,000 players. The user interface was an order of magnitude worse than it is today (if you can imagine that), and the tutorial just dropped you in the middle of space with the ship equivalent of a pea shooter and a less-than-enthusiastic "good luck!" Though much of the game was empty, it sat before players like a blank galactic canvas. Not only could players paint their own stories into the game world, but EVE's highly active development team was updating the game at lightning speed. Players instinctively filled the voids in the game with their hopes and dreams, projecting all the things that EVE could be into the gaps. People shared ideas on the forum directly with the developers, and practically anything was possible. Things aren't quite the same today, as new ideas have to be compatible with over nine years' worth of updates, and developer CCP Games really can't afford to rock the boat and potentially lose subscriptions. In this week's EVE Evolved, I consider whether the past nine years of development has boxed EVE in, forcing the gameplay down an ever-narrowing branch of choices.
CCP wins Best Indie Studio award at Develop
CCP took home some hardware at last night's Develop 2012 awards ceremony. The indie outfit responsible for EVE Online and DUST 514 was recognized as the best independent studio in the biz. CCP CEO Hilmar Petursson accepted the award on behalf of the company and thanked Develop and his industry peers in the process. He also hinted at CCP's full plate, which includes the launch of DUST on the PlayStation 3, the 10th anniversary of EVE, and a World of Darkness event scheduled for September in Atlanta. [Source: CCP press release]
Dark Legends levels up its vamps, grants them allies
A vampire's life isn't just about torrid teen romance and counting from one to 10; it's a full-time career to battle back the other forces of the night and keep all of the goodies to yourself. Fortunately, Spacetime Studios is helping out the fanged population by increasing the level cap in Dark Legends to 26 and removing the energy requirement for 3-D missions. Dark Legends' most recent update doesn't just stop there. The game now has two additional campaigns, a cool flame aura for level 23-plus characters, and nightly rewards for regular players. Spacetime's added an allies system to the game as well. Allies are computer companions that are unlocked during the campaign. These characters can then be ordered to do one of three different jobs, each of which has a time requirement and a reward attached. Jobs do need to be collected by players within a certain window, otherwise some of the reward will be taken away.
World of Darkness information revealed in open letter to fans
Outside of confirmation that CCP Games is still working on World of Darkness, news on the game has been hard to come by. Some of the reasons behind that were revealed by senior producer Chris McDonough in a recent letter to members of the Mind's Eye Society, a fan group devoted to the tabletop and LARP games in the same IP. While the focus in the letter was not on the MMO, McDonough did still discuss the state of CCP as a company and what it means for the game. In short, after a difficult financial year, CCP is devoting the lion's share of its resources to ensuring that DUST 514 is a successful game on launch. That doesn't mean that World of Darkness is being shelved -- McDonough stresses that development is still ongoing -- but it does mean that the company's first priority is elsewhere. How long that will be the case remains to be seen, but if you're hoping for more substantial news on the game this year, the odds are low.
World of Darkness creative director talks design and the MMO mainstream
A new interview at Gamasutra posits that CCP is gunning for mainstream success with its upcoming World of Darkness MMO. The EVE Online developer has cornered what's left of the hardcore sandbox market, so now it's looking to marry EVE's emergent gameplay with more familiar MMO staples. "The way to drag people in will be traditional themepark-style PvE play. Once players get into the setting, they'll see the appeal of the sandbox play," says WoD creative director Reynir Hardarson. Despite the concessions to mainstream accessibility, EVE's influence on World of Darkness will be more than superficial. "The live-action roleplayers of the Vampire the Masquerade tabletop game play this way," Hardarson explains. "It's really about politics and power plays." Why don't more MMO developers try their hand at sandbox mechanics? Hardarson says designing for emergent play is difficult because you can't test it. It's worth it, though, because MMOs that hand-hold and limit players to a linear path miss the point. "I'm not a five-year-old. If I want to go in the cave and I want to die, that's my problem," Hardarson says.
Dark Legends aims to make your vampire sparkle with a weapon giveaway
We posted yesterday that Dark Legends, the latest in a line of F2P mobile and browser-friendly MMOs from Spacetime Studios, is now officially up and running on Android systems and Chrome browsers. Today, Spacetime has a present for all you would-be vampires out there: a pair of rockin' weapons called Devastation Maces. To grab yours, start up the game and either log into your existing account or create a new one. Make sure you're playing the character whom you want to receive the weapons because you can only grab these once per account! Zip through the tutorial missions and then head to the Spacetime Nexus from the main lobby screen. There, on the bottom right of your screen, you'll see a button for enterting a promo code. Enter the code massively20120410 and find your maces waiting for you in your character's inventory. The code has unlimited uses, so everyone who wants one can use it, but do note that it will expire eventually, so snag that gift sooner rather than later. Many thanks to Spacetime Studios -- have fun!
Dark Legends goes live for Android and Chrome
So you like vampires? It's kind of a thing these days. Maybe you like vampires so much that you really want to play around with some vampiric content on your mobile device. That's for the best, as Spacetime Studios has released Dark Legends today. Building off the success of the studio's previous mobile/browser titles (Pocket Legends and Star Legends), the newest game allows players to take on the role of a bloodsucking monster of the night. The game is currently available in the the Google Play Store and the Chrome app store; it won't be available in the iOS app store for a few more weeks. Like previous offerings, it's free-to-play, and you can log in from separate devices to play both on the road and at home. Unlike previous games, this one is definitely not aiming for the family market, being a fair bit more overtly violent and bloody. Still, if you feel the urge to rampage through dark alleys while you are walking through said alleys in real life, Dark Legends has you covered. [Update: We've clarified that the game is not yet available for Apple users. Sorry for the confusion!]
