action-mmo
Latest
Year One: A look back at DCUO on its first anniversary
Given the popularity of Batman, Superman, and the rest of the DC Comics license, you'd think an MMO based in and around Gotham City and Metropolis would be nothing short of wildly successful. If anything, though, DC Universe Online (as well as dearly departed Sony Online Entertainment titles like Star Wars Galaxies and The Matrix Online) has proved that big-name IPs are not a surefire recipe for an MMO blockbuster. While DCUO has picked up a head of steam over the past couple of months, it took a free-to-play business model conversion to help the superhero title achieve success in its rookie year.
Wargaming.net talks World of Warplanes features and functionality
Wargaming.net has published some new World of Warplanes info in part three of its ongoing community question-and-answer series. The free-to-play World War II aviation title is shaping up to be an action-heavy game with a casual playstyle that is similar to World of Tanks. Over the course of 30 questions, Wargaming.net covers a lot ground including joystick controls (available but not required), cockpit views (not available), and airborne vs. ground spawn points. "Aircraft will be spawned in the air at the beginning of the battle. As an option, you will be able to land the aircraft at the end of the battle and a successful landing will give you additional experience. An unsuccessful landing will break the plane and will [incur repair costs]," according to a post on the official WoWP forums.
Win free Steam games with Spiral Knights and Rusty Hearts
If you've been checking out this year's Christmas Steam sales, you'll undoubtedly have seen the Great Gift Pile giveaway. By completing various game achievements and objectives, Steam users unlock prizes that can be anything from a lump of coal to discount vouchers or even a full copy of any game on Steam. There are reports of people winning massive prizes like Skyrim or the Valve complete pack, and even if you just get a lump of coal, it's still a valuable prize; seven lumps can be exchanged for a new random prize, and those left over at the end of the holiday event will count as tickets in a lottery to win a copy of every single game on Steam. While many of the achievements require the purchase of cheap indie titles, there are several ways to get your hands on a gift from the great pile absolutely free. Checking your Steam inventory page and trading any item with another user will get you two free gifts, and joining the 2011 Holiday Group will net you a third. Two more prizes can be collected by completing the Son of a Nutcracker! achievement in Spiral Knights and the All I Want for Christmas is Sewers achievement in Rusty Hearts, both of which are free-to-play MMOs available through Steam. Skip past the cut for details on how to beat the Steam gift achievements for Spiral Knights and Rusty Hearts, including full walkthrough videos.
New SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online trailer shows off gameplay
If you're a fan of the Gundam franchise, you can definitely argue that the heart of the franchise has nothing to do with giant robots blowing one another up -- it focuses instead on the human impact of large-scale war. But if you're playing SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online, then yeah, it's all about giant robots blowing one another up. And the new gameplay trailer embedded just past the break is meant to show off that focus to full effect. The game is quite fittingly action-based, and the trailer shows off several of the franchise's more iconic mecha in their SD form. Also shown off in full detail are the many, many ways for players to unleash rocket-powered death upon the poor cannon fodder Zakus wandering through the map, which is somewhere between endearing and almost mean. If you're looking forward to the game when it fully launches later this month, click on past the break to check out the trailer. [Source: OGPlanet press release]
Dragon Nest launches Theater of War update for PvP
At a glance, it might seem like PvP doesn't require as many updates as PvE -- after all, player conflict is providing most of the actual challenge, so updates are mostly just providing players new ways to take part in combat with one another. The newest Dragon Nest update, Theater of War, is all about precisely that, giving players new combat modes and match sizes to ensure that player combat stays lively. The new updates adds a 3v3 option to ladder matches, allowing smaller and more close-knit groups the option to take part in serious competition. There's also the addition of a free-for-all match type, with players able to take on everyone for supremacy. And then there's the new Protect Mode, challenging both sides to keep one player designated as the Captain alive while slaughtering the other side's similarly important Captain. Take a look at the trailer for the update just past the cut to give you an idea of what the modes will look like in play -- it's not new dungeons, but if you're fond of facing off against other players, it's even better.
Wargaming.net heading to G-Star 2011
Wargaming.net's assault on the global MMO scene continues this month as the development firm heads to Korea for Asia's largest gaming-related tradeshow. The folks who brought you World of Tanks (and who will shortly be bringing you World of Warplanes, World of Battleships, and World of post-apocalyptic Volkswagen Beetles with chainguns mounted on their hoods) are traveling to G-Star 2011 to promote the recently released World of Tanks Korean language pack. The team has also launched a promotional Korean website, and Wargaming.net seems intent on creating a large presence in the Asian gaming market for its free-to-play action MMO brands. "We've created a truly high-quality AAA title with World of Tanks [which is] already wildly successful in Russia and in the West," said Wargaming.net CEO Victor Kislyi via press release. "Now we are looking forward to promoting our product [in] the mature and competitive Korean market." [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
Vindictus EU updates with Lost Artifact episode
Vindictus may be a relatively new arrival on the European gaming scene, but Nexon is wasting no time updating the hack-and-slash game with a new episode. The Lost Artifact content pack comes loaded with a level cap increase, new bonus missions, and a new area called the Hilder Forest. Players will journey to the "icy caverns of Hoarfrost Depths and face fearsome foes," among them various Yeti clans, Formors, and new raid boss monsters. New skills are also the order of the day, and abilities like shield charge and reverse gravity are designed to decimate foes and add a bit of oomph to the game's combat visuals. Finally, new gameplay styles are coming to the EU client, and Hero Mode bumps up the difficulty level while Gauntlet Mode pits players against their "most dreaded enemies, one right after another." Surviving the gauntlet brings several rewards including a rare title. More info is available at the EU Vindictus website. If you're an American Vindictus player and all this is sounding a bit familiar, well, it should. The Lost Artifact update went live in the States back in February. [Source: Nexon press release] %Gallery-97587%
World of Tanks retail box coming to Europe in November
World of Tanks boxed editions landed in American brick-and-mortar stores last month, and a new press release indicates that European retailers are about to join the party. Deep Silver has secured the publishing rights to Wargaming.net's World War II-based action MMO, and the company will be bringing the game to the UK, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Benelux, and Nordic countries in short order. The package features the game itself plus bonus content in the form of in-game currency, premium account access, and a premium German tank. The World of Tanks box will cost £7.99 and is scheduled for a November 15th release. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
Firefall dev says new MMO shooter will transcend the 'circle of suck'
Red 5 Studios CEO Mark Kern has been around the game development block a time or two. With a resume that includes StarCraft, Diablo 2, Warcraft 3, and World of Warcraft, he's no stranger to successful multiplayer titles. So why is he heading up the development of Firefall, a free-to-play MMO/shooter hybrid that aims to stand genre convention on its head? Well, precisely because it aims to stand genre convention on its head. "If I see another action MMO combat game with exclamation points over quest givers, I'm going to commit seppuku! We're pouring so much money [into] a very stale formula," he recently told PC Gamer. Previous attempts at blending MMO and shooter gameplay have resulted in what Kern colorfully terms the "circle of suck," but Firefall will break that mold due to its unique mind meld of both genres. "Let's get the shooting right, and selectively add in the MMO elements. Let's take the idea of open world sandbox play and feature hundreds of players instead of four- or eight-player co-op. Let's take towns, crafting, and resources and combine it all together. And that group would be a much more fun game when we started playing it than anything we'd tried before," Kern says.
Perfect World Entertainment announces War of the Immortals
If you're a fan of Perfect World Entertainment's library of games, odds are good that you've been battling against immortals for some time now. But that's being ratcheted up several steps to full-fledged war. All right, War of the Immortals isn't exactly a direct extension of Battle of the Immortals, but the upcoming action MMO certainly has some connections to the older title. Nevertheless, it's still worth a look from fans of the genre, especially with its closed beta starting on October 25th. War of the Immortals promises guild housing and territory control as players engage in battle against both enemies and one another. Players can choose between eight different classes, with each class linked to a unique set of "soul gear" that advance as the individual character progresses through the game. If it sounds up your alley, you might want to check out the announcement trailer embedded just after the cut. [Source: PWE press release]
Spiral Knights adds spooky Candlestick Keep content
If you thought steampunk couldn't mate with adorkable, think again. Spiral Knights, Three Rings' lobby-based action-MMO, delivers both in the consummate concoction of clockwork and cute, and the company recently launched an update bringing new dungeon content to the game. The haunted Candlestick Keep, "all that remains of the once prosperous Owlite Academy," is crawling with undead monsters like Grimalkins, but fortunately, players can make use of colored ward candles to protect them from spookats and open pesky locked doors. The update also adds challenging new Danger Rooms, a revamped Crash Site, and cash shop tweaks. Our own free-to-play guru Beau Hindman took a stroll through the game way back in March, deeming it "repetitive but really fun." It is currently available for download on the official site and as part of Steam's F2P offerings.
Nexon Europe gearing up for Vindictus closed beta
Better late than never, right? That's what Nexon Europe is hoping its fans are saying about the late arrival of Vindictus. The free-to-play title launched in Korea in January 2010, then it took a bow in North America in October 2010, but the game is just now getting around to its European closed beta phase. The beta begins on September 15th, and testers will need a key to participate. Registration happens on the game's official website, and there's more info on the Vindictus Europe Facebook page as well. Nexon has also released a new trailer to mark the occasion -- view it after the break. [Source: Nexon Europe press release]
World of Tanks rumbles into retail stores
It's official: You can now purchase World of Tanks in a retail store near you. Wargaming.net has shipped boxes of its free-to-play World War II heavy armor MMO to stores, including GameStop, Wal-Mart, Fry's, and others, and the retail package comes loaded with $30 worth of in-game items. Players will receive a T2 light tank, one week's worth of premium account access, 1,050,000 credits, and 1,800 gold -- all for $19.99. If you can't make it out to your local games dealer, you'll find the World of Tanks retail box for sale at many online stores as well, including Best Buy.com, New Egg, and Amazon.
TERA devs talk guild housing and more in Twitter chat
In case you missed it, En Masse is hosting a TERA production chat via Twitter on the third Friday of every month. The transcript of last Friday's session is now live on the official TERA website, and there were a few noteworthy nuggets dropped by producer Brian Knox and community manager Evan Berman during the course of the event. Among the interesting blurbs on display are the fact that guild housing is back on the dev team's radar, and the feature may yet make it into the game's spring 2012 launch. Also of note are a couple of general numbers relating to the size of the dev team (70 at En Masse and over 200 at Korea's Bluehole Studio, where the game is originating). Finally, there was a bit of a teaser for a big TERA-related announcement at next week's PAX community event, so keep your eyes and ears peeled!
Gamescom 2011: Wargaming.net reveals World of Battleships and World of Tanks trailers
Wargaming.net is having a busy Gamescom, as the company has not one, but three MMORPGs to hype. Yesterday we brought you a first look at World of Warplanes via an exclusive in-depth interview, and today we've got two new trailers for your perusal (one for World of Battleships and one for World of Tanks). World of Battleships is, of course, the newest thoroughbred in Wargaming.net's stable, and the Gamescom trailer is a high-quality affair that captures the heavy metal feel of the game and the awesome power inherent in the warships that players will be steering across the high seas. Unfortunately there's not a lot of gameplay footage (and what little there is is highly stylized and subjected to various video filters), so we'll have to wait for a followup clip to get a close look at visuals, game mechanics, and the like. The World of Tanks trailer is also heavy on the CG and features a series of violent vignettes designed to show off a few of the game's more noteworthy armored vehicles. You'll find both clips after the cut.
En Masse offers open house, hands-on with TERA at PAX Prime
En Masse Entertainment is throwing open its doors to the public during this year's Pax Prime, and if that doesn't excite you, maybe the chance to get your hands on TERA's latest build will. If you're going to be in the Seattle area on Saturday, August 27th from 6-10 p.m. EDT (3-7 p.m. PDT) and you'd like to attend, send an email to community@enmasse.com with your full name, TERA website user name, and birthdate. Fans will have the chance to share feedback with the production team after the hands-on period as well as attend a Q&A session with En Masse COO Patrick Wyatt. Full details are available at the official TERA website.
Massively Exclusive: Wargaming.net answers our World of Warplanes questions
Flight sim fans are abuzz over Wargaming.net's recent World of Warplanes announcement, and many are casting an expectant eye toward this year's Gamescom in Cologne, Germany. The reason? Wargaming.net is set to officially reveal the action MMO that features a large selection of aircraft from pre-World War II to the jet age. Today we're pleased to bring you an exclusive interview with Wargaming.net project manager Alexander Zezulin, so join us after the cut for loads of details on the game, including the debut trailer from Gamescom. Much like its World of Tanks predecessor, World of Warplanes looks to make squad-based vehicular combat more accessible to a wide audience while maintaining a sense of historical accuracy when it comes to said vehicles. %Gallery-130862%
New Bounty Hounds Online trailer shows off man versus machine
If you're not one of the lucky people who got in to our Bounty Hounds Online beta giveaway, you might be sitting around wishing for another dose of the game's visual style. It's certainly a rarity to see the sort of heavily mechanized futuristic setting that the game puts forth, after all. But you're in luck -- there's a new trailer available that shows off more of the gameplay as well as several of the game's mechanized companions. Highlighting several mercenaries going toe-to-toe with an enormous walking tank, the trailer shows off some of the game's promised action and versatility, complete with transforming animal companions and a whole lot of firepower. Players will be taking part in the clean-up operation on a planet at the heart of an interstellar war, with other mercenaries acting as simultaneous allies and threats. Check the trailer just past the break for a fresh helping of science fiction action in all its screaming explosive glory.
World of Warplanes classes and website announced, first screenshots glimpsed
Wargaming.net has taken the wraps off its World of Warplanes web presence, and the accompanying press release reveals a bit more about the upcoming World War II-based MMORPG. The blurb refers to the game as a "flight combat action" MMO, conspicuously avoiding the flight sim phrase and indicating that the aviation title will follow in the footsteps of its ground-based World of Tanks counterpart. The press info also says that World of Warplanes will feature three warplane classes: single-engine light fighters, heavy fighters with "deadly straight attacks," and strafing aircraft for ground assaults. The new site also features the first in-game screenshots, and you can look forward to Massively's exclusive in-depth interview with Wargaming.net later this month as the title is revealed at Gamescom.
Rumor: TERA's Korean development director resigns
If the rumors are true (and we'd like to stress that these are simply rumors as of press time), Bluehole Studio is undergoing something of a shakeup following the less-than-stellar showing of its TERA MMORPG in Korea. Hyun-Kyu Park, TERA's executive director, has reportedly left the development firm due to an as-yet undetermined internal conflict. Our sources in Korea tell us that Park locked horns with other senior Bluehole executives due to his desire to postpone the game's open beta earlier this year. At the time, Park stepped down from his role as TERA's chief producer to become a producer on a forthcoming Bluehole title but is now rumored to have left the firm entirely. TERA launched in Korea on January 25th and Bluehole began merging servers earlier this summer. Massively has contacted En Masse Entertainment, TERA's North American publisher, and is awaiting a response.
