apocalypse
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The Digital Continuum: Zombies, zombies, zombies
I firmly believe persistent online games have a lot more to offer, and every so often that fact rises up to the front of my thoughts by games like Resident Evil 5. If a cooperative and ostensibly zombie game can exist, then why not a massively version? Let me present to you, the reader, my vision of a game that could quite feasibly exist in just four or five years time:The zombie apocalypse MMO.
Apocalypse Soon: Tabula Rasa going out with a bang
It seems that NCsoft will be ushering the fairly unsuccessful Tabula Rasa off this mortal coil in a somewhat unorthodox, yet completely awesome fashion. Soon-to-be-retired players won't be popping champagne and mingling during tomorrow's server shut-off festivities -- no, they'll be pushing back one last onrush of bloodthirsty Bane combatants in a cataclysmic event that will likely see the annihilation of every living thing, ever. Players were warned in an in-character message on the Tabula Rasa site that should their defenses crumble during the Bane's final onslaught, humanity will turn to its ominous-sounding "last resort weapon," which will ensure the complete destruction of both sides of the conflict. The missive's reasoning was concise -- "if it is truly our destiny to be destroyed," it explains, "we are taking them all with us." Tabula Rasa may have not made a flashy arrival onto the MMO scene, but it sounds like NCsoft is making sure it has one hell of a departure.
First sign of the Apocalypse: Atari made profit in Q1
Grab the kids and run for the countryside, perennial loser Atari made a profit last quarter! GameDaily reports that it's nothing huge, but the company's $3.5 million profit in Q1 is quite the departure from the $11.9 million loss the same time last year. Alone in the Dark, which shipped 1.2 million copies this quarter, was apparently a strong contributor to the happy times.Considering Atari didn't have any huge reveals at E3, it appears its projections for AitD's success need to be maintained for the rest of the fiscal year. It's good to see Harrison et al. have the old girl up and walking again. Now let's see if they can avoid a relapse into fiscal floundering.
Zombie Apocalypse coming to City of Heroes
Yesterday, the City of Heroes test server was host to a terrible event. In one city zone after another, both in Paragon and the Rogue Isles, the dead rose to devour the living. The skies turned blood red, and hordes of the undead clawed their way up from the ground in an apocalypse not seen since the days of the Rikti invasions. Like the Rikti, these horrors attacked anyone in an exposed space, and had no level tag, meaning any character could engage them.The Zombie Apocalypse is coming to CoX in Halloween, where it will form part of the special event celebrations, along with the trick-or-treating that has taken place in previous years.Yesterday's trial run was a huge success, with players all over the city converging to hold back the undead. Even the signature hero Positron, along with NCsoft personnel Lighthouse and Niviene, pitched in to battle the hordes.
Bethesda to host post-apocalyptic film festival in August
Fallout 3 developer Bethesda announced via press release that it is hosting (alongside American Cinematheque and Geek Monthly) a post-apocalyptic film festival in honor of the upcoming game. The two night even starts Friday, August 22 at Aero Theater in Santa Monica, CA.Three films will be shown each night. For Friday, August 22: Wizards, Damnation Alley, A Boy and His Dog. For Saturday, August 23 (The Last Man on Earth, The Omega Man, Twelve Monkeys), both nights starting at 7:00 pm. We think they're missing a few good choices -- namely, Six String Samurai, Mad Max and The Adventures of Pluto Nash. The real kicker is a "special Fallout 3 giveaway" for every attendee. We're expecting a poster or tote bag, but who knows? Maybe Bethesda is offering free Rad Away for all. Tickets go on sale July 25.
PS3 outsold Wii in Japan last week
Quick, grab your loved ones and head to that bomb shelter you built in the backyard just for such an occasion. (Apartment dwellers, find a local church or Wal-Mart and get nestled in.) Sony's PlayStation 3, after seeing its ego deflated a few weeks back when the Xbox 360 trumped it, has leapfrogged into third place for last week's hardware sales in Japan, dropping Wii to a meager fourth place by a margin of approximately 21,000 units (55,924 vs. 34,546).In its acceptance speech, Sony thanked the newly-released 40GB model and assured the attending audience that upon arrival the Four Horseman will no doubt hail the PS3 as their console of choice.But wait! Perhaps we spoke to hastily about this being a sign of imminent apocalypse. The Xbox 360 has moved back to its normal slot, between the PS2 and Game Boy Micro. "Phew," you say as you wipe the sweat from your brow, "that was a close one." Those with an ever-vigilant and watchful eye should look out for the following scenario: PlayStation 3 beating Wii Xbox 360 beating PS3 (and therefore, by chain rule transitive property, the Wii as well) Nintendo DS in any position other than first We have averted crisis thrice before today's scare, although the occurrences have happened more frequently as of late. We'll have more information later today.[Image credit: roland]
Fallout 3 teaser site, forums open
Bethesda has launched a teaser site for their current project, Fallout 3. The website is essentially an enlarged version of the adjacent picture, which was unveiled at E3 last year, and a link to the developer's forums pages.Bethesda has additionally opened forums specifically for the impending sequel and the original two Fallout titles, the rights of which they recently bought from Interplay for reportedly $5.75 million.Let's take a moment to reflect on Fallout 3's current situation. As Tycho from Penny Arcade notes, no one knows what exactly Bethesda will do with the franchise, and since they are their own publisher, they can choose to wait and show material from the game whenever they feel its ready. And that could be years.
World's first specialty robot store opening in Japan
Mark the month of October 2006 in your calendar of the apocalypse folks. Some bright-spark in Japan thought it'd be just swell to bring 1,000 of the world's robots together under the guise of the world's first robot store and museum. Of course, our enlightened readership already understands the inherent dangers of bringing these soulless, self-replicating hominoids capable of postulating on our war mongering ways under a common roof. Alone in the wee after-store hours, it's just a matter of time until the more adept of the lot stumbles upon the proper wiring sequence for consciousness. Oh Andrew McCarthy, only your mysterious powers can save us from the grey goo now!
Apocalyptic Auto Assault competition
Are you prepared for an apocalypse? That's the question asked by this promotional site for upcoming car-combat MMO Auto Assault, and like other promotions before it, there's a competition involved. By taking photos or video of your apocalypse prevention methods, you could win copies of the game and 6-month subscriptions.Hopefully there will be a gallery of submissions available later, to demonstrate whether this attempt at viral marketing works or not. It's an interesting premise, but the disaster-prevention-spoof theme might prove too realistic for some people.[Via Broken Toys]
