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Gen Con 08: Turbine tells us what's in store for Asheron's Call
At Gen Con, we spoke with Turbine's Andy Cataldo, the Community Manager for Asheron's Call, about the future of this historic game. Cataldo told us a lot about AC's epic 100th update. The update is coming within the next few weeks, and it's a doozy. According to Cataldo, AC players will get a whole new faction system, three land areas to battle over, tons of new loot and spells, and various other improvements to the game, particularly to enemy AI.In addition to working its regular monthly event and patch schedule, Turbine is attempting to respond to player demand for a variety of new features in the 100th and all future updates. Particular emphasis is being placed on adding features common in modern MMOs, such as a quest tracking menu. AC has been around for almost ten years, so it has some catching up to do!Learn more about Turbine's big push to modernize the game, add lots of new content, and more in the interview after the break.
Gen Con 08: Turbine tells us what's in store for AC, Part 2
Given that the game has been around for so long, do you see this addition of modern MMO features as something that the player base is really clamoring for, or are you sort of scaling that against what other games have right now?Really, it's what the players are asking for. That's one of the things we pride ourselves on: listening to the players. Feedback and player concerns are very important to us.
Turbine announces player gathering at PAX
Now that the Penny Arcade Expo is right around the corner, we're hearing more and more about these after parties held by game developers. First there was the news of ArenaNet's party at Gameworks Seattle, right across the street from the Washington Convention Center, and now we get news of Turbine holding a party at the same location, the night before.The Turbine party will be from 7pm - 9pm local time on Friday, August 29th, 2008. Those in attendance will include Asheron's Call Producer Crowley, LotRO Executive Producer Nigellian, LotRO: Mines of Moria Producer Eldrad, the enigmatic Marketroid, Community Team members Patience and Frelorn, and more! %Gallery-18340%
Official Asheron's Call blog is nostalgic
Asheron's Call's 100th update is imminent, and to celebrate, Turbine has started a "Nostalgia Blog" in which old designers of the game reminisce about their experiences of elation and tribulation. The first entry is now live. It was written by Allan "Orion" Maki, who worked as a designer on nearly half of AC's content updates. He also wrote a huge chunk of the game's ongoing storyline. That storyline has been an important reason for people to keep on playing the game after all these years.In the blog, he describes his first, disaster-laden attempt at design, names his favorite characters and quests, and gushes compliments at AC, saying "you never forget your first love." Now he's working on The Lord of the Rings Online, but one senses that he won't forget his roots.
Asheron's Call July event date announced
There's nothing like waking up, experimenting with a little magic and unleashing a portal that connects to another world all before lunch. You quickly find out your new transit route is to a planet filled with vicious insect-like species that proceed to invade the world and annihilate civilization. Dereth, the world in Asheron's Call has never been the same since, and you can thank Asheron Realaidain for that genius. The adventures continue as Asheron's Call nears a milestone, the 100th content update is due out soon and the July event is scheduled to deploy Wednesday, July 23rd from 7am-2pm EDT. Big things are expected, details on the society systems emerged several days ago, and other details regarding loot and landscape hunting are also planned. There aren't 10 million people playing Asheron's Call, hell maybe the playerbase is in the mere hundreds. The fact that Turbine honors their commitment by continuing to release new content every month, and expand an ongoing storyline for almost a decade attests to their dedication and stalwartness to the Asheron's Call playerbase. No matter how many people are playing that's an amazing accomplishment. [Via Warcry]
Society system planned in 100th Asheron's Call content update
Early Asheron's Call adopters are quite accustomed to the epic storylines that unfolded in the world. Some endless sojourns taken through Asheron's Call are still legendary among players. It's a beloved game, and it will celebrate its 10 year anniversary next year. It's great to see the game reach a milestone in content updates, and the 100th content update is due out in the coming weeks. Since early-June, speculation and player expectations on what the update would include has run rampant, and now a factional system has been revealed!During the Grael story arc AC players were able to choose sides but the depth was superficial, there was no lasting impact on gameplay. With the new society system a depth exists, there is meaning and choices will matter. Players can choose from one of three societies: The Radiant Blood, The Celestial Hand, and The Eldrytch Web. You can speak to a Society recruited in Hebian-to, Cragstone or Zaikhal, and level 180 is required to join a Society. Membership doesn't come easy, players will undertake tasks to further their reputation in their chosen Society. The higher the rank the better the rewards like pulls from Level 8 loot chests and unique armor.
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.
Asheron's Call's June update arrives today with patch notes in tow
Today, Asheron's Call receives its monthly update and corresponding event for June. This time, the event is called "Introductions." According to the release notes, you'll have to complete last month's quest before you can take on the new one. If you haven't gotten around to it, don't fret; there are now two Jesters in the graveyard -- one for the previous quest, and one for the current.Other changes included in the release notes include minor equipment and quest tweaks, typo fixes, and other standard patch fare. It's not a big patch by any definition, but it's still good to see that Turbine continues to honor its commitment to support the game with new content every month.
Anti-Aliased: It will all be fine in ten minutes
Back in the day when a 500 Mhz processor was fast, we were lulled into these weird online universes with multitudes of golden tongued promises. "Play online with thousands of others!", "Make a hero and save detailed and vast worlds!", and, my favorite, "Live in an persistent universe where your actions will have long lasting effects!"Certainly, two of those promises have come true. Our worlds are traveled by thousands upon thousands of users daily, and the characters we have created are truly the stuff of legends who have saved these vast worlds countless times. But the one thing that has still eluded us all this time... persistence.The funny thing is, it's not because we can't program or realize persistence in our games. We have the technology and expertise to do that just fine. We don't have persistence because persistence isn't profitable.
Turbine honored in top private companies list
Turbine has announced today that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the OnHollywood 100 Top Private Companies. This list contains the top private emerging technology companies in digital entertainment and media. Turbine was handpicked by the AlwaysOn editorial team based on several criteria including innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz and investor value creation.To honor Turbine and the others on the OnHollywood 100 list, there will be an event held on June 10th-11th, 2008 at the Sofitel Hotel in West Hollywood, California. These companies on the list were selected from more than 1000 companies, peer-nominated by leading venture capitalists, investment bankers and industry analysts. Congratulations to all our friends at Turbine!
Turbine plotting something special for the 100th Asheron's Call patch
The forums depths of Asheron's Call have been churning and swirling of late, in a tizzy about the imminent arrival of the 100th patch to their beloved game. Asheron's Call has been around for some time now, released as it was back in 1999; it will be sharing its 10th anniversary with EverQuest next year. In the meantime, the Turbine developers are teasing and poking at the players, offering up some tasty hints about what might be in that next patch. Without a doubt, the patch will be building on the game's ongoing story; just last month the Introductions chapter of the game opened up some new game elements, storylines, and even rewards for patient players.Some of the hints the developers have dropped touch on treasure chest rewards, and the mechanics with the treasure system. They also have plans for a new landscape hunting quests. The most firm new information comes from Frelorn, with the AC community relations team, about an incoming tier of loot and its role in the landscape hunting game. Says he, "One of the ways we are looking at [adding this loot] is to use the Direland Champions mechanics. So that players who like to outdoor hunt would have a random chance of spawning a "Boss Creature" which would then either have this new profile or a key that would allow a pull on one of the new chests. This is of course, not set in stone, and we may go with another way of doing this, which we will explain when we begin releasing all of the information on the 100th update."
Time Warner Inc. invests in LOTRO developer Turbine
Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online developer, Turbine Inc., today announced its success in raising $40 million in equity financing. In addition to operating a particularly ruthless lemonade stand, Turbine secured the funds via new investors Time Warner Inc. and GGV Capital (formerly Granite Global Ventures). "Turbine has an extraordinary team, incredible technology and a growing portfolio of games based on some of the most popular brands ever created," said president and CEO of Turbine, Jim Crowley. "With this funding we are uniquely positioned to change the future of online entertainment as we bring new titles to market, expand the platforms we support and introduce new technologies to sustain self-evolving game worlds."New games and new technologies sound like responsible things to invest in, Mr. Crowley. Responsible, but boring. We would have gone for something like the world's biggest ice cream cake.
Player vs. Everything: Game-hopping like a madman
Chances are good that if you read Massively, you either currently play or have played multiple MMOGs in your life. Whatever your reasons are, you're one of those players for whom "MMO" is a genre instead of a game. Not all players are like this. A lot of players get their start somewhere and then stick to that game for years, denouncing all other games as being incapable of being better than their chosen virtual playground. I used to be like that with EverQuest (can you tell?). For four years I played it pretty much exclusively, not even trying other games. But eventually, I got bored. Thus started my lengthy and storied history of game-hopping. Traveling from world to world like some sort of virtual nomad, fueled by my love of the online massively multiplayer game, I sampled much of what the genre had to offer. While I eventually found a new home and anchor in World of Warcraft, it only served as a nice place to return to every few months. I still ventured out into each new and exciting world that various companies served up to me. They all had things I liked and didn't like about them, and I honestly have yet to play a game that I couldn't find something good to say about. Every online game has its own cool quirks that are pretty neat from a design standpoint. This is why it's tough to identify an objectively "best" game -- they're all so different! I thought today I'd talk a little bit about what I've played over the years and how I ended up with the many and varied opinions on the MMOG genre that I have.
Turbine lands a $40 million investment
The website Private Equity HUB is reporting on a big development for Turbine, the makers of MMO titles Asheron's Call, Dungons and Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online. The company has acquired a new investment of $40 million from Granite Global Ventures and several other previous investment groups. According to the site, this makes a total of $90 million at Turbine's disposal. The company has only 'pulled down' $25 million of that money.peHUB goes on to speculate that the company will soon be announcing some major shift in business strategy. It offers up the possibility that one or more of its games will be making the jump to a console platform. Another possible future for the company: mobile gaming somehow tuned to the MMO marketplace. Whatever the news, Turbine's strategy is expected to be unveiled within the next two weeks.[Via Gamasutra]
Turbine secures $40 million investment
MMO developer Turbine found its purse a bit heavier this week after securing a $40 million round of financing from a group of investors led by Granite Global Ventures, filling the Lord of the Rings Online creator's total venture capital money bin to around $90 million mark. According to a report by Private Equity Hub, the investment also saw Granite Global's managing partner Hani Nada take a seat on Turbine's board, presumably in order to make sure the money was put to good use and not slipped into the underwear of Elvish hookers after a night on the town. While we remain in the dark as to what exactly the studio will do with its newfound wealth, Turbine is expected to make an announcement regarding its future plans in the next two weeks. [Via GI.biz]
Turbine is selected as one of the northeast's top 100 companies
Turbine, the maker of MMOs Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Asheron's Call, has been honored in Boston, MA as one of the Northeast's Top 100 Companies. The requirements for selection granted over 500 companies a close look by the judges. This contest was not contained to MMOs or even computer games. This was a selection ranging from banks to investment firms. Each company "had to demonstrate leadership among their peers in the following areas: innovation, market opportunity, commercialization, media buzz, and stakeholder value creation." That certainly crosses the threshold of addicting the masses to gathering boar snouts all day!So, what did Turbine have to do to receive this honor? Obviously more than just designing online worlds; they had to prove they were worth their two cents on the market as well. Turbine managed to pull it off and CEO Jim Crowley made was happy to accept the honors. He remarked, "We are honored to be selected as one of the top 100 companies in the Northeast as it is a real validation of our success to date and of our strategy moving forward as we expand our product portfolio and our geographic footprint." Turbine's claims of running the number two MMO in the western market certainly seems more justified in this light. Receiving a top 100 award is a noteworthy accomplishment for a designer of MMOs. Tip of the hat, folks.
Doctor clarifies MMO addiction study
We've all heard the warnings before: If you keep playing those MMOs, you'll become addicted, or WoW players live in their parents' basement, never to see the light of day, or you'll shoot your eye out, or you'll grow hair on your palms. Many people proclaim to know what's best for everyone else, but recently a study by Dr. John Carlton of England's University of Bolton declared a similarity between MMO players (playing Asheron's Call) and traits common among people with Asperger's syndrome. In many media interpretations of this research, Dr Carlton's true findings were misconstrued.So in a recent article at GameSpot, Dr. Carlton set the record straight. He explained that there are different levels of gaming "interest". There's a fine line though between the highly engaged and the addicted gamer. He goes on to clarify certain issues that were overlooked in previous news stories on this topic, including the fact that of the 391 people tested for this study, none were actually classified as having Asperger's syndrome. It seems the bottom line in his clarification is that more research would be needed to specifically say one way or another if MMOs actually cause addiction.
The Daily Grind: Will your MMO still be here in 2009?
Nothing lasts forever. MMO's come and go, business plans succeed and fail, and sometimes the best will in the world keeps bleeding cash. MMOs and virtual worlds cost a bundle in power and bandwidth to operate and (for decent customer service, GMs, admins and billing) can cost even more in staffing (hint: That's why a lot of operators keep the staff counts down). All the while the developer/operator is trying to keep the cash-burn rate down and recover the costs of the game, in the hope of breaking even before the money runs out. Asheron's Call 2, Auto Assault, Saga of Ryzom, Earth and Beyond, and more are gone. Sometimes subscriptions never quite rise high enough for the long-tail model to be sustainable for an MMO. Do you think your online world will still be here this time next year as the end of Q1 2009 rolls around?
Ask Massively: Putting the "emo" in em-em-o
Ladies and gentlemen (both of you) and all the rest of you hooligans out there, it is time, once again, to probe into the mind of the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-too-willing-to-make-it-up -as-he-goes-along Swami of MMO arcana in this week's "Ask Massively." In this column, you will not find the words "World of Warcraft" or "Second Life" outside of the confines of this paragraph. By the way, to those of you, and there were many, who asked "Why does Massively talk about Second Life so much when it isn't an MMO?" I have three words for you: Twelve million users. Any game that has so many accounts attached to it, whether or not it fits the standard mold of an MMO, qualifies as "Massive" and I daresay that there is more roleplaying going on in SL than there is in WoW. Now that we have that out of the way, I promise that there will be no further mention of those games after the jump.As always, if you would like to have your question answered for all the online world to see, feel free to post a comment at the end of this article, or stop by our tipline and let us know what's on your mind.
Massively's Massive Giveaways: Turbine winners!
Ah, Turbine. The MMO company that has the titles that make lore-lovers and tabletop players happy. For those of you who were around in the earliest days here at Massively, you'll be glad to know that we've finally gotten all responses back from our Turbine contests, and are pleased to be able to announce the winners in our Turbine giveaways! Each of the following folks won the goodies noted next to their names: A copy of Lord of the Rings Online went out to both TypicalJeff and Red Graz1026 and Gemki both landed copies of Dungeons & Dragons Online Jan and erthwjim got a copy of Asheron's Call each. Lord of the Ming and Robert H. managed to score fantastic Turbine t-shirts TypicalJeff got the love of the random number generator and landed a copy of the LotRO game guide to go along with the copy of the game he got. (See? you should enter every time! You never know what will happen.) Reverseshoe made off like a mad bandit, winning the highly coveted Lifetime LotRO subscription we were giving away! A hearty congrats to all of our winners, and a reminder to everyone to be sure and white-list both massively.com and weblogsinc.com so you don't miss out on prize mails! There's nothing quite as disappointing as realizing too late that you missed a prize mail, and thus missed a killer prize. Don't let it be you!
