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The Mog Log: Final Fantasy XIV's post-fanfest shakedown
So Final Fantasy XIV players like yours truly have a mouthful of fanfest information to chew on. How did it all shake down, in the final assessment? Well, I'm not going to lie: My aim was mixed at best. A minority of demo stations covering content I hadn't anticipated, patch 2.4 a week after my prediction, and mentions of 2.5 in brief. But we did get gear details and an expansion announcement. I'd call it a mix and a wash, at the end of the day. You tried, gold star, etc. But enough about what I did and didn't get right; there's plenty more to talk about from the various panels, the Live Letter, and other revelations. So let's start in on it, kicking off with the elephant in the room that I've already been hearing about for the entirety of the past day for obvious reasons. Yes, it's a cash shop.
Make My MMO: October 12 - 18, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Kickstarter hopeful Seldon Crisis came back to earth when Isaac Asimov's estate took issue with the developers appropriating the Foundation IP. Star Citizen, meanwhile, showed off some spiffy planetside gameplay as well as a full livestream recording of its recent Citizen Con event. Oh yeah, and Skara: The Blade Remains moved to Steam early access. Click past the cut for the rest of this week's MMO crowdfunding roundup.
Make My MMO: September 28 - October 4, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding, some analysts suggested that game development crowdsourcing might not be the wave of the future. Then Star Citizen topped $55 million in crowdfunding, which makes it not only the biggest game-based crowdfunding project of all time but the biggest crowdfunding project of all time, period. Once you're done reconciling those two stories, don't forget to click past the cut for our weekly MMO crowdfunding news roundup.
Life is Feudal sells 65,000 copies on Steam early access
Things are going swimmingly for Life is Feudal if Steam early access sales are any indication. Indie studio Bitbox Ltd says that it's moved 65,000 units of its flagship title since September 19th. If you're a fan of fantasy MMOs and sandboxes, you might want to take a look at the game's latest promo trailer that we've embedded just past the cut. [Source: Bitbox Ltd.]
Make My MMO: September 21 - 27, 2014
As usual in the Kickstarter corner of the MMO industry, this week saw ups and downs for hopeful MMOs. Trials of Ascension hit its $60,000 crowndfund goal, Star Citizen broke $54,000,000 (count those zeroes, folks!), and Camelot Unchained got a new website. Yay! But TUG laid off half its staff, Pathfinder Online's early enrollment has been delayed until almost Halloween, and Project Gorgon's Kickstarter campaign has fallen short of its $100,000 goal. Boo! Bringing balance to the universe is Shroud of the Avatar, which was successfully Steam greenlit but has resorted to enticing testers with digital hats. Read on for our complete MMO crowdfunding roundup in this week's edition of Make My MMO.
Make My MMO: September 14 - 20, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Pumpkin Online achieved its Kickstarter goal and Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen's Facebook page was updated with a few more screens from the fledgling Brad McQuaid-designed title. Apart from the that, it was pretty slim pickings, so you'll forgive us if we once again call your attention to Project Gorgon's Kickstarter. It has a week left to go, and it's worthy of your support if your into full-featured MMORPGs that tread well off the beaten grindpark path. The rest of this week's crowdfunding roundup lies just beyond the cut.
Massively's ArcheAge launch diary: Day six - P2W and the early verdict
Is ArcheAge pay-to-win? That's a question I've been asked several times in recent days. Before I answer it, let's get something out of the way up front. And by "out of the way," I mean that this is the most important part of the article and needs to be emphasized in the intro. Pay-to-win is 100% subjective. There is no scientific or universally accepted definition of pay-to-win. Some things in this life are absolutes. Pay-to-win is not one of them.
Make My MMO: September 7 - 13, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Elite: Dangerous released information about launch pricing and an optional pre-order pack. Star Citizen released its long-awaited racing mode, and Piranha released a whole bunch of internet rage by revealing a crowdfunded sci-fi MMO called Transverse. Which used to be called Wing Commander Online, funnily enough. Oh, and the Seldon Crisis Kickstarter officially kicked off. Click past the cut for the rest of our weekly crowdfunding roundup.
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar ain't doing so good
If you somehow missed it, last week the WildStar team announced that the game will be squishing into megaservers to help bolster populations. What the hell happened? Contrary to what the developers would like you to believe, this is not good news. It's especially bad news if you're part of the roleplaying community, as you're about to get shoved into a server configuration that's almost specifically designed to prevent you from roleplaying outside of a handful of shared plots, but it's bad news for everyone. And it's bad news for the game when server merges are a reasonable reaction after less than three full months of operation. We all know that the game launched to good reviews, and it's far too early to say, "Well, it failed." At the same time, this is not a sign of a robust and vibrant future. This is the first stage of an organized retreat, and it doesn't inspire confidence. So what, exactly, took place that brought the game from the high of its launch to server mergers today?
Make My MMO: August 31 - September 6, 2014
Star Citizen dominated crowdfunding news headlines this week, which is nothing new. Pumpkin Online is new, though, and it might be worth checking out the game's Kickstarter if you're interested in a hybridization of Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing in an online context. The rest of our weekly crowdfunding news roundup is just past the cut.
Make My MMO: August 24 - August 30, 2014
This week's MMO crowdfunding news was headlined by Project Gorgon's second Kickstarter drive as well as TUG's upcoming "major content and engine updates."' Gorgon is described as having "an unusual, original feel," by creator and former Turbine producer Eric Heimburg. It mixes "ideas from older and newer MMOs with a whole bunch of ideas never before seen in any MMO." TUG, meanwhile, is pretty well documented here on Massively, and fans can get an eyeful of the latest Nerd Kingdom shenanigans via the team's new video releases. The rest of our crowdfunding roundup can be found past the break.
Make My MMO: August 17 - August 23, 2014
This week was a busy one in MMO crowdfunding circles. We heard from frequent newsmakers like Elite: Dangerous, Star Citizen, Shroud of the Avatar, Camelot Unchained, and even Pantheon. We also learned of a new Asimov-inspired sandbox called Seldon Crisis that's gearing up for a Kickstarter campaign next month. Finally, Stash launched a Kickstarter drive for a game it claims will "re-imagine the MMO genre." Click past the cut for our weekly crowdfunding roundup.
Make My MMO: August 10 - August 16, 2014
It's all quiet on the MMO crowdfunding front, at least for the week ending August 16th, 2014. The only changes from last week's edition are a couple of Star Citizen-related news items. They took the form of a new 10 for the Chairman episode and a quartet of spiffy new videos direct from Gamescom. The rest of our MMO crowdfunding roundup is just past the break.
Defiance goes free-to-play on the PlayStation 3
Defiance has already made the transition to free-to-play on the PC, but now players with more focus on consoles are getting in on the free action. PlayStation 3 users can now download and play the game for free without any up-front cost, just in time to coincide with the ongoing second season of the television show. No precise dates have been revealed for the Xbox 360 conversion at this time, although it's still due "soon." Players who elect to purchase a copy of the game on the PS3 will receive 1000 Arkforge, four character slots, five loadouts, up to 75 Ark Keycodes, and a 70-slot inventory. They'll also receive 30 free days of Paradise Patron status, which boosts gains on everything from XP to scrips along with a 10% discount on cash shop items. If you like the look of the game but wanted to play it for free on your console, your time is now. [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
Make My MMO: August 3 - August 9, 2014
Well, Games of Glory didn't last long on our crowdfunding list. Soon after I added it last week, Lightbulb Crew sent out a PR blast saying that it was canceling its Kickstarter drive on account of additional funding that it managed to secure from its existing investors. We also say goodbye to Bone Gulch for now, as the indie wild west sandbox failed to reach its Kickstarter goal. The Stomping Land and Ever, Jane also made headlines this week. The former is moving engines from Unreal 3 to 4, while the latter surfaced with a new build that includes endgame sleuthing and gossip systems. Finally, Star Citizen continued to roll around in piles of money, and oh yeah, it also squashed those troublesome rubberbanding bugs, opened up Arena Commander to all of the game's backers, and added a new CTF mode. More MMO crowdfunding news is just past the break.
Make My MMO: July 27 - August 2, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, we said hello to new Kickstarter projects for Avalon Lords and Games of Glory. The first is an attempt to redefine the MMORTS, while the second seeks to add persistent world features to the MOBA genre. We also heard from the creator of Project Gorgon, who describes his title as "Asheron's Call crossed with EverQuest with the emergent gameplay of NetHack." Finally, don't forget about Elite: Dangerous and its newly minted Beta 1! Click past the cut for our complete MMO crowdfunding roundup.
Make My MMO: July 20 - July 26, 2014
MMO crowdfunding news was fairly sparse this week, but a couple of genre heavyweights did capture a headline or two. Frontier reminded us that Elite: Dangerous will feature planetary landings and station/ship interiors post-launch, while Portalarium kicked off its latest backer-only weekend alpha test for Shroud of the Avatar. Release 8 is up and running through 11:00 a.m. EDT on Monday, July 28th, and it features a focus on PvP. As such, the dev team released an extensive tutorial video and a forum post dedicated to kitting out your PvP decks. The rest of our weekly MMO crowdfunding recap is just past the cut.
Romero: 'PC is decimating console, F2P has killed a hundred AAA studios'
Doom co-creator John Romero gave an interesting interview to GamesIndustry.biz recently in which he compares the modern free-to-play model with the early 1990s shareware revolution driven by id's hellish sci-fi shooter. "Our entire first episode was free -- give us no money, play the whole thing. If you like it and want to play more, then you finally pay us. To me that felt like the ultimate fair [model]. I'm not nickel-and-diming you. I didn't cripple the game in any design way. That was a really fair way to market a game," Romero said. "When we put these games out on shareware, that changed the whole industry. Before shareware there were no CD-ROMs, there were no demos at all. If you wanted to buy Ultima, Secret of Monkey Island, any of those games, you had to look really hard at that box and decide to spend 50 bucks to get it." He goes on to say that F2P design will mature and at some point lose its stigma. "People are spending a lot of time trying to design this the right way," he explained. "They want people to want to give them money, not have to. If you have to give money, you're doing it wrong. For game designers, that's the holy grail." Romero also remarks on the parallels between today's industry and the fledgling game industry of 30 years ago that he says was wholly created by indies, as well as the autonomy enjoyed by modern developers as a result of the move away from retail and traditional publishing. "With PC you have free-to-play and Steam games for five bucks. The PC is decimating console, just through price," he said. "Free-to-play has killed a hundred AAA studios."
Make My MMO: July 13 - July 19, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Camelot Unchained dominated the headlines. Oh sure, Star Citizen made its money and the Elite: Dangerous devs said a couple more interesting things, but by and large we were all oohing and ahhing over City State's week-long batshit-crazy reveal schedule. Whether or not the finished game actually incorporates all of these awesome ideas is anyone's guess, but for now it sure makes for fascinating reading! Click past the cut for the rundown on the rest of this week's crowdsourcing news.
Make My MMO: July 6 - July 12, 2014
This week in MMO crowdfunding news, Frontier explained its relatively high buy-in prices for Elite: Dangerous alpha and beta testing, while Star Citizen gave fans and onlookers another meaty glimpse behind the development curtain. Finally, Forged Chaos unveiled a seven-minute video showing off the progress on Trials of Ascension's technical demo and combat.
