Conventions
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Massively Mob Meetups: Dragon*Con 2010 & PAX 2010
Labor Day weekend is coming up and you know what that means: Dragon*Con 2010 and PAX 2010 are here! The two dueling conventions are back to capture the hearts of nerds across America, and Massively.com is going to be in full force at both conventions this year -- a first for us! To celebrate, we're having not one, but two MMO fan gatherings, so our fans from both sides of the country can attend! If you're a PAX person, then come visit us at 8:00 p.m. PDT at The Night Kitchen in Seattle! The Night Kitchen is equipped with a lovely lounge and free wi-fi, so bring your laptop and show off your l33t epics to the mob and the staff! Rubi Bayer, Larry Everett, and Justin Olivetti will be hosting the party, so be sure to drop by, say hi, pick up some late night snacks, and tell us all about your favorite games! If you're a Dragon*Conite, then be sure to drop by the Sheraton's Capitol Ballroom at 10:00 p.m. EDT for the MMO Gathering of Heroes! This is the Dragon*Con MMO track's official dance party, and it's also being hosted by Massively's own Krystalle Voecks and former Massively.com columnist Rafe Brox. Rafe and Krystalle will be laying down the beats for the party, but Grand Poobah Shawn Schuster and I, Seraphina Brennan, will be in attendance as well. (Most likely in costume!) Plus, we can't forget about Kevin Stallard, the leader of the MMO track and former Ask Massively man! So if you want to come meet some fellow MMO-lovers, dance, or meet some of the Massively.com staffers, then this is your party. (P.S. -- A Dragon*Con 2010 pass is required to get into this party.) So, to recap: Saturday, September 4th at 8:00 p.m. PDT at Seattle's Night Kitchen, or Saturday, September 4th, at 10:00 p.m. EDT at Dragon*Con's MMO Gathering of Heroes, located in the Capitol Ballroom of the Sheraton hotel. If you need help, or reminders, join our Steam Community group, The Massively Mob! We hope to see you at one of our events!
Star Wars Galaxies puts up producer's notes from Fan Faire
The big showstoppers at Sony Online Entertainment's Fan Faire this year were the presentations on the EverQuest franchise and DC Universe Online, without a doubt. But to neglect Star Wars Galaxies is unfair to the game's long history, as well as to the fact that the game had quite a presentation at the celebrated event. In a recent producer's note, Teesquared shared several photos from the event as well as the notes from the Galactic Gathering panel, outlining everything planned for the game in the not-too-distant future. While the photos are nice for fans who missed it, the notes are the meaty part of the announcement, discussing everything from the next major content update to future event plans. The Witches of Dathomir is the next planned major content push, with repeatable content and a number of new clothing options for players. Big plans are also on the horizon for the Galactic Civil War, including invasions in space with capital ships and integration for player-created cities. It looks to be an interesting ride for the future of Star Wars Galaxies, so players are advised to take a look at the full notes for a hint of what's coming.
Final Fantasy XIV confirmed for Gamescom 2010
So, despite your best efforts, you still are not currently able to play Final Fantasy XIV. Not that your computer can't handle the system requirements -- no, it's simply an issue of the release date being painfully distant and your need for the game not subsiding. You've applied for the beta, but no luck. You entered the fansite contests for beta keys, and still nothing. You tried building a time machine, but you ran into problems when you went shopping for a DeLorean. What else can you possibly do? Well, you could try running off to Europe. Specifically, Cologne, where Gamescom 2010 will be held. Square-Enix has confirmed that they will be presenting several games at the convention in a playable state, one of which will be Final Fantasy XIV. Most likely it will be from the newest testing build, although there's no word on whether or not the game will be playable by the public or just for press. Keep your eyes peeled to see if any new information comes out of the convention, taking place between the 18th and the 22nd of this month.
City of Heroes has plans... PAX plans
If you haven't already thought about PAX Prime coming up in September, odds are good you're not going. But if you are going and you're a fan of City of Heroes, you'll be happy to know that the team from Paragon Studios will be making a showing at the convention. The team will be hosting a panel as well as a meet-and-greet event for the fans over the weekend, similar to what was done during PAX East in March. Players will also be rewarded with a new disguise power -- in this case, the Praetorian Police Department's duty outfit. Since the convention will take place after the release of Going Rogue, the panel's topic will be on the new expansion as well as the future beyond release, most likely covering the Incarnate system and the further future. The meet-and-greet, meanwhile, is happening off-site and gives players both the aforementioned costume code and an exclusive lenticular button for the game. Take a look at the full rundown of the events with the City of Heroes team -- even if you're not attending, we'll make sure to keep everyone up-to-date on the information.
Buffing for BlizzCon: The Convention Challenge
Buff(ing) for BlizzCon is a bi-weekly fitness series written by ShrinkGeek authors Rafe Brox and Michael McGreevy. Join the WoW.com team in getting in shape for the ultimate WoW geek event: BlizzCon 2010. BlizzCon is still three months away, but convention season is in full swing. The San Diego Comic-Con ended a few days ago, and in the seemingly endless days that stretch out between now and Blizzardpalooza, there are several huge conventions that may be occupying your time. I'll be leaving next week for Gen Con, and a month after that you'll be able to find Rafe and me (along with a large handful of staffers from Massively) at Dragon*Con. I often wonder if we geeks have not subconsciously scheduled some of the biggest conventions of the year over the summer months as a result of the countless dull hours in our youth because we didn't appreciate the "traditional" summer activities. Whatever the reason, though, this is the time of the year when it's truly grand to be a geek. It is not, however, such a grand time if you are trying to make healthy dining choices.
Lost Pages of Taborea: Call to arms!
It's only been a few months since I started writing the Runes of Magic column, but it seems much longer than that. I love writing these guides, tips, and opinion pieces for fans of this awesome MMO, but I felt something was missing. Even after all the terrific comments and discussions from players, there seems to be many people who haven't tried RoM yet. Seeing comments -- almost weekly -- about people saying they are going to try RoM is really cool. I am a huge fan of the game, and it's my intention to bring the fun and excitement of it to you, through my articles. I'm not hoping that I stop hearing about new players, because those comments are a small sign I've succeeded in my writings, but I do want to take the opportunity to present a "call to arms". RoM is an amazing one-of-a-kind MMO that has captured my imagination and adventure for fun. It can be all too easy to lump this game into an already complicated world of free-to-play MMOs, and dismiss it as "more of the same". It really isn't more of the same. Let's take a look at how this MMO is different, fun, steadily growing, and branching out into the MMO community. This article should catch everyone up on the current status of the game, and how it has faired in the spotlight.
Rift: Planes of Telara and End of Nations get exclusive comics at Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con is traditionally not known for its game-related content. (The name is something of a dead giveaway.) But this year it's hosting quite a bit of MMO-related content, such as a large NCsoft presence covering Aion, City of Heroes, and Guild Wars 2. Add Rift: Planes of Telara and End of Nations to the mix, as both will be previewing a special comic mini-series with a limited-edition #0 issue at the convention. They've also provided some previews of the rough art for each series, included in the gallery below. Both series will be written by Ricardo Sanchez, with the interior art for Rift: Planes of Telara provided by Pop Mhan and the interior art for End of Nations by Yvel Guichet. Published under the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics, both limited series should be hitting store shelves in the fall, but attendees of SDCC will be getting a special preview. If you're attending, you may well want to pick up a copy, and even if you're not you can take a gander at the rough art in the gallery below. %Gallery-97523%
Jumpgate Evolution will get you into E3 -- if you can get there
While it's no longer quite the circus that it once was, E3 is still kind of a big deal. Of course, the result is that it's even harder these days to get into the actual convention if you're not part of the press. For those of you who don't get the sheer enjoyment of working bizarre hours and frantically writing up press releases on three hours of sleep, the Jumpgate Evolution team is giving you a pass into the show. If you can get to the location, they'll get you in. The team mentioned that they wanted to run a community meet-and-greet a while ago, and NetDevil has taken care of procuring a few extra passes for the fans. Unfortunately, if you're not already a registered member of the Jumpgate Evolution forums, you're out of luck -- registering now won't make you eligible for the giveaway. If you are registered, however, and you can take care of getting yourself to E3, a simple message might get you into the convention for all three days -- and give you a chance to play this anticipated game. It's a win-win!
The Daily Grind: Single-game conventions, or multi-title meccas?
When it comes to gaming conventions, the options for MMO players seem to get bigger every year. (Not that we're complaining, mind you!) You can get a taste of the MMO world within a bigger convention like PAX or the MMO track at Dragon*Con. Alternately, fans of a particular game or company have more and more choices to check out -- EVE FanFest; BlizzCon, SOE's Fan Faire, and now Jagex's RuneFest. Add to that the LFG Expo, which promises to give us more MMOs in one space than we've seen before, and you can see where a gamer might not know which to pick! But with all the myriad choices opening up to us, we wondered this morning just how you like MMOs in your conventions? Are you more inclined to hit company-specific MMO conventions, so you can immerse yourself in a particular game (or series of games)? Do you prefer the large conventions where Mario and Magic: The Gathering fans mingle with murlocs? Or are you chomping at the bit for a convention like L4G, which should give players a huge choice of MMO diversity under one roof?
Looking For Group: An expo for MMOers
If you don't have Minneapolis on your places to visit list, you might want to add it now. The city will play host to the first annual "Looking For Group Expo," a convention dedicated solely to MMOs and everything that surrounds them. While details are sparse and the website is even more barren, LFG is being put together by Last Straw Productions, the gang behind the Independent Game Developers Conference, which is going on their fourth year. Last Straw is also no stranger to MMOs, as they're currently working on their first MMO game, Forbidden Planet. The motivation behind the event is to provide to all MMOs what some MMOs have now -- a special convention that's designed just for them. We all can't be Blizzard or SOE, after all. LFG is currently scheduled for June 25th through the 27th, putting it on the last weekend of June.
Gender differences in armor
A few readers sent us this post over at Border House that has laid bare (heh) the oft-mentioned differences in armor between the genders in World of Warcraft. While there are some exceptions, in most cases, the exact same set of armor (like this chestplate above) shows up as much more skimpy on female characters than it does on male characters. To the point of absurdity in some places -- even plate leggings, designed to serve as solid protection to the legs, appear to be more like plate thong underwear on the ladies. As Border House points out, this isn't just WoW's problem. Fantasy and sci-fi in general have been the domain of boys in the past (even if that is changing quickly), and the sexual depictions in the genre have reflected that, for both traditional and financial reasons. As I pointed out the other day, all of Blizzard's luminaries thus far have been men -- is it any surprise that the game is designed from a mostly male perspective? And as BH also says, fortunately, WoW has lots of different gear. If you don't like what your character is wearing, then you can find something else.
Rumor: Gaming conventions to convene in Xbox Live
According to a recent survey conducted by market research company VGMarket, Microsoft may be working on an "interactive, online version" of your favorite gaming conventions -- from E3 to ComicCon and everything in between. As noted by a Destructoid reader who took the survey, the online questionnaire presented the aforementioned hypothetical situation, and then went into detail about how such a situation might play out. "Sign onto Xbox Live and you can enter a virtual version of that convention ... this virtual version contains 20–60 virtual booths sponsored by larger publishers and developers presenting at the real world show," imagined the survey. The possibilities then reached outrageous levels as the idea of downloading "demos and/or betas" directly from the virtual convention floor and playing them that very moment was suggested. However, as VGMarket doesn't list Microsoft among its clients on the company's official website, and a representative could not be reached for comment, the veracity of this survey and its information is still very much in question.
Darkmoon Faire France cancelled
Upper Deck has posted on their site that they have canceled the upcoming Darkmoon Faire event in France for the TCG. They've been having events all over the world of this kind, featuring tournaments, exhibitions, and interaction with the game's officials and designers (I checked out one such event when it was in Chicago last year). And while they had planned to hold a Faire in Paris in 2009, apparently it's not going to happen -- they say there was "complications" with the "venue," and the event has been shut down. They are still trying to come to France, however: they're hoping to hold an event called the Tournois du Voile d'Hiver ("Tournament of Winter's Veil" in English) in Toulouse in November.And this really does just look like a schedule conflict, as they are still holding events in Amsterdam, Austin, and Vegas later on in 2009, and from what we've seen at various conventions this year, Upper Deck's WoW-related TCG and minis games are bigger than ever (in fact, given what I saw at Gen Con and have heard from various UD employees, it's possible that the WoW games are the company's biggest-selling non-sports product). They're planning to bring the Darkmoon Faire back to Paris next year, and that's probably exactly what they'll do.
Gen Con 2009: MMOs in the E-gaming area
Massively was at Gen Con 2009 yesterday in Indianapolis, Indiana, and while most of the (gigantic) convention was involved with more traditional types of gaming, from dice and board games to collectible card games and RPGs, MMOs made their own splash in the "e-gaming" area. Sony Online Entertainment probably had the biggest presence -- in among huge posters of Free Realms and Star Wars Galaxies, they had demos running of all of their current games (though we didn't see any previews of DCUO or The Agency running). A costumed model posed for pictures in front of a large Legends of Norrath poster, while over in the CCG area, SOE held tournaments of the game for players.%Gallery-70176%
The Daily Grind: Are you looking forward to any gaming conventions?
August and September are notoriously known as the months of gaming conventions, and ultimately, two months where we're pretty busy reporting announcements and general event coverage. We have both GamesCom and GamesCon (yes, confusing), GenCon, BlizzCon, GDC Austin, PAX, Tokyo Game Show and Dragon*Con to think about. Plus, there are countless smaller cons all around the world celebrating the gaming and general geek culture.So which conventions are you most looking forward to in the coming months? Since we already have plans to attend a few of these conventions, we're curious to know which ones our readers see as the most important to them. Let us know your annual favorites that you usually attend, plan to attend for the first time or simply want to hear more about.
Can a LotROCON work?
SOE has Fan Faire and WoW has BlizzCon, but could a convention centered around Lord of the Rings Online (or all Turbine games, for that matter) evoke enough interest? Many fans seem to think it's about time they had their own company- or game-specific con as a place to meet others who enjoy the work Turbine has done with LotRO, DDO and Asheron's Call. Perhaps the biggest advocate is a blogger by the name of the LotRO Follower, yet the original idea came from Moormur at the LotROCast podcast. Other members of the LotRO Blogging Collective have thrown in their own two cents, like The Middle-Earth Adventurer who makes the point that it doesn't have to start off large, as in time it will grow.So as the general MMO-playing public, we'd be curious to hear what you have to say on this subject. Have the success of the other topic-specific cons shown that it can be done with others, or should Turbine fans just get together at other major cons like Dragon Con, PAX or GenCon?
Funcom goes bi-coastal this year at conventions
If you're an ardent follower of Age of Conan, or perhaps one of the folks still spending time in Anarchy Online, then it looks like you've got a choice of conventions to attend this Labor Day weekend! Funcom has announced that not only will they be returning to their regular East coast convention haunt, Dragon*Con, as part of the MMO track - they'll also be expanding their travel this year to hang out with the gamers at PAX as well! While there's no specifics as yet as to what they'll be doing with their communities at each convention, we can tell you from personal experience that Funcom throws good parties and has some pretty interesting panels. So, if either one of these two conventions is on your travel agenda, be sure to pop by and say hello to the Funcom teams.
BlizzCon 2009 announced
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/BlizzCon_2009_announced_2'; BlizzCon 2009 will be held from Friday August 21st through Saturday August 22nd at the Anaheim Convention Center outside of Los Angeles, CA. This year's BlizzCon will feature an expanded space, going from three conventions halls to four. This is no doubt due to the extreme demand for tickets last year. The announcement is present on the press release section of Blizzard's EU site.This year's BlizzCon will feature: Hands-on play time with upcoming Blizzard Entertainment games Discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers Competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents Community contests with great prizes Commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment's game universes A silent auction More exciting activities and attractions to be announced WoW Insider had a ton of coverage the last two years, and we're looking forward to bringing you coverage this year as well. And to clarify a few things: there is no announcement about the mysterious unannounced MMO that Jeff Kaplan is now working on, and there is no announcement about the third expansion. At least no announcements yet.Ticketing information is not available at this time. As soon as we have any information on ticket prices, availability, and methods of purchase, we'll let you know.%Gallery-34201% %Gallery-34205%
Gamer cosplay takes over NY Anime Festival
Click to embiggen It's official. Gaming-related cosplay has crashed the anime party. You'd think a bastion such as the New York Anime Festival would be sacred ground for pure Naruto costume play, but it certainly was not this weekend. With the three-day event at the Manhattan Jacob Javitz Center wrapping up today, we've seen hundreds of gamers strut their stuff amongst the common 'Misa Misas' and 'Sasukes.' Who did we see at the show? Well for starters, the cool kids from The World Ends With You showed us just how awesome it is to be a Shibuya wallflower. Then, we greased up and wrestled with El Blaze from Virtua Fighter 5 -- he was tough by the way. The Persona 3 crew refrained from shooting themselves in the head to take a picture for us, which was a nice gesture. In honor of the festival's guest of honor, Yoshitaka Amano, several people dressed up as Amano-inspired Final Fantasy characters. Evermore intriguing, people also dressed up as characters from games that are not even out yet. Oh, and almost forgot, Pyramid Head; you can't have a convention without one of those. Anyway, there's more in the gallery below (including a spot of anime cosplay). Can you name all the characters and what games they belong to? %Gallery-32897%
Fan offers custom-made BlizzCon badges
That Blizzard-issued BlizzCon badge not enough for you? Want something a little more customized for your character? Of course, if this year is anything like last year, Blizzard's badges will have some custom art on there (that's why they asked your character, realm, and favorite Blizzard game when you bought tickets), but just in case you want to go the extra mile, Shyka's got you covered.She's offering custom art of your character to wear around at BlizzCon in October -- for $40 and a screenshot or two, she'll make a piece of custom art that she'll print laminate, and clasp right up for you just in time to show it off at the Anahiem Convention Center. Her art looks great -- no matter what your character is like, odds are that she can come up with something cool for you. Her schedule's way open as of this writing, too, so while the price may be a little steep (it is a custom, ready-made piece of art), you can probably jump right in and be sure to get one.We'll tell you right now, also, that our WoW Insider folks will also be custom badged, so consider this your first invitation: if you see us walking around wearing a custom-made official WoW Insider badge (in addition to our standard BlizzCon passes), feel free to walk right up and say hello. We'd love to meet you.
