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Defiance devs put priority on operational issues
Day three of Defiance's launch week is upon us, bringing with it a new post from the Dev Blog Fairy. The game has been hit with some nasty lag, courtesy of the "very complicated but wonderful beast" that is the Xbox cluster. A lot of people are watching data, analyzing things, fiddling with hardware, and generally trying to get to the bottom of the whole ordeal. The devs' first priority is to deal with the continued Xbox issues (namely, the lag and server crashes), followed by solving the mysterious case of the disappearing items. The team is also trying to deal with game server crashes across all platforms, as well as connectivity and patching issues. A huge patch with scads of updates is coming on or around the 15th ("hopefully sooner, possibly later"), so keep the faith. We've also got a new Ark Hunters video just after the cut.
Massively's Defiance launch week diary: Recap
By popular forum-rager demand, I present to you Massively's "real" Defiance launch week impressions. I guess some folks aren't satisfied with the general contentment expressed in the diaries I posted Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and they need a chance to vent. So for those people: Defiance is the worst launch ever! It's worse than Anarchy Online! My pet peeves from alpha/beta haven't been fixed, and worse yet, Trion has not called me personally to apologize! Boo-hoooooooo! Oh, you did actually come here to read some day four Defiance impressions? Good. Today's entry is going to be a recap of sorts because my brief play session last night was likely my last until the TV show's debut. I feel sorta bad typing that because ultimately I want to like Defiance more than I do, not because I spent 60 bucks on it but because I think Trion has the makings of a title with some staying power. After 20 hours of play, though, I feel as if I've seen enough until the game matures a little bit. No forum rage required.
The Daily Grind: Why can't MMOs and consoles be friends?
I remember once being excited about the idea that Defiance wouldn't just be a game and a TV series but a cross-platform MMO. Though the game is on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 and was originally intended to be fully cross-platform, Microsoft's unwillingness to play ball with Sony ensured that gamers on each platform are now playing on totally separate servers. You might think the game is just another victim of the console wars, but this is supposed to be an MMO -- nice big worlds, tons of players, and hey, a third party willing to try to bring everyone together! MMOs and consoles just usually aren't considered a harmonious pairing. Maybe it's because MMOs are seen as PC games, and some PC gamers and console gamers have their own rivalries. Whether it's because of controllers, interfaces, or failed corporate negotiations, we're usually segregated, but I wish we weren't, and I know we don't have to be. The Final Fantasy online games allow for cross-platforming. They may not be perfect, but I personally like the idea of bigger worlds filled with players. That's the point of MMOs, after all. So what about you, Massively readers? Do you think MMOs on consoles should keep us separated, as in DC Universe Online, or should console MMOs take a note from Final Fantasy XI and let us play with our controller-loving allies? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Defiance team prioritizing fixes for crashes, lag
The excitement, fun, chaos, and occasional frustration that swirls around every MMO launch is squarely on Defiance's shoulders this week, so Trion Worlds Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson is back with a follow-up to yesterday's post to discuss what the team is currently addressing. Richardsson says that the team has to be agile and that its priorities change on a daily basis. Because of this, today's critical issues are different from yesterday's; the team is working on game server crashes, lag, patching woes, and client crashes. He promised that yesterday's issues were still being worked on, just that these were more important for the time being. He did say that console account linking with the Arkhunter website should be resolved, and that the team's already put out a couple of patches in the last 24 hours with another one on the way to make the play experience more smooth.
Massively's Defiance launch week diary: Day three
You know what? Defiance's PvP is pretty enjoyable. Most of that enjoyment stems from my ability to actually kill people, contrary to typical MMO themeparks where I stand no chance against gear grinders and theorycrafters who have bested me before I even manage to tab target them. Here you have to aim, dodge, roll, reload, and do all that crazy skill-based stuff that shooters make you do, and while my K/D ratio is reminding me of the fact that I'm getting old and slow, it's still been a blast. Last night I dipped my toes into something called Shadow War, which is Defiance's answer to open world PvP.
New Defiance TV spot features Mayor Rosewater
This week's Defiance media assault continues, the latest salvo of which is a new trailer for the television show featuring Defiance mayor Amanda Rosewater. Rosewater is played by actress Julie Benz, and the 30-second spot provides a bit of insight into the trials and tribulations she encounters while trying to hold her community together. Defiance the TV show premieres on April 15th. Defiance the game is now playable on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. If you're on the fence about the title, check out our ongoing launch-week impression series as well as our livestream footage. The new trailer is embedded after the break.
Trion Worlds promises that it's addressing critical Defiance issues
Executive Producer Nathan Richardsson has mixed emotions in regards to Defiance's release. "This first day of launch of Defiance has been as awesome as we expected it to be," he wrote in a state of the game post. "And by awesome, I mean we're neck deep addressing all the issues that come up when you scale something up to a million people from a test environment of thousands." Richardsson promised that the large Trion team is working hard to "update, patch, fix, and improve" Defiance post-launch. The most critical problems that he identifies are connectivity problems, missing pre-order items, the scaling of bosses and arkfalls, and broken chat and VOIP. "We appreciate the trust that you are showing us by coming with us and we will address all these issues," he concludes. Speaking of awesome, check out the main theme to Defiance, composed by Bear McCreary, after the jump!
Massively's Defiance launch week diary: Day two
Welcome to day two of Massively's Defiance launch week diary. I've put a little over seven hours into Trion's MMO shooter thus far, so that zomg-it's-a-new-game! glow has worn off and I'm able to see things more objectively (i.e., find things to criticize). That said, I'm still having a good bit of fun, so join me after the cut to find out why.
PSN Tuesday: Defiance, Grand Theft Auto stories, Injustice demo
The PSN Tuesday drop features the full PS3 game Defiance, an online, open-world shooter from Trion Network, and $2 PSN download Ion Assault HD. PS2 Classics brings in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Vice City Stories, each for $10. The demo for Injustice: Gods Among Us is available now on PSN, ahead of its April 16 launch.PS Plus offers include Demon's Souls for free and a roundup of discounts on Telltale's The Walking Dead. Check those out in more detail here.
Massively's Defiance launch week diary: Day one
I'm an ark hunter, or so they tell me. They being the ruggedly handsome NPCs on display in Defiance's opening cutscene. There's a gruff military man, a captain I think, and some balding suit with trendy eyewear named Von Bach. There's a bunch of frenzied activity on board the stratocarrier New Freedom, and I pass by a familiar roughneck and a red-haired alien girl that I've seen before in Defiance's ubiquitous television commercials. I'm a human male because I'm one of those weirdos who plays to real-world type in video games. I've got corn-rows here, though, blonde ones, and a face that only a mother could love. Much like my real face, I didn't have a lot of say in the matter because Defiance's character customization is rather bare bones. There's Human or Irathient, male or female. After that there's a choice of four origins: Veteran, Survivalist, Outlaw, and Machinist. I have a hard time with this because if the earth really were on the edge of sci-fi post-apocalyptic alien invasion extinction, I would no doubt be some sort of grizzled Survivalist/Outlaw/Machinist hybrid. Though this isn't a class-based game from what I hear, for now I have to choose. It's Survivalist.
Defiance launch day roundup and trailer
We've still got two weeks to wait for the television premiere of Defiance on April 15th, but shooter fans can lock, load, and get in on the Defiance action right now as the gaming half of the Trion and Syfy cross-media experience has officially launched today. Since we don't want anyone sent into battle unprepared, we've gathered plenty of intel for you! Get the scoop on what awaits you on this terraformed Earth, from villains (like mutants, scrappers, and hell bugs) to weapons to important facts on lore and the planet's new races. We've got a smorgasbord of videos, hands-on experiences, and even a livestream to help you map out your plan of attack before you jump into the fight. After all, the better you know your enemies, the better you can defeat them! And don't forget the launch trailer; that's tucked behind the break as well.
Must See HDTV (April 2nd - 7th)
Baseball is officially back and March Madness is just about to wrap up as we officially move into the "spring" segment of programming, marked by the return of Mad Men on AMC. That's not all, with one half of Syfy's videogame / TV show combo making its debut and our favorite show, Justified, airing its finale. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames. Mad Men AMC's main showpiece is ready to return. Now in its sixth season, you should be familiar with Don, Betty and the rest of the crew, but if not you can check out the trailer embedded after the break. (April 7th, 9PM, AMC) Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase One - Avengers Assembled Now set in a new case (shown above) the boxed set of the first round of Marvel / Disney films is finally ready for release. If you're a collector / fan that just has to have it, the price on Amazon has dipped even lower, and it packs an exclusive look at the next set of flicks. ($149 on Amazon) Defiance The game end of Syfy's ambitious MMO shooter / TV show combo launches this week on consoles and PCs. Taking place on Earth as aliens and humans both try to recover after years of war, it's certainly something new, but we can't tell yet how well the two halves will come together before the show starts airing in a couple of weeks. ($59 on Amazon)
Game of Thrones Ascent ties updates to Season 3
Watch out, Defiance: You're not the only transmedia synergy wiz-kid on the block! Game of Thrones Ascent announced that it's started to release weekly updates that will tie into the previous night's broadcasted TV episode. As the first episode of Game of Thrones' third season premiered last night, the first episode of Ascent's new content went live today. It's titled Episode 1: Valar Dohaeris and adds "dozens" of new quests, multiplayer alliance challenges, a power leaderboard, and a siege workshop. Developer Disruptor Beam released some stats for the title (which is still in beta!). The studio says that 43% of the players so far have pledged allegiance to the Starks, 25% to the Targaryens, and 15% to the Lannisters. More players choose to fight (35%) than any other action, and the Neck is the most popular destination in the game world (16%). [Source: Disruptor Beam press release]
Syfy releases a new Defiance trailer
It's almost time for the cross-media extravaganza that is Defiance to grace the world with its fully realized TV-and-game presence. Defiance-the-MMO is set to open its doors officially on April 2nd, bringing people into the world of, well, Defiance in high style. The tie-in TV series will debut on April 15th, but you don't have to wait until then to catch a glimpse of its alien beauty. There's a new trailer out to prepare you for the show's release on the 15th; skip below the cut to check it out.
Defiance goodie giveaway: It's dangerous to go alone, take these
Defiance, a sci-fi-themed, persistent-world shooter from Trion Worlds that shares a setting and story with a SyFy series, will be out on April 2 on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. To help give Joystiq reader a greater fighting chance on the battleground, Trion has shared several codes to unlock content in the upcoming game.Each code unlocks a special piece of gear and can be used by all, once per account. Click the link below to retrieve the special codes, as well as instructions for redeeming them. GRAB YOUR SPECIAL DEFIANCE GEAR
TV-Defiance's first 14 minutes, game-Defiance's launch teaser [Updated]
Can't wait until April for Defiance? Head to Syfy.com, then, because the network has posted the first 14 minutes of the upcoming television show to further whet your appetite. The new series formally debuts on April 15th, while the MMO shooter tie-in kicks off on April 2nd. You can get a preview of the game by checking out Massively's MJ Guthrie and her two-hour Defiance beta livestream. [Update: Whoa, even bigger day for Defiance than we thought! Defiance's YouTube channel is spewing videos today. We've embedded the new game launch trailer beyond the cut, and there's a new Ark Hunter Chronicles episode up too.]
Hey humans, check out this video that shows the making of Defiance
Defiance has been slowly working its way up the hype ladder lately. We here at the Massively offices are wondering whether it will be a smash hit or just a head-scratcher, but either way, you can color us intrigued. In a recent developer video, we learn about the Votan races, a general term for the different aliens who now inhabit the war-torn Earth. Remember, these are the creatures we have to get along with, so it's good that many of them are described as the "supermodels of the Votan races." That certainly helps relations run more smoothly. We also learn more about the Irathients, the sort of misfit toy race of the universe. Although they're described as violent and ferocious, they're also known to be very spiritual. That seems to us to be a prescription for trouble. We see the Indogenes as well, a smooth-faced batch of aliens who are obviously the brains behind the operation. There are even more races that we can mention here. Does that all make sense? No? Well, check out the video after the cut and maybe it will make more sense after.
Leaderboard: Defiance vs. DUST 514
Shooter gameplay is on the rise in the MMO space, as titles like PlanetSide 2, Firefall, DUST 514, and Defiance are all marrying twitch-based running and gunning with some sort of persistent open-world progression component. Defiance and DUST are particularly interesting, to me at least, because they're part of a larger IP. IN DUST's case, the title shares a game world and a server back-end with long-running sci-fi MMO EVE Online. Defiance, of course, is joined at the hip with the upcoming television show of the same name, though just how joined remains to be seen. For today's Leaderboard, let's pit these two titles against one another and see which is more anticipated amongst Massively readers. Vote after the cut! Ever wish that you could put to rest a long-standing MMO debate once and for all? Then welcome to the battle royal of Massively's Leaderboard, where two sides enter the pit o' judgment -- and only one leaves. Vote to make your opinion known, and see whether your choice tops the Leaderboard!
Defiance final beta invites PC, PS3, Xbox 360 players March 22
Defiance launches on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 on April 2, but prior to that, developer Trion plans to run one last beta test, including – for the first time – Xbox 360 and PS3. The beta runs the weekend of March 22, starting at 8am PT (11am ET) and concluding on March 24 at 9pm PT (12am ET, March 25).The final beta opens up the Mt. Tam and Madera regions to players, with co-op battles on Angel Island and the Cronkhite Bunker available. Competitive multiplayer may also be sampled on the Freight Yard and Observatory maps.Trion is stripping the NDA for this last beta test, so feel free to upload gameplay videos to YouTube, you crazy game streamer you. Expect invites to go out next week, though Trion is guaranteeing beta keys to all who pre-order Defiance from here on out.
Final Defiance beta weekend starts March 22
If you're looking to get some play time in the Defiance beta, you'd best get a move on. Trion has announced that the final beta weekend for its sci-fi shooter MMO will run from March 22nd through March 24th. The company is inviting Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 users along for the ride, and it is also doing away with Defiance's NDA. Trion's press release says that more specific beta details will be forthcoming in the invites slated to go out over the next few days. The final beta "will let players explore the Mt. Tam and Madera regions with co-op battles on Angel Island and the Cronkhite Bunker," Trion says. "For Ark Hunters looking to test their might in some competitive multiplayer action, the Freight yard and Observatory will provide opportunities to prove themselves worthy of Von Bach Industries' recruitment." Defiance launches on PC and console platforms on April 2nd. [Source: Trion press release]
