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GameSpy making multiplayer tech free for smaller-scale titles
GameSpy has announced that it's making the multiplayer framework used by a number of modern games (including Red Dead Redemption and Bulletstorm) free to any developer interested in using it. Developers of any size can get access to the code and tech required to integrate multiplayer matchmaking, player tracking, cloud data services and anything else needed to keep a large-scale multiplayer game up and running on almost any platform, even including cross-platform play. "Free" has its limits, of course -- companies can't run a Bulletstorm-sized game using GameSpy's tech and get away with not paying at all. But much like the recent Unreal Engine 3 changes, this decision allows smaller developers to use and test the technology without any overhead costs. GameSpy's Senior Product Manager Sean Flinn tells Joystiq the service will be free below a modest cut-off point and that the company will have "additional pricing tiers" announced later this spring for titles with larger player bases. "We're not being super strict about the usage limits at launch," he says, though GameSpy will "continue to offer a paid tier of service for unlimited numbers of users and premium support." Flinn says GameSpy is "betting big on the success of indie and start-ups," and it's hoping that independent developers using the service for free now will eventually grow to "need online services that match their ambition." Interested devs can join up with the program starting today.
Champions Online video showcases character creation
It's been a long time coming, but Cryptic has put out a video through Gamespy detailing character creation with glorious in-game footage of the actual process. If you've been following information on Champions Online for some time now, you probably won't learn anything new in terms of what Bill Roper talks about during the video. However, videos are worth more words than anything else, so we doubt that will bother anyone too much.Soon -- very soon actually -- the open beta will arrive and everyone will get a crack at superhero design in Champions Online. We can't wait to see what kind of craziness people come up with, especially when components are in place to make what appears to be robot-clown-demons and other disturbing concoctions.Check out the full video after the break.
"Flintlocke" creator moving to Blizzard
Readers Geamo, Dice, and Leethax have written to let us know that Dave "Fargo" Kosak, co-founder of Gamespy and creator of the wildly popular "Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth" and its Horde follow-up "Flintlocke vs. The Horde" is leaving for...Blizzard! In his farewell message on Gamespy he says he'll be creating content for Blizzard games and World of Warcraft specifically (so be on the lookout, as he writes, for "quest instructions (shouted) at you in a very loud, very poor Scottish accent"). Kosak has been responsible for hearthstones being memorably described as "the chickenrock," an explanation of aggro mechanics, The Five Stages of Warcraft, and the ultimate goblin-engineered weapon (which you can find in Area 52). Unfortunately, it looks like he's not going to be able to continue the "Flintlocke" comics while at Blizzard (whether for time-related or legal reasons, I'm not sure), so that's kind of a downer. The current Horde comic has already been planned all the way to its end, which will occur at some point in late April. I was disappointed to read this -- I love Flintlocke, and the Horde storyline is amazing ("What kind of combat skills you got on that thing?" "Probably flee and mate") -- but I expect we'll be seeing some of Kosak's influence ingame.Congratulations, Mr. Kosak, and from all of us here at WoW Insider, good luck!
Jame working on an addon, guides for other games
Gamespy has an interview up with Jame of Jame's famous leveling guides, which are the how-to of choice if all you want from your character is to get to 80 as fast as possible. I have to admit that I've never used them -- while I do use Questhelper quite a bit (which takes lots of the guesswork out of where to go next), I also like exploring on my own pace, and Jame's guides turn Azeroth into a list of to-dos rather than an actual game. Still, they do work -- if you're leveling an alt or just don't care about the content, following the guides to the letter works fast.Jame says his wife was the major driving force behind the site -- she needed help leveling, and he found that he had most of the major steps memorized. His site is run completely off of advertising, which he says keeps him from competing with other leveling guides that you must pay for to use. He's also working on an addon, and he says that it actually works faster than Questhelper, so that should be something to see.Finally, he says he's working on putting together guides for other games -- "Diablo III, Starcraft II, and other MMOs" all get mentioned, so if you've already been following Jame's advice, you might be following it for a while longer. Good to get a little insight and background into the man behind the gold standard for leveling guides.
CrimeCraft impressions and screenshots
Despite its unfortunate name, Vogster's CrimeCraft seems to be a promising contender in the crop of games launching in 2009, according to a recent review at Gamespy. First announced earlier last year, CrimeCraft boasts what they call a "persistent-world next-gen shooter", or PWNS for short. Can an MMO shooter work? Ask Planetside, Tabula Rasa and Huxley (if he ever shows up).Unnecessary snark aside, the screenshots in this review article look gorgeous. The gameplay seems promising, with PvE, deathmatch PvP and a crafting system that is aimed at using some real sponsorship promotion (think CoH ads, but on clothes). Yet the one part that raised our collective eyebrows was the mention of a persistent world, yet it is said to include only persistent towns, much like Guild Wars and Diablo II. Granted the game isn't finished and is still in a closed beta at this point, but Vogster's senior marketing manager Casey Dickinson mentioned that they're thinking of ways to "liven up" the game's persistent lobbies.
Gamespy's MMO column returns with a look at Battlefield Heroes
Gamespy's excellent ongoing MMO column OnLife has been regrettably on hiatus for some time, but it looks like it is back with a vengeance. Its first column back in the saddle is all about the online free-to-play FPS Battlefield Heroes. While not technically an MMO, author Miguel Lopez notes numerous similarities between Heroes and high-end PvP in MMOs. As he observes, the fact that he can even make these comparisons is bad news for the folks at DICE. The stated purpose of the stylized online shooter has been to offer a simple, fun, low-cost experience for FPS players. Instead, even in the game's extended Beta, the game is already beginning to resemble World of Warcraft's sometimes-arcane PvP build strategy game.Says Lopez, "I'll admit that much of what makes me want to play Heroes' is its promise of varied abilities, full of potential for synergy and experimentation. But I hope that its designers will tread thoughtfully when it comes to implementing them." Check out the article for his full assessment of the game, then click below the cut for a look at the hyper-cartoony graphics and strange sense of humor found in Battlefield Heroes.
Flintlocke returns, now with more Horde
Fan favorite webcomic Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth is back in business after a far-too-long hiatus. Sort of. The GameSpy hosted webcomic is back in sequel form, entitled Flintlocke vs. The Horde. With a plan to release five panels/pages each week from the original Flintlocke author Dave Kosak, I'm pretty excited about it. Flintlocke's Guide to Azeroth was by far one of my favorite WoW comics when it was still running.Flintlocke vs. The Horde actually has no Flintlocke in sight yet. It's told from the point of view of the Horde rather than our old pals from the previous series. We'll see them eventually, I'm sure. So far the comic has gotten some laughs out of me, but it's been a little too heavy on the stoner humor. Don't get me wrong, stoner humor can be hilarious, but it usually works better as a support joke rather than the punchline. That's just my thoughts on it, though. Regardless, I've bookmarked this comic to see where it goes and I recommend at least giving it a look.[ Thanks, Bryn! ]
The OC Register on the BlizzCon debacle
WoW Insider's own Mike Schramm recently talked with Tamara Chuang from the Orange County Register about the trials and tribulations of the recent BlizzCon ticket sales for an article she wrote concerning the debacle. Mike is in some good company, with executive editor of GameSpy.com David Kosak also contributing to the analysis of Blizzard's failure. Yesterday, Mike wrote an in-depth account of the problems we all faced obtaining tickets to the event.The OC Register article makes a good point noting that some major events, such as the World Series, have had ticketing problems in the past. However, it is also pointed out that other sites such as NBCOlympics.com still stay up even under the pressure of lots of traffic.With Mike Morhaime's apology late last night, and his offering up 3,000 additional tickets via a lottery, it will be interesting to see what this does to appease the fans in the long run. It is good to see that this issue is getting some wider coverage outside of the game and fan sites. While bad press isn't exactly good, it usually leads to things being better the next time around.
A lengthy Warhammer Online journal
There have been plenty of previews for Warhammer Online over the last year or two. So when the guys over at Gamespy got beta access they decided to try for something other than the standard preview. They created a journal chronicling their experience as they played through the game. You'll get a more personal experience of the game content in its early levels this way. Of course, the downside is you've got tons of pages to sift through for your information. So it may not be for everybody, especially if you want a concise bullet-point preview of the game.With the NDA lifting in just a week from now though, you can be sure to find plenty of focused opinions about Warhammer Online all over the net. You can of course expect an enormous information blowout from us here at Massively, too. Hell, we've already got an initial blowout on the site! Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!
Age of Conan's endgame explored
IGN's out of the box impressions on Age of Conan late last month were just its opening salvo in continuing coverage about the game. In an update to those initial impression, Charles Onyett offers up his views on the game's leveling experience. He offers insight into the first 40 levels of the game, as well as a taste of what the post-40 experience currently offers. While he greatly enjoyed the first 20 levels of the game's destiny quest, and found the 20-40 experience rich in quests and content, he's less impressed with the game after that point.Though our own Cameron Sorden has experienced MMO malaise within Age of Conan's first 20 level, Onyett is enthusiastic about the game's rich narrative through the 30s. He especially appreciated the cutscenes used to convey that story, but admits the game's main thread loses cohesion quickly after leaving Tortage. Ultimately his verdict is mixed, saying "overall I'd say the game's worth checking out, though maybe it's best to wait a month or two at this point so more of the issues with higher level content can get worked out."
Mark Jacobs expunges the mystery of WAR's crafting
We've been receiving a lot of information about all things Warhammer Online for some time now, but the one topic that hasn't been touched on is crafting. The veil of silence has been lifted as you can now go and read Gamespy's recent interview with Mark Jacobs. It's all about the very different and astoundingly intriguing crafting system being developed for the game wot's got gobbos 'n stuff. It's typical for MMOs stick close to the tried-and-true crafting system we've all come to know and oft-lament. Yet that's not something EA Mythic is up for this time around. No, this time they want to challenge the status quo. Lets not mince words, though. By choosing to create a more in-depth crafting system for Warhammer Online, they've given up a certain amount of profession variety upfront. If the discussed system works as intended it could be very well worth the risk of reduced crafting diversity -- and there's always content updates too. Hopefully EA Mythic can pull it off so we can see other MMOs experimenting with their crafting systems as well. Wouldn't that be nice?
Age of Conan as it stands 'out of the box'
Reviewing massively multiplayer games is a losing proposition. Gamespy recognizes this, and when a new MMO launches they offer up an 'Out of the Box' feature that gives a snapshot of what the game is like at launch. Their opinion is that further exploration is required before any kind of verdict can be assigned to the newly-released Funcom title Age of Conan. We agree, and that's something we've tried to address in our State of the Game / Beta Impressions pieces. So what does the games reporting mega-site think about Hyboria?They're cautiously optimistic, it seems, offering a yellow light on the endeavor. This "Wait on It" designation was prompted by a few concerns that we've noted as well: some slight technical issues, problems on the website integration side, and UI complaints. The 'spy also notes something we haven't heard reported before: possible exploits already in-game. According to the article, some guilds are already running up to the 50s and 60s via a gold/xp cheat. If this is true, it might be a possible explanation why some guilds already have enough high level members to build a player city. The alternative is just that folks really like grinding on MMOs, and Funcom has already noted that leveling isn't supposed to take an epically long time.There's plenty more on the game in the writeup, which is well worth checking out. For our own 'out of the box' experience, check out our Age of Conan Collector's edition unboxing.
All things Wrath of the Lich King
Over the past week, particularly in the last few days, the crisp Internet air has been abuzz with news from the upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. Fear you're out of the loop? Here's a quick round-up of all the information being released, along with analysis and opinion. Don't forget to keep checking back, as this page will be updated as information becomes available:Dungeons and raids An analysis on Arthas as a ten-manned event, including its impact on the 25-man raiding structure, as well an exploration of its consistency with the lore. Did you know that all expansion raids will have a 10-man setting, as well as a 25-man? Read through some of our initial impressions on the 10-man raiding set-up. We also wrote up a concise overview of the ins and outs of dungeons post-expansion, including a new token system, similar to [Badge of Justice]. The Nexus has been announced on the official site as one of the new dungeons. The WoW Insider Show discusses 10-manning Arthas. Zones, factions, and relevant lore Alex has written an excellent overview of the Grizzly Hills, a soon-to-be zone for low to mid-seventies. With old factions reappearing, along with other surprises, it's definitely something to look forward to! If news of the Dragonblight has intrigued you, you'll be pleased to know that more information has been made available. While we're brushing up on our lore and learning about new areas and factions, Alex thought it fitting to illuminate the lore behind Azjol-Nerub, as the Nerubians will have their own role in the expansion. Alex asks us about lore figures we'd like to see in the expansion. %Gallery-20386%
An interview with J. Allen Brack
Here's one more tidbit of WoTLK information for you, courtesy of Gamespy. They sat down for an interview with co-lead design J. Allen Brack. Most of the information is stuff we've heard in the past or have already posted on in this morning's massive flurry, but it's always nice to get a peek into the brain of the folks who bring us this amazing game. Among some of the things discussed by J. Allen Brack and Gamespy:
