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Lucky fan gets a super-secret tour of WildStar's Carbine Studios
Being given a full tour of your favorite MMO studio must be a lot like finding the Golden Ticket and getting a week pass to Disney World, all rolled into one. So if you feel a little jealous that WildStar Source got to poke around Carbine Studios, it's understandable. While the writer who was given the tour said that he had to "stay silent on 99%" of what he saw, there are plenty of juicy tidbits for WildStar aficionados to tide us over for a while. Apparently the studio is covered with gorgeous screenshots and art from the game, and the team is already busy collecting fan art to post in the hallways. The author did get some hands-on time with the game, during which he spent exploring the world instead of killing the local flora and fauna: "While I did not find a secret treasure or a portal to another dimension, I did find an attention to detail in both my character and the surrounding world that made me pause, several times, in appreciation... Even while playing as a spell-wielding bunny-woman who was trapped on a fictional planet, what I found most engrossing when I got my hands on WildStar was really the humanness of it all... as corny as that may sound."
The Daily Grind: What would you ask your favorite game dev in person?
Let's say you found that golden ticket. Somehow you had the chance to tour your favorite game studio to meet your most admired MMO game developer. There he or she is, standing before you, willing to answer any question you can throw at him or her. As an added bonus, the dev can't avoid your question! So what would you ask? Would you ask Curt Schilling if you could play the Project Copernicus MMO? Would you ask Mike O'Brien when Guild Wars 2 is coming out? Or would you ask anyone at Blizzard what they were thinking when they decided Kung Fu Panda would make a great expansion to World of Warcraft? Let us know in the comments below! 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!
Win a BlizzCon ticket from Gamebreaker.TV
Seeing as how this year's BlizzCon tickets were sold out in the same amount of time that it takes you to read this sentence, the only way for you to experience the convention now is either virtually or by snagging a ticket from a generous donor. Fortunately, Gamebreaker.TV has a spare ticket on hand that it's prepared to bestow on a lucky fan -- and anyone can take a crack at winning it. To try your hand at winning the golden ticket, you simply have to buy as many Wonka bars as you can possibly... no, wait, that's not right. Actually, all you have to do is head over to Gamebreaker.TV's Facebook page and click "like" to be entered into the drawing. BlizzCon tickets were priced at $175 apiece and were sold out as of this past May. The convention might not have the big reveal of Blizzard's next big MMO, but it's got plenty of Foo Fighters to compensate.
Neo Steam kicks off Golden Ticket beta promotion
Atlus Online has just announced their newest promotion, giving its community the chance to get an early look at their steampunk MMO entitled Neo Steam: The Shattered Continent. You may remember our coverage of Neo Steam from GDC earlier this year which revealed quite a bit of information on Atlus Online's first MMO. This Golden Ticket beta promotion offers prizes and exclusive in-game items (such as the goggles shown above) for all community members who register between now and May 12th. Golden Tickets will be randomly distributed each day as the deadline approaches. Since this is only the first round of beta access, additional opportunities will be announced throughout May. Be sure to check out Neo Steam's website to sign up for beta access, and continue right after the jump for the newest official Neo Steam trailer.
Gaia Online borrows a trick from Willy Wonka
Gaia Online, the virtual community that boasts over 5 million players, will be present at this year's New York Comic-Con, from April 18th to the 20th. They're encouraging both existing members and people who've never played before to drop by their booth and take a chance at winning a golden ticket, good for early entrance to the beta test of their upcoming casual MMO, as yet unnamed.They're also offering other prizes, such as an in-game Angelic Halo, Gold cards (worth varying amounts of Gaia currency), and a limited-edition ring for use in the MMO to attendees of the Gaia Panel at 5:00PM on Saturday, April 19th. Full information at their site.If they manage to convert their existing playerbase to their MMO, they could be seen as a serious contender for size, right out of the gate. We'll keep our eyes open and our ears to the ground for more info on this as it gets released.[Source]
