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World of Tanks unleashes update 8.8 with new tanks and new tech trees [Updated]
Do you think that World of Tanks doesn't offer you a high enough volume of tanks? Have you found yourself driving around in a tank shooting at other tanks whilst thinking, "I guess there are tanks here, but not really a whole world of them?" Then maybe what you were really waiting for was the newest update to the game, update 8.8, which adds a branch of Soviet medium tanks for tiers 6 through 8. There are also significant changes to the German tech tree to enhance and reclassify several tanks. Wait, did you want an update to World of Tanks that was not quite so tank-focused? Well, the new update will also include a new battlefield arena, Tundra, so you can see tanks shoot one another somewhere new. The update is due for release on September 11th in Europe and September 12th in the US, but you can get a small preview from the video just past the cut. (Here's a hint: tanks shoot each other.) [Update: Update 8.8 has been pushed to North American release on September 18.] [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
PAX Prime 2013: World of Tanks blitzes onto the 360
While there was definitely some buzz at the PAX Prime Wargaming booth about World of Warplanes, which will get its commercial launch on September 26th, World of Tanks was the main source. Not only is Wargaming planning to integrate accounts for both Tanks and Warplanes, but it also has the XBox 360 version of World of Tanks in closed beta. I sat down with some of the Wargaming guys and attempted to play the new 360 version. I struggled a bit with the console controls, but that had more to do with a lack of familiarity than anything else. As I played, we discussed how Wargaming has rebuilt WoT from the ground up for the console market.
Wargaming partners with Nexon for prepaid card options
Wargaming has announced a new partnership with Nexon America for the use of Karma Koins as a prepaid card solution for all in-game purchases across Wargaming titles, including World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, and the upcoming World of Warships. Not only is Karma Koin available at 75,000 stores in North America and Oceania, but one percent of all sales go directly to charity. "We're committed to providing our players with as many flexible and safe payment options as possible," said Mike Turner, Vice President of Business Development at Wargaming. "Our new partnership with Nexon America and Karma Koin will address that desire, and we're excited to give our players a new and philanthropic payment option to enhance their in-game experience."
The Stream Team: Labor Day edition, September 2 - 8, 2013
To the youngsters, Labor Day has always always seemed misnomer since folks actually get to take time off from school and work. So a more appropriate moniker would be Play Day, amirite? But the older crowd knows that the day was meant to honor the hard work and contributions of workers. So in the spirit of honoring hard work, we pay homage to those who tireless toil to entertain us -- The Stream Team! Hats of to you, and a three-BBQ-rib salute to boot! Want to join us in this week-long celebration for our streamers? Then tune in to Massively TV and watch a live show or two and catch a few reruns as well. We've got all you need to know right here. (For the snacks, however, you're on your own.)
The not-so-friendly skies: Hands-on with World of Warplanes' open beta
Wargaming.net is the reigning king of free-to-play, with its flagship title World of Tanks sitting pretty at 60 million registered users and holding the world record for player concurrency. One wouldn't necessarily expect MMO gamers to be drawn to a game where the only physical manifestation of the player is a massive tank, but World of Tanks has surged into popularity and left more than a few industry assumptions crumpled under its treads. Fueled by this success, Wargaming.net now seeks to expand its legacy by releasing two new games based on the World of Tanks formula. One is the mysterious World of Warships, which has yet to make any sort of official appearance, and the other is World of Warplanes, which is winding down its extended beta phase and soaring ever-closer to its September 26th release date. Together, the three games will theoretically form a perfect union of land, sea, and air combat steeped in historical accuracy and intense action. We hopped into the World of Warplanes beta to see how the aerial portion of Wargaming.net's vision is shaping up, and to find out once and for all if we were truly ace material.
Wargaming's Unified Premium Account goes live
Wargaming has announced today the official launch of its Unified Premium Account, connecting players across all current and future Wargaming titles. The service, currently live in World of Tanks and World of Warplanes, allows players to pay for all premium services at once, with the added benefit of an increased experience and credit accrual rate in-game. You can look for more information on the Unified Premium Account on Wargaming's main page. [Source: Wargaming press release]
The Soapbox: Actually, that really isn't an MMO
In last week's edition of The Soapbox, Mike Foster argued that online gaming has evolved over the past few years and that the term MMO should be expanded to cover other online games like MOBAs. He examined the blurred dividing line between new online games and the classic MMOs of yesteryear, and he made the controversial argument that Call of Duty and League of Legends should now fall under the MMO umbrella. I found myself disagreeing with many of Mike's arguments and wanting to make additional points of my own, so this week I'd like to offer a few counter-points on the same topic for debate. The MMO market has certainly evolved since Massively was founded, with some pretty big innovations in gameplay and new ideas like the free-to-play business model taking hold. As much as people like to complain about a lack of innovation in the games industry, the same level of experimentation and evolution has hit industry-wide. Call of Duty has borrowed unlock and XP systems from the world of orcs and dragons, and League of Legends came from nowhere to be at the forefront of a global MOBA revolution, but neither of them is an MMO by any stretch of the imagination. In this in-depth opinion piece, I break down the definition arguments surrounding the term MMO, offer a reasoned view of where the line can and should be drawn, and look at why Massively covers games other than MMOs.
PAX Prime 2013: Wargaming plans presence and presents
If you are heading out to PAX Prime in Seattle this weekend, you'll have the opportunity to drop by the Wargaming booth and get your hands on World of Tanks on the Xbox 360 and World of Warplanes. Located at exhibit space 132 and 232, Wargaming's booth will have 30 playable gaming stations set up for attendees to play the games on. If playing the games isn't enough of an incentive to drop by, how about this one: The studio also plans hourly giveaways for the chance to win a variety of gaming hardware. [Source: Wargaming press release]
World of Tanks opens up European beta for Xbox 360 edition
Fans of tank-based combat who live in Europe have some good news today. World of Tanks has opened its beta servers for European players to test out the Xbox 360 version of the game, thus allowing another continent's worth of players access to all of the console-based tank mayhem. Eager participants in both North America and Europe are encouraged to sign up for the beta on the official site. This particular update doesn't just allow more people into the beta; it also adds new tanks to the game. United States and German tanks of tiers VII and VIII have been added to the game, increasing the firepower on all sides of the playerbase. No word yet on an official release, but the easiest way to speed it along is by logging in and testing to provide plenty of data on the console version's performance. [Source: Wargaming.net press release]
The Soapbox: That's not an MMO
You may not be aware of this, but Massively is a website focused primarily on massively multiplayer online games. It's kind of what we do. However, the world of MMOs in 2013 is far different from the world of MMOs in 2007, when the site was founded. The niche has changed and the games industry has evolved. There was a time when "online" told you everything you needed to know about a game because there was really only one type of online game. You knew in picking up an online game that you and some friends would be leveling, looting gear, and slaying dragons. It took a while for developers to notice that online play was actually a thing that could work in more than one particular format. Nowadays, online games range from traditional MMORPGs like Guild Wars 2 and RIFT to MOBAs like SMITE and League of Legends. There's no clear definition for what an MMO is or isn't because so many games are massive, multiplayer, and online. Maybe it's time to embrace MMO as a broader term than previously thought.
Gamescom 2013: World of Warplanes announces September 26 release date
Wargaming.net has announced today that its flight combat MMO, World of Warplanes, will be released to North America and Europe on September 26, 2013, while the Russian Commonwealth of Independent States will see the game launched on September 25. The studio boasts close to three million beta registrants for the game so far, and Gamescom attendees can get their hands on the game early, starting tomorrow at the Wargaming booth. Be sure to check out our gallery of screenshots below as well as the Gamescom 2013 trailer just after the jump. [Source: Wargaming press release]%Gallery-130862%
Venus Rising to feature sexual PvP, 16 positions
So, Venus Rising. Would you like to know more? If so, check out an interview with FoxySoft CEO Alex Allen at MMORPGItalia. Recall that Venus Rising is the adult-oriented title formerly known as Orgia Romanus that has caused something of a stir in the MMO community due to its unapologetic portrayals of sex, nudity, etc. Allen's interview touches on the three paths available to players (Merchant, Politician, Soldier), but that's not what you're really interested in, is it? "Sexual activities are very much a part of the player's character development. You can't run around having all the sex you want just like you can't run around killing everything all the time," Allen explains. "Players can progress through 10 levels of expertise to eventually have 16 sexual positions to choose from during an encounter. Players will be able to invite other players into their personal home or a game-provided room to engage in sexual activities. Or players can visit any one of the game-provided brothels to learn from an NPC and gain experience that way." Venus Rising's PvP will also pertain to sex, though how is not exactly clear other than that both the sex and the PvP will be "consensual." The game will feature a freemium business model with a "low monthly subscription" unlocking the adult content.
War Thunder video highlights planes and mods of update 1.3
'The friendly skies' it is not; not with historical warplanes waging battle across it. And with the new update 1.3, the airways in War Thunder just got a little meaner. This latest update of the dogfight-infused game will offer pilots more customization options for their planes, from both new planes (seven American, seven Russian, and one British) to more long-planned modifications. These modifications are divided into four ascending stages, each one allowing players to improve weaponry, engine performance, and durability. Higher stages are unlocked only after a requisite number of mods are purchased from the previous level. What about pilots who have already modified their planes? Devs assure that nothing will be lost -- all previously installed mods will be automatically installed in the new update. Watch the new planes in action in the update video after the break, and read up on all the upcoming changes in the dev diary and patch notes on the official site. [Source: Gaijin Entertainment press release]
New Soviet, German, and Chinese armor slated for World of Tanks 8.8 [Updated]
Need more Soviet armor in your World of Tanks? Wargaming's 8.8 patch is for you, then, as it's going to add several new German, Chinese, and Soviet machines to the instanced battler. There's a whole new branch of Soviet armor starting at tier six and including the A-43, A-44, the Object 416, and the Object 140. German players will get a tier four DW heavy chariot and a tier six VK3002 (M) medium tank. Chinese tank fans can look forward to a new medium tier eight T-34-3 and a tier eight 112 heavy tank. Wargaming is also prepping the new wintry Tundra battle arena for the 8.8 patch. No release date has been announced just yet. [Source: Wargaming.net press release] [Update: Wargaming has let us know about more goodies incoming for German player, including "the transformation of the VK3001H heavy tank to Tier 5, where it will undergo rebalancing and become a heavy tank, just as the VK3601H. Tank fans will also find that the new battle arena, Tundra, falls under the Autumn season marking the transition to the cold and wintery season approaching."]
Pirates of the Burning Sea fine-tunes engagement odds
It's never fun to be the one on the bottom of a PvP dogpile, and the folks at Pirates of the Burning Sea understand that. The developers have been making adjustment to their open sea engagement rules to find the right balance to make a memorable encounter. While the team initially restricted confrontations so that ganking by player mob couldn't happen, the devs admit that the end result wasn't what they had hoped: "That adjustment went too far, and the fights since have by and large been less dynamic." So to bring back some of the unpredictability in encounters without making it a gankfest, the devs will be tweaking engagements so that at maximum they can only be two-on-one fights. They also vowed to keep an eye on these fights going forward, particularly in regard to the reinforcement timers.
Wargaming grabs Total Annihilation and Master of Orion IPs
Wargaming has ambitious plans for the company's 15th anniversary this year, starting with the acquisition of two well-known IPs: Total Annihilation and Master of Orion. Master of Orion is an acclaimed 4X sci-fi strategy series that began in 1993, while Total Annihilation was a popular RTS from 1997. CEO Victor Kislyi teased the possibilities that these IP pickups represent: "Total Annihilation and Master of Orion are strategy game classics. Although it's too soon to disclose any details, we are more than willing to give a new lease of life to these games most of us grew up playing. It's exactly where our major focus will be." Beyond that, Wargamming announced that it has opened a new office in Austin, Texas to help smooth the flow of communication and production processes between its teams and studios. The team also announced the inclusion of British planes in World of Warplanes, which you can see in the reveal video after the jump. [Source: Wargaming press release]
World of Warplanes flight school takes you through plane types
Welcome back to flight school, flyboys and flygirls! World of Warplanes has released its second tutorial video walking players through the ins and outs of becoming a skilled ace. Today's lesson is focused on the types of planes in the game and their role in a group. World of Warplane's arsenal is divided up between attack, light, heavy, and carrier planes. Light fighters are the speedsters of the sky with high maneuverability and reduced combat power. Attack fighters boast strong armor and weapons (including a rear gunner) but are primarily used for strafing ground targets. Heavy fighters are tougher than light ones and able to dogfight while also capable of carrying bombs and rockets. Carrier fighters have traits of both light and heavy fighters and offer a flexible playstyle. Head to class with the video after the break!
Wargaming.net celebrates 15 years with World of Tanks XP boosts and sales
Wargaming.net has been around for 15 years, and the World of Tanks creator is marking this milestone anniversary by throwing a slew of offers at tank captains across the globe. From August 2nd to August 5th, players will receive a 15% credit discount on Tier X vehicles, triple crew experience for every fight, and discounts on premium ammo, crew training, garage slots, barracks, and camo skins. Special anniversary tank and gold bundles will also be available over the three-day period. August also brings an anniversary garage theme to all players, one free tank in the form of the Soviet LTP tier II light tank, and new repeatable missions.
PAX Australia 2013: Massively interviews Wargaming's Victor Kislyi
Sometimes Australia does get the big names! Massively's David "Psykopig" Desi met up with the Wargaming crew at this year's PAX Australia, and fortunately for you he filmed the whole thing! Wargaming was on hand to talk up its Australian World of Tanks servers as well as elaborate on its plans for a substantial push into the Asia/Pacific region. Join us after the break as the infamous Pig interviews Wargaming CEO Victor Kislyi on the current state of World Tanks, World of Warplanes, and World of Warships, as well as what fans can expect in the future.
Coming soon to a console near you: MMOs
Remember E3 2013? That huge video games conference thing from earlier in the summer? Weeks have passed since Microsoft and Sony squared off in the Los Angeles convention center (while Nintendo posted up at Best Buy and Ouya sulked in the parking lot), but the news made there continues to reverberate through the games industry. One curious trend seems to have been missed amid the clashing of proverbial titans: There sure are a lot of MMOs and online-focused games due on consoles this generation. And since MMOs are the business of Massively, we thought it might be fun to compile a quick list of all the ones we can find that are either already available on our current consoles or set for launch on the next batch. The list, as it turns out, is pretty extensive.
