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An early look at the lore of Earthrise
More information about the lore of Earthrise has surfaced, giving readers a preview of the post-apocalyptic MMO's setting of Enterra. Although still in a pre-beta stage of development at Masthead Studios, some details were already known about the organizations in Earthrise. The newest information comes from IGN's RPG Vault, which has released their first of three installments on the lore of Earthrise.The IGN pieces will focus on Continoma, the corporate entity that governs the lives of Enterra's citizens. "Continoma: The Beginning" looks at how the Continoma Project developed into humanity's only viable chance for survival, via genetic rebirth which followed the cataclysmic Third World War. If you're a fan of the lore in your MMOs and sci-fi is your thing, check out the full story over at RPG Vault.
WAR NDA (probably) ends next week, CE pre-orders to join closed beta
Mythic's Mark Jacobs wrote a post-announcement update on the Vault Network boards today. The purpose of the post was to clarify some of the details about the release date, pre-orders, and the beta test. Warhammer Online fans should definitely read the post. Most of what he said was clarification about known information, but there were a couple big reveals.Jacob hopes that the nondisclosure agreement (NDA) that prevents current WAR beta testers from publicly discussing their experiences will end next week. He noted that three issues have been preventing the team from taking that step so far, but that progress has been made and resolutions are imminent.The other big news: folks who pre-ordered the Collector's Edition of the game will soon be invited to participate in the closed beta test. This is probably only a small win for those folks, given the rumors that the open beta is a couple weeks away. Jacobs declined to confirm a date for the open beta, saying that the announcement will come when the game is 100% ready. Not committing is a wise move in light of the problems Age of Conan had in its open beta event. 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!
Kaplan reveals a stinky achievement
It was just a quick sentence that went by almost completely unnoticed, flew totally under the radar. But in an interview which WoW lead designer Jeff Kaplan gave to WoW Vault, he mentioned a heretofore unknown achievement reward coming up in Wrath that will definitely pass the smell test.Current Wrath beta testers may have been able to peruse the approximately 500 achievements in the current build, but Kaplan has indicated that by the final release there will be 600-700 achievements for players to attempt. One of these achievements, Kaplan said, can be acquired by collecting pets. It seems that if you collect all the available pets in the game -- and I'm not sure if he meant tameable pets or collectible/vanity pets or both -- you will be granted a unique pet in the form of a skunk called Stinker. For my two "scents," I do love me some cute vanity pets, but I'm really glad that WoW doesn't come in a scratch-n-sniff version or with smell-o-vision.So now it's time for you to earn a WoW Insider achievement! Anyone under the age of thirty who can guess the name of the character in the picture will get this achievement: "Le kittee quel terriblay odeur!!"
Bionic Commando Rearmed's divergent finale
***Spoiler Alert -- Final Warning*** The original Bionic Commando ended with a battle against The Albatross warship and then Master-D. IGN tells us that Rearmed's ending is going to be a little different. The Albatross is now its own level, and apparently the longest level in the game, with challenging rooms that will require shutting down a security system to battle Master-D. Don't worry BC fans, we've been told before the original ending is still "historically accurate." Bionic Commando Rearmed will be available on August 13 -- be sure to check out videos of the new Albatross level after the break. %Gallery-14181%
IGN announces E3 award winners
And the winner is ... gamers! Well, that's the conclusion we came to after witnessing the sheer amount of top-notch games trotted out at this year's E3. While we're finalizing the official Joystiq E3 2008 Awards (coming soon – there was a lot of blood confetti to clean up in the judge's room) we'd like to offer, for your list-reading pleasure, IGN's picks for the Best of Show in various categories. You can read the entire list after the break. Let us hear what you think of their choices in the comments, and, for nostalgia's sake, check out our award winners (and losers) from last E3.
E308: Kid Icarus flies away from the show
After confirming Kid Icarus for the Wii, Matt Cassassminasiissanisina from IGN has made a wee comment that's sure to disappoint gamers around the globe: "Uh-oh. Looks like we're going to have to wait a little longer than E3 to see the kid fly again. Not too long, though, hopefully." Well, at least we won't waste our time during the Nintendo press conference hoping and praying for a Kid Icarus showing. Instead, we can focus on filling up the remaining spaces on our lovely E3 Bingo cards.
Basically, Order of Ecclesia looks rad
There's a lot of truth to the complaints many have made about producer Koji Igarashi's direction with the Castlevania series -- mainly that every new entry seems like a slight update to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's (1997) template -- but we've never let that get in the way of us taking in every bit of vampire-slaying media each new Castlevania title. As a team focused on digging up news on Nintendo DS games, we sift through dozens of videos and screenshots, glossing over most of them. With IGN's hands-on impressions and direct-feed clips for Order of Ecclesia, however, we took in every word, every second of animation. They're all embedded past the post break for you to do the same, of course!And, for those of you who are still grumpy about Order of Ecclesia possibly feeling too much like previous installments, you'll be happy to hear this bit from IGN's preview: "Between the glyph system's reliance on magic, the 'out of the castle' feel of the game, and the all new enemies, this is the first time since Symphony of the Night that a free-roaming version of the game hasn't felt like a direct clone of Symphony of the Night."%Gallery-22992%
IGN's Chobot and Strategize headed to Inside Xbox
In an effort to take some of the Inside Xbox workload off of Major Nelson (that man is a video content machine!), Microsoft and IGN have teamed up to offer a weekly dose of IGN's Strategize via the Xbox 360's Inside Xbox. What's Strategize? Well, it's a video game strategy segment hosted by the smiley-happy (and uh, party girl'ish?) Jessica Chobot where she discusses various game tips, tricks and cheats. You can check out the first Inside Xbox edition of Strategize tomorrow, June 27th via the handy Inside Xbox link on your 360's dashboard.
Microsoft brings Chobot, 'IGN Strategize' to XBL
Not to be trumped in the online flesh-and-blood female host arms race by Sony and Qore's Veronica Belmont, Microsoft has announced a partnership with IGN to bring its popular "IGN Strategize" segments to Xbox Live, hosted by IGN host/celebrity Jessica Chobot (who may or may not lick a 360 controller). Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's "Major Nelson," made the announcement this morning via his Twitter feed. A brief preview clip of himself and Chobot chatting has subsequently hit the "Inside Xbox" section of Live. IGN Strategize will soon join the other regular Inside Xbox segments and focus on tips, tricks, and strategies, hence the name.
Koller promises more first and third party games, less ports
It's undeniable that the PSP is in the middle of a serious software drought. Even John Koller, PSP's main marketing man in America, acknowledges that. Why the sudden drop of games, after the successful launches of games like God of War: Chains of Olympus and Crisis Core? It's simple -- PSP wasn't performing too well earlier in its life cycle, and developers have only recently woken up to the incredible potential of the PSP as a platform. "I think what you're seeing is the result of decisions made 18 months ago, a development cycle ago when hardware sales weren't as strong as they are now and we were shifting demographics from that older, professional consumer to the teen group. There was kind of a little bit of a lull in hardware sales 18 to 20 months ago; you're seeing the results today from those decisions back then."Since then, Koller and the Sony team has been going on a publisher "road show," and according to Koller, their efforts to envigorate the PSP development community has been successful. "Our worldwide studio team is actively developing titles for that platform and we've been on a road show amongst every, major third-party publisher -- which we actually just finished last week -- and have been talking to them about really how to publish on the PSP, and the level of excitement is really palpable."When can we expect new game announcements? Well, that's up to each publisher. However, Koller promises that "we're going to see a very good lineup of quality franchise titles coming over to the PSP that are really unique." In fact, "you're not going to see many ports anymore, and I think that's good." We'd agree.Read the complete interview at IGN.
Interview with Chuck Kallenbach, Game Designer on Legends of Norrath
What's this gab we're hearing about Legends of Norrath, it isn't all about the loot cards? Heresy! We're still buying up those virtual packs in hopes to score a rare loot card. Nevertheless, over on IGN's EQ2 Vault we came across this interview with Chuck Kallenbach, Game Designer on Legends of Norrath. Much is discussed gameplay wise about the insight behind the new Monk class, one that doesn't use weapons. One other topic covered includes the conundrum on scaling the game's complexity with new gameplay mechanics with the importance to not veer away from the game's intuitiveness and accessibility.The Oathbreaker set is the latest expansion introduced last week from Sony Online Entertainment. It brings 250 new cards, fresh gameplay mechanics, a new challenging raid scenario, and the following classes: Monk, Coercer, Templar and Beastlord. Many classes from EverQuest and EverQuest II are now represented in the game. If you are interested learning how to play Legends of Norrath but don't want to dump a bunch of cash you can download the client and play through the tutorials and it won't cost a you a dime.
IGN imagines the best E3 conference ever
Not content with pitting PSP systems in a battle royale, IGN PSP has created some loving fanfiction for the PSP. It imagines the "greatest E3 press conference" ever. In their imaginary E3, Jack Tretton goes on stage during the E3 keynote: "Last year, we introduced the PSP Slim and sales shot through the roof," he says with a grin. "This year, we're done screwing around."There on out, a slew of megaton announcements would come. In-game XMB (coming soon to PS3!), downloadable games direct to PSP (a promised feature), downloadable music and movies from the PLAYSTATION Store, tons of PS1 downloadables (such as Metal Gear Solid, Vagrant Story). Oh, and the announcement of games like Patapon 2, the next Syphon Filter and a brand new Vib-Ribbon.Of course, this is but a dream -- but it's a dream we can all share. Definitely check out IGN for a so-bad-it's-good Photoshop of Phil Harrison crying.
IGN compares all the PSP bundles
There sure are a lot of PSP bundles out there. IGN PSP (having nothing better to do) compared all the Entertainment Pack bundles announced by Sony. Which one gets the win? Will Daxter's attractive combination of 1GB Memory Stick and Family Guy UMD win out, or will God of War's bloody combo of Superbad and Syphon Filter: Combat Ops win the hearts of the IGN editors?The winning choice is the Daxter pack. According to the IGN editors, "if you're starting from scratch, the Daxter Pack gives you an engaging game, funny UMD, and enough memory to get your PSP on its feet." Of course, if you already have a Memory Stick, you can't do wrong with the God of War pack. For PSP newbies, however, we totally agree with IGN's recommendation.
Jennicide places in poker, poses for Playboy, and plays on Proudmoore
Jennifer Leigh knows games -- she finished 5th at the Poker Royale: Battle of the Ages series. She's known as Jennicide on PokerStars, and finished "in the money" at the World Poker Tour in 2006. Other folks might know her from May's issue of Playboy magazine. In a recent interview with the RPG Vault on IGN, she talked a little about her history with games and World of Warcraft. WoW's the only MMO she's played recently, but she's been known to play Everquest, Guild Wars, and others. She picked up World of Warcraft during a losing streak of poker, and figured paying Blizzard a monthly fee was would be less painful than continuing her streak. Of course, she runs into the same problem many people do: while she loves her WoW, she has trouble explaining to people who don't get it. She's surprisingly open about her server information. (For the record, she plays a Night Elf Druid on Proudmoore, and helped found the guild Fate and Fury. Also, she's planning a Blood Elf Warlock.) Between this and the politicians coming out of the closet, I can't wait to see what other interviews crop up.
IGN's sticks-on impression of Rock Band Wii drums
Although we've seen a picture of the Rock Band Wii drum kit before, IGN has gotten its hands on the final retail product. Beyond the obvious Wii white color difference of the drum set, the site says that the drums come with the "upgraded" components currently packaged with the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.The upgrades include a strengthened kick pedal and "somewhat" softer drum pads. For people who bought one of the original copies of Rock Band, they would notice a thicker spring beneath the Wii drum's kick pedal. The site concludes there isn't much difference in the hardware, but the Wii version has no DLC song option. If you have the option of purchasing Rock Band for another console, it's probably best to do so.
Sword of the New World expands with Nocturnal Sonata
IGN has a scoop on the new 'Nocturnal Sonata' expansion to Sword of the New World, an MMO also known as Granado Espada in Asia. Sword of the New World is a free-to-play title brought to North America and Europe by the K2 Network. Massively has looked at this game in the past and found it to be a quirky title; IGN describes its setting as 'the European Baroque period if it was designed by a modern anime artist'. Sword of the New World becomes even more surreal given that its old world setting is juxtaposed with a techno soundtrack. Surreal qualities aside, the game has some interesting features, particularly the use of collectible UPCs, or Unique Player Characters. The concept is somewhat comparable to the Heroes in Guild Wars. You control up to three characters at once who are members of your 'family'; certain NPCs for whom you've successfully completed quests offer themselves up to be added to your family as UPCs and called upon to aid you in your adventures. They provide access to special hybrid classes with unique powers to match. There are over 40 such UPCs, and two more are initially being added in the Nocturnal Sonata expansion: Vincent Rio (who inflicts damage with music) and Baek Ho (martial artist extraordinaire). Yet more UPCs are to follow in the coming months, adding new gameplay possibilities to Sword of the New World. The Nocturnal Sonata expansion will be released on June 25, and closely follows the 'The Land of the Dead' expansion released only three months ago.
Nintendo: 100 WiiWare titles in development warp pipe
According to Nintendo of America's senior director of project development, Tom Prata, there are currently over 100 WiiWare titles in various stages of development. Speaking with IGN, Prata says there were no first-party titles for the WiiWare launch because the company wanted to showcase the diversity of WiiWare developers, from large publishers, like Square Enix, to smaller and indie developers.The interview is actually more noteworthy for the lack of information Prata gave to some direct questions. He dodges whether there will be a hard drive in the near future for the Wii, or if Nintendo plans to lift the alleged 43MB size limit for WiiWare titles. He also wouldn't discuss which WiiWare titles have been the most popular. Prata did say, however, that consumers shouldn't hold their breath for WiiWare demos to become standard with available titles.
Nival Online's president discusses Russian MMOs
IGN has posted part one of a series taking a look at European RPG and MMO developers, beginning with Nival Online, Russia's number-one dev house. Nival's president, Sergey Orlovskiy discusses upcoming titles, like Allods Online, expected to arrive in Russia the first quarter of next year; rising development costs and how to manage them; the influence on the East of Western MMOs, and other interesting topics.It's true that the Eastern market news tends to be dominated by China and Korea, and this is a shame, because Russia is on its way to becoming a major power in the MMO industry. Enjoy the interview![Source]
MEGAowch: Haze handed 4.5 review by IGN
With its long development time and PS3-exclusive status, Haze has had a lot riding on its shoulders. If a new review by IGN is any indication, the game seems to have been crushed by the weight. The site gave Haze a paltry 4.5 out of 10, calling the effort a "middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters."Developer Free Radical Design leapt to the defense of its game, telling PSU, "Haze has had mixed reviews, but even GoldenEye got a 4/10 when it first came out. With a 9/10 in the Italian PSM, and an extremely positive review in Famitsu [34/40, fyi], we're looking forward to people playing Haze and making a judgment for themselves."We're currently compiling such judgments from across the netweb for a metareview. We'll let you know when there's something approximating a consensus.
IGN pretty much confirms Kid Icarus
There's a big game coming for the Wii this holiday -- we know this because Reggie said so -- and IGN's Matt Cassa Casamasi C. has virtually confirmed what most had anticipated: it's Kid Icarus. Speaking on IGN's most recent Nintendo Voice Chat podcast, Casamassina blurted: "Of course [Nintendo is] going to have some E3 surprises. You know, Kid Icarus, for crying out loud, how many times do we have to say Kid Icarus? Kid Icarus is coming for crying out loud."So there you go -- can't say we're hugely surprised to hear of Pit's return, but that doesn't mean we're looking forward to it any less. Casamassina refused to reveal who was behind it, but we hear the folks at Retro are currently kicking back and taking a break from the Metroid universe ... ** Wanton speculation.[Via Joystiq]
