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MAG Update v1.06 deploying June 8
Accidental self-healing and friend-stabbing rates are expected to drastically decrease in the world of MAG on June 8 -- the recently announced release date for Update v1.06. In addition to changing the credit costs of a number of weapons and accessories, the patch will map the "heal self" and "heal ally" functions to two different buttons on the controller, making the act of battlefield triage much less frustrating for folks who subscribe to the Medic archetype. Also, your friends won't accidentally stab you in the head anymore, which is always nice. Check out the update's initial announcement to see all the changes that will come to MAG next Tuesday.
MAG patch 1.06 coming in June, Combat Medics rejoice
One of the most frustrating things for us players of MAG's most altruistic self-defined class, the Combat Medic, are those times when we make a heroic dash through raging crossfire to reach a downed ally, only to accidentally heal ourselves instead. Even worse: those times when we're knocking on death's door, but accidentally heal an adjacent, barely wounded friendly. It's happened to all of us -- but thanks to the v1.06 patch due out "sometime next month," according to the game's official blog, it will never have to happen again. The update will map self healing and ally healing to two separate buttons (genius!) and will enact a whole slew of other minor (but oft-requested) changes. For example, you can now no longer accidentally stab members of your PMC. Nor can you purposefully stab them, if you happen to be a team-killing bastard. For the full list of changes, just click past the jump.
Sony survey suggests new mode for MAG, additional paid character slot
A handful of tipsters recently sent in a link to a survey currently being distributed by Sony, which appears to test the waters regarding two updates considered for Zipper Interactive's big ol' shooter, MAG. The first article of interest in the survey is a reference to an "Interdiction" mode, in which 128 players from two factions would fight over three neutral objectives, removing the attacker/defender dynamic of the game's other main modes. The survey also inquires whether we'd purchase this content for $8.99 (or $12.99, depending on the participant's earlier answers). On the very next page, the survey mentions an offer which would give MAG players an extra character slot (presumably opening up the option to belong to more than one faction at a time) for a fee of $.99 per month. If this subscription plan is actually being considered, we don't know how popular it would be. We couldn't imagine cheating on our beloved PMC. (S.V.E.R. Forever!) Zipper community manager Jeremy Dunham has addressed these potential changes on the MAG forums, stating, "we haven't announced any DLC details whatsoever. Nothing is official unless it comes from us." While these details may not be "official," it's worth noting that the survey was distributed by an official Sony email address. Food for thought! [Thanks, Steve and Logan!]
Best Buy taps Future US for new game mag: @Gamer
Andy Eddy seems like a regular guy. He's got some sweet scruff and nothing on his Facebook page looks out of the ordinary, so -- wait, what's this? Apparently Mr. Eddy is "working at Future US in the Future Plus group on a new publication called @Gamer, the 'official games magazine of Best Buy.'" For real? It's news to us and certainly the first that Kyle Orland, ex-Joystiq blogger and devilishly handsome chap who noticed the blurb, has heard about it. While we're inclined to point out the obvious to Best Buy (uh, game mags are pretty dead, bro), we're interested in seeing how far this will go. Real editorial content or a glorified shopper's guide? We can't wait to find out! [Via The Game Beat]
MAG announces double XP weekend and Fast Attack pack
MAG is offering players some new downloadable content that is awesome in and of itself, and even better because it's free. The newest DLC is the Fast Attack Pack -- three new sniper rifles and Improved Light Armor. Yes, it is 100%, honest to goodness free and available in the Playstation Store now along with the other PSN updates, so be sure to add it to your account. That's not the only gift for MAG players this weekend, however. Players can put their new rifles and armor through their paces and earn extra XP in the bargain, thanks to the double XP weekend. The event lasts until 11:59 PM Pacific time on Sunday, May 2nd, and if you're a veteran who already has an XP boost: yes, the bonus stacks. It's important to note that you need to complete every game to enjoy the bonus XP, because it's not applied until the end of a match.
MAG doling out double the XP this weekend
You know how you were going to drive upstate to attend your sister-in-law's wedding this weekend? Forget it. There's a MAG double XP weekend going down and you've been drafted for duty. According to the missive on the MAG site detailing this weekend's operations, the promotion is currently underway and will last until 11:59PM PT Sunday night. Veterans who already have an XP bonus need not worry: this stacks on top of their current modifier. Also, a word of caution: make sure you complete every match, because the modifier isn't applied until the end. We wouldn't want you evacuating the battlefield, leaving all of those delicious points behind. So ... what are you still reading this for? Go get yourself some points! For S.V.E.R.!
More free DLC coming to PS3's MAG
Zipper Interactive is treating the fans right by offering up another free downloadable content add-on for MAG, their multiplayer-only FPS for the Playstation 3. The latest round of DLC drops on April 29 and is known as the Fast Attack Gear Pack. Jeremy Dunham, Senior Community Manager at Zipper, brings word of the freebie on the official MAG blog. "Our latest downloadable extra will likely cause marksmen to swoon," he writes. The Fast Attack Gear Pack will feature three new special edition sniper rifles, each of which will incorporate both visual and performance variations when compared to the game's existing long-range weaponry. New armor types are also included, and Improved Light Armor will be available to all three factions for 400 in-game credits. Check out the official MAG blog for all the details.
MAG's free 'Fast Attack Pack' DLC coming next week
Once again, MAG developer Zipper Interactive plans to release another free chunk of content to its hugely huge multiplayer FPS. Fans of long-range weaponry and loose-fitting clothing will be delighted to learn the "Fast Attack Pack" DLC, which will hit the PSN next Thursday, April 29, includes new "Special Edition Sniper Rifles" and "Improved Light Armor" for all three of the game's factions. Then again, fans of shotguns, medical kits, light machine guns and repair tools probably won't be thrilled to learn that snipers will soon be faster and more accurate. Oh well! You win some, you get shot in the brain from 300 meters away ... some.
MAG explains the Electronics skill tree
If you're a MAG player, you know that the Electronics skill tree is one of the more confusing in the game. The fine folks at MAG realized it can be a bit much to figure out, and recently posted some help on the game's official blog. It's a long entry, but very well done, breaking the explanation down by item. Each individual item is further broken down by effect, stacking and activation information, and miscellaneous important points, so it's fairly simple to navigate and figure out. It's a valuable resource for players, made even more so by the addition of a discussion thread linking back to the blog entry, giving the fans a chance to discuss the skills among themselves and ask more questions. If you're a MAG fan who has been a bit frustrated in the past by the Electronics skill tree, you'll definitely want to check this out.
First MAG DLC coming next week
Jeremy Dunham, Senior Community Manager at Zipper Interactive, has dropped a post on the official Playstation blog detailing the first bit of MAG downloadable content coming next week. Zipper is calling it the "Trooper Gear Pack," and among its features are the Flashbang Grenade, perfect for disorienting and otherwise annoying your opponents, additional Light Machine Guns, and two new trooper uniforms for all of your urban warfare fashion needs. As a bonus, the DLC pack is free of charge, and the MAG team will also be enabling double XP to reward long-time fans; expect that to go live on March 25 at 12:00am Pacific time and continue through 11:59 pm Sunday March 28. The Trooper Gear Pack will be available for download beginning on March 25.
MAG gets free 'Trooper Gear Pack' DLC next week
Ten-hut, soldiers! HQ has just sent word that some new gear will be shipping to the front lines of MAG next week, free of charge: the Trooper Gear Pack. In this parcel, we'll finally get access to the Flashbang grenade -- which should help us confuse and outwit the enemy. But, that's not all: our supplier, Zipper Interactive, also reports it's bundled in some new LMGs (Raven's APEX 100SE, S.V.E.R.'s RTK-74 Vla, and Valor's Mk 46 Mod 1) and uniforms. The full rundown is available via Zipper's site, where it's also revealed that double XP will be available on the battlefield throughout next weekend (March 25 - 28). It's a nice bonus for our continued service, though we consider it bad timing. Operation PAX East will be in full effect by the 25th, so we doubt we'll find time to benefit from the extra incentive to hoist the S.V.E.R. flag.
Take aim at big prizes in MAG tournament
Amidst all the debate about whether or not MAG qualifies as an MMO, not to mention the recent Playstation Network brouhaha, it might be easy to lose sight of the actual game underneath everything. And it'd be a shame if you did, because you'd be missing out on a tournament centering around MAG run by Major League Gaming's Gamebattles site. The prizes? Straight-up cash money. Well, straight-up Sony Style gift cards and Playstation Home items, which is just about as good. (Although you can't rifle through a $1500 gift card like a pack of twenties.) Here are the details: the tournament will have three phases, with each lasting one full month. Each phase is a contest to earn the highest score in a different area -- MAG XP for March, headshots for April, and total kills for May. There will be leaderboards available on the site, as well, to help track how well you're doing compared to all the entrants. If you think you've got what it takes to make the top of the charts, head on over and take a look at the official entry rules. And no matter what, it couldn't hurt to give it a shot.
What could the PS3 bug mean for console MMOs?
If you're a PS3 owner, you probably already know about the difficulties surrounding the PS3 Phat consoles as of late. You're probably also wondering why we are talking about this here at Massively. Well, the problems that began this weekend left many players unable to log into the Playstation Network, rendering certain games unplayable. Games like MAG. We're betting the MAG population is looking a bit sparse right now. Earlier today, Sony warned owners of the affected consoles to shut them down and leave them alone for the next 24 hours, while they work to repair the bug with the internal clock that's causing the problem. While it's great that Sony has isolated the problem and is working to repair it, it leaves us with some food for thought. MMO developers are beginning to turn an eye to the console market, and this incident highlights a potential significant weakness. PCs rely almost entirely on software and individual hardware when it comes to gaming. It's the rare MMO gamer who doesn't know how to open his or her tower and create a custom machine. Consoles don't work like that. If a bad update comes down or there is some sort of internal glitch (with the internal clock, for example), everyone who owns that particular console is going to get it because everyone has the same hardware. That, in turn, will affect everyone trying to play an MMO from their console. While this doesn't mean mass hysteria and the doom of the console MMO market, hopefully it will serve to alert MMO developers to a problem that they can address before it moves from "potential" to "actual". In the meantime, here's a little something to look at while you wait for your PS3 to come back to the land of the living.
The Digital Continuum: My Fallout MMO
There are times when I feel like being completely indulgent, and this week's The Digital Continuum is one of them. The Fallout MMO has been a long while coming and probably will continue to be "on the horizon" well into the foreseeable future. So, it's with this knowledge that I've put together a grocery list of ideas that would be in my version of the game -- things that would make me decidedly excited to play as soon as possible. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised it took me so long to write these things down.
MAG moves to patch 1.03
For better or worse, most MMOs these days live and die by combat. That goes doubly so for the MMOFPS field, since it's difficult to have a game with "shooter" right in the genre descriptor without some form of lethal ordnance being unloaded. MAG, the massive squad-based shooter on the PS3, has made a major overhaul to its combat system with patch 1.03, designed to address several community concerns and elements that the designers felt were unfair and unfun. A large-scale weapon overhaul has taken place as the centerpiece of the patch, with the effectiveness of several weapons and strategies being re-tuned. The short version: shorter-range weapons have been toned down in terms of their accuracy at range, sights have been toned down for a similar reason, and both battle rifles and rocket launchers have received notable buffs. There's also greater consistency in firing through thin materials such as tents. With changes to the warnings for charges, faster gear switching, and decreased respec costs, the patch also brings improvements not solely linked to weapon balance. MAG players have the patch available now, and we're hoping that the shifts are keeping players more entertained and less frustrated at someone sniping them from half a map away with a shotgun.
MAG developers provide instructional videos on how to be better at MAG
What, you think the Joystiq Biomass, MAG's premier, S.V.E.R.-aligned clan will accept any greenhorn off the street to join its ranks? No, no -- we're only looking for cold-blooded, military-minded killing machines. If you're hoping to join our prestigious organization, you might want to give PlayStation.Blog's recently concluded MAG Developer Tips series a look-see. It provides helpful information on how to play each archetype, how to fill each leadership role, and to not get destroyed in the various gametypes. You'll find links to all of these lessons posted after the jump. Study up, and we might just reconsider your application.
MAG patch 1.03 arrives tomorrow
We've gotten pretty into MAG here at Joystiq HQ, but it's had the unintended side effect of causing us all to get really excited about incredibly minute things in patch notes. Take for example the recently-detailed 1.03 patch for the game, due tomorrow. We know for a fact that at least one Joystiq staffer sent a co-worker an instant message reading "'Changed resuscitated player's camera orientation to match the last camera direction used while incapacitated instead of the pre-harm camera.' YES." See? Super nerdy. Sure, there are some bigger, easier-to-understand balancing changes in there, too, but if you're a MAG fan, we imagine you'll be inclined as we are to ravenously dissect all the nuts and bolts.
MAG resuscitates their medic class with update, prepares to launch stats on MAG.com
Medics of the Shadow War, unite! MAG's latest patch did many favors for you, and even those who aren't of the resuscitation persuasion will find some tasty benefits in their latest version, patch 1.02. The last patch has cleaned up the field support's HUD by removing resuscitation icons from those players who can't be resuscitated, resulting in a much cleaner field of view for medics. Downed players who can be brought back to life also now carry a distance indicator icon on their body, so now you too can GPS your way to help a teammate. The same tracking system has also been given to players who have equipped explosive detectors, pointing out the location of mines. Lastly, medic icons will only be given to soldiers carrying defibulators, so those only holding a healing gun will no longer be medics. The patch has also improved server performance, resulting in reduced lag during high-end matches, and has made a change to the statistics system to prepare it for integration into MAG.com. So, if you're going to be jumping into the medic class after this patch, MAG's art director Steve Suhy has some tips for you when playing support. We've got the video embedded for your viewing pleasure right after the break.
MAG 1.02 patch cleared for duty, to deploy tonight
Medics, it's been a long, hard road in MAG -- hopefully until now. The PlayStation Blog reports that a new patch -- version 1.02, the first of many coming down the pipe -- will be available for download on your console war station tonight at 1 a.m. PST / 4 a.m. EST. The central theme is medical improvements -- specifically, the elimination of the onscreen medic icon from anyone who has a Medical Kit. Now, only those who have the Resuscitation Kit will have the cross. Also, the only soldiers who will see icons over downed players waiting for a resuscitation are those that can actually resuscitate them, which should help get some of that clutter off the screen. Finally, Zipper has added distance counters for those fallen comrades, giving medics a better idea of how far away those in need are. If you're looking for more intel on starting out (or just some general tips on being a badass), hit up the PS Blog.
Sony: PS3 supply to be 'tight' over coming months
Sony's senior director of corporate communications Patrick Seybold issued a statement after last night's NPD numbers for January, explaining that the company's flagship console may be a bit difficult to find at retail over the next few months. "We're working very hard with our retail partners to meet consumer interest, but the demand is tremendously high for the PS3 and we expect tight inventory in the coming months," Seybold notes in the statement. As this is the first we've heard about any sort of PlayStation 3 hardware shortages, we followed up with Seybold to make sure he wasn't only warning about future supply issues, but also explaining January's sales of the console. He told us: "Yes. The strong demand carrying through the holidays was evident and early in the month we [knew] there was going to be limited supply of the PS3 at retail in January. We're working closely with the retail channel to meet this demand, but expect tight supply for the coming months." The upcoming supply issues may also be a result of Sony's "upcoming line up of the industry's most anticipated games" -- games like Heavy Rain, God of War 3, and ModNation Racers. Seybold additionally points out that "this momentum is fueled by a stellar holiday" and the recent releases of games like MAG and BioShock 2. We here at Joystiq have yet to see the shortages at our local brick-and-mortars, but feel free to let us know if you do!
