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Massive shooter 'PlanetSide 2' hits PS4 for free in June
PlanetSide 2 is massive -- it holds the Guinness World Record for the most players in a single online, first-person shooter battle with 1,158 people -- and it officially launches on PlayStation 4 on June 23rd, completely free to play. It's been in beta on PS4 since January, but the floodgates really open later this month, especially considering you don't need a PlayStation Plus subscription to jump in for free. Developer Daybreak Game Company (formerly Sony Online Entertainment) promises to keep the updates coming on PS4 with holiday content, new features and fresh items.
Agar.io brings massively multiplayer games to the petri dish
Most massively multiplayer online games take place in epic fantasy worlds or the distant future, but one of the latest sensations takes place on a much, much smaller scale. Agar.io pits thousands of players against each other in a web-based petri dish, where each gamer represents a cell. Your only real goal is to grow larger than everyone else by swallowing other cells and dodging your bigger rivals. It sounds simple, but it can get very hectic -- and it's a good abstraction of the fierce survival-of-the-fittest competition that you sometimes see on the microscopic level.
'Guild Wars 2' cheater faces public humiliation before ban
Most cheaters in online role-playing games face an ignominious end. The developers ban them, and that's all she wrote. Not one particularly egregious Guild Wars 2 offender, however. When game developer ArenaNet finally took action against a hacker who had been terrorizing player-versus-player battles for weeks, the security team decided that some public humiliation was in order. It stripped one of the player's characters naked, jumped this persona off a ledge, and proceeded to delete every character linked to the account -- all recorded for posterity on video, as you can see below.
'Star Trek Online' honors Leonard Nimoy with in-game Spock statues
With the recent passing of Leonard Nimoy, multiple generations of geeks found themselves at a deep loss. It makes sense then that the folks behind Star Trek Online would erect effigies to immortalize the man perhaps best known for his role as Mr. Spock in the Star Trek universe. Should you travel to the planet Vulcan (Spock's home world), New Romulus, or even Earth in the game, you'll see memorials for him. The former two have statues with different quotes ("Live long and prosper" on Vulcan, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" on New Romulus), while our home planet is hanging black flags of mourning at its spaceport for the next week.
Better than 'Destiny': Studios now make massive games in just months
It usually takes millions of dollars, a decade and hundreds of developers to create a single massively multiplayer online (MMO) game. This is the standard in the gaming industry. Smaller studios generally don't have the resources to create huge, persistent games, and larger ones have shut down and bankrupted entire states while trying to craft MMO worlds. A lot of the hurdles in building MMOs lie within the supporting tech -- running servers that handle complex mechanics 24/7/365, maxing those out and buying more, all while solving problems of latency and persistence. Making the worlds feel real for all players, at all times.
Sony has sold the MMO division responsible for 'EverQuest' and 'Planetside 2'
Sony has sold its online gaming division Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). SOE has been making games since the late '90s, and is probably most famous for developing the EverQuest series. Most of its games have been released for both Windows and Sony platforms, but as a result of the acquisition it'll apparently be bringing future titles to Xbox and mobile platforms as well. The buyer? A relatively unknown investment firm called Columbus Nova.
Maestros of the Anthymn begins its Kickstarter campaign
Will the melody be with Maestros of the Anthymn this time around? The rebranded music-based game has launched a new campaign to fund the development of its launch episode, "Dark Tide." The team previously told Massively that the episodic game will hopefully lead into a full-featured MMO. According to the project's new Kickstarter page, "One of the biggest drivers for all of us at the studio is knowing that one day we might have players creating, sharing and wielding music in hopes of completing The Anthymn." The story will follow a musical genius who uses his talents to reunite a country shattered by civil war. String Theory Creative Director Riley McDougall says that this game will use music in a whole new way: "Beat-matching music games are fun, but what if you could literally mold the world around you, solve puzzles and conquer impossible enemies through creating and wielding music itself?" Maestros of the Anthymn is looking to raise $200,000 CAD in pledges over the next month. The team has future plans to create three more episodes to make up the game's first season, as well as a story for four seasons past that. Each episode will contain sandbox, cinematic, and puzzle elements. [Additional source: String Theory Entertainment press release]
Maestros of the Anthymn is definitely still an MMO
MMORPG bard fans, furbish up your lungs! Earlier this week, we posted about Maestros of the Anthymn, a unique music-flavored MMO from indie dev house String Theory (whose name makes us grin every time). Under its original name, Anthymn, the game failed to reach its Kickstarter funding goals, but the developers prevailed and have plans for another run. However, the devs' reference to "episodic content" made us wonder whether the game might not be less an MMO than once planned. MotA's Creative Director Riley McDougall reached out to Massively to dispel those concerns. YES! Our end goal is to still make it an MMO. The episodic format is our way of getting there. I think a lot of people forget the legwork it took for Blizzard to gain such a massive and dedicated community with WC1, SC1, Diablo, WC2, Diablo 2, WC3 before even thinking about launching an MMO. Our intent is to follow the same format, use the episodic to build the brand and our community while dedicating more studio resources to the online RPG as we move forward. Long road ahead but we've come this far, no way we're giving up. The developers also posted an in-depth Facebook introduction on Wednesday. "What we believe makes Maestros of the Anthymn (MotA) so unique is the way in which sound and music are used in game," writes String Theory. "There's a ton of game design philosophies and methodologies out there but no matter what feature or mechanic we're crafting, we begin with the same vital question. What does it sound like? Building from a foundation of sound design has allowed us to breathe an emotional resonance into every part of MotA, from the way our mountain ranges are shaped to the revolutionary 'call and response' musical combat system. This is going to be something truly special and worth your attention come January 15th" -- which just happpens to be when the new launch trailer and Kickstarter arrive.
Claims that MMOs are a 'threat to public health' are 'exaggerated' says new study
Dr. Rachel Kowert, lead author on the relationship between shyness and online gaming paper that we covered back in October, has just released another study relating to MMOs, this one investigating the psychosocial causes and consequences of online video gameplay. Due to be published in the science journal Computers in Human Behavior in April 2015, the paper seeks to improve on past research that links online video gaming to loneliness, depression, social anxiety, poor self-esteem, and social incompetence. Kowert and her colleagues from the Universities of Muenster and Hohenheim studied 4500 gamers over 1- and 2-year periods to determine whether negative psychological traits are a consequence of engaging in online games like MMOs or simply act to draw people to online games that help them compensate for those negative traits (the "social compensation hypothesis"). MMORPG gamers will be happy to know that the findings suggest that the latter is true; no, your MMOs won't make you depressed or suddenly unable to manage interpersonal communications: The results uncovered here do not support the claims that exposure to, or prolonged engagement within, OVG [online video game] spaces negatively impacts players' psychosocial well-being. In that respect, concerns regarding OVGs being a threat to public health seem to be exaggerated. These findings do, however, provide the empirical evidence for a social compensation model among young adult participants, indicating that OVGs have likely become alternative social outlets for young adult players with [low] social and psychosocial resources, as reflected by lower reported life satisfaction and social competence. In fact, the effect was strongest for young gamers: "For adolescent players, being a member of the online game playing community was found to bolster their reported life-satisfaction." Stay tuned later this month for a full Massively report on Kowert's MMO-related research.
WoW and FFXIV see boosted playtime on Raptr; ArcheAge playtime 'cratered'
Another month, another Raptr report. Yesterday Raptr.com posted its most played PC games list for November, and MMOs did rather well. Unsurprisingly, World of Warcraft surged up the list to #2 thanks to the Warlords of Draenor expansion. "The MMO's monthly play time was up 71.3% versus October," Raptr's press release says. And though WoW "likely" drew from League of Legends' numbers, it couldn't quite usurp the MOBA's #1 seat. Among other MMOs, ArcheAge playtime "cratered by 39.97%," but World of Tanks and Final Fantasy XIV both saw rises in theirs. Guild Wars 2 rose in rank, Raptr says, but lost playtime in November vs. October. SWTOR fell two places since October. As always, Raptr roundups come with the caveat that they represent Raptr users on PC, not all gamers; some MMO studios are also known to boost their Raptr numbers with in-game incentives. But since some of these games refuse to release population data, you might call this the next best snapshot of popularity outside of touring the servers yourself.
Ask Massively: Ridiculing e-sports is bad for MMOs
I don't love e-sports. I've never really been a fan. I used to enjoy spectating Guild Wars matches, but only in short bursts. Truth is, I prefer playing in PvP to watching it. I feel that way about real sports too; the ones I like, I'd rather play than watch. (Except tennis. I have no idea why, but I could watch that all day.) And if the MMORPG community's comments are any judge, I am not alone in my indifference to e-sports. Actually, "indifference" is probably too tame a word; some MMO gamers are outright hostile to e-sports, be those e-sports jammed into proper MMORPGs or waaaaay out on the fringes of the online gamosphere. That hostile ridicule of e-sports, however, degrades online gaming, our corner of it as much as anyone's.
Combat-free MMO Wander coming to PS4
Wander is an unconventional, combat-less MMO that's currently in beta on PC and Linux and planned to reach PS4 in March 2015, as announced on the PlayStation Blog. Rather than the common hunt for loot and quests, Wander focuses on unguided exploration across a cluster of overgrown islands. Players can set out on their own to discover oddities, or work with those they cross paths with to piece together the area's history. Adventurers begin as walking trees with no memory, but can find and take alternate forms like a winged griffon or the swimming-savvy azertash. While parsing through Wander's rainforest for hidden secrets might feel overwhelming, Siren-like songs will usher players toward secrets that they're close to. While it seems expansive and mysterious, Writer and Character Designer Crystal Flinn explained that it's possible to get to the "end" of Wander's story. While a price for the PS4 version hasn't been offered, access to the PC and Linux beta is available for $25. [Image: Wander]
MMO dev: Steam Greenlight still 'a big black box' for indies
Fairytale Distillery is an independent studio based in Munich, Germany, with four full-time developers and a handful of freelancers who help out as needed – and they're all making an MMO for PC, Mac and Linux called Das Tal. It's not as massive as EVE Online or as intricate as World of Warcraft, but it's a huge project for such a tiny team to tackle. Fairytale Distillery co-founder Alexander Zacherl seems to have a solid development and launch plan that sees Das Tal thriving until the late 2020s, when he expects it to shut down. With just two founders and two developers who work on the game daily, Fairytale Distillery is overextending itself trying to handle all aspects of launching an MMO. Everyone on the team has hands in designing, developing, marketing and selling the game, Zacherl says. Part of promoting and selling Das Tal was the game's Greenlight campaign on Steam. Das Tal was approved for sale on Steam on November 6, after 91 days on Greenlight. During this process, Zacherl noticed a shift in Steam's approach to Greenlight – approved games aren't announced in batches anymore. Instead, it seems as if games in the top 100 are constantly getting the go-ahead with no official announcements, he says.
'Goat Simulator' is becoming an extra-absurd role-playing game
Believe it or not, Goat Simulator is about to get even more ridiculous. Coffee Stain Studios is teasing the launch of Goat MMO Simulator, a massively multiplayer "simulation" add-on for its anything-goes animal game. How absurd is this barnyard role-playing saga going to get? Let's put it this way: it revolves around faction warfare between goats and sheep, and one of the character classes is "Microwave." That says all you need to know, really. It's not clear if Goat MMO will hold your attention any better than the core game, but it won't cost you much to give this a whirl -- the expansion will be free for Goat Simulator owners when it arrives on November 20th.
Elite: Dangerous blasts off in December
Elite: Dangerous will reach PCs on December 16, Frontier Developments announced via press release. The fourth game in the Elite series is the first to launch in many years, as Frontier: First Encounters arrived in 1995. Elite: Dangerous puts players in the cockpit of a spaceship, exploring the open galaxy in both single-player and massively-multiplayer online modes. The Mercenary Edition of the spacefaring game is still up for pre-order via Frontier's online store for $50 (£35 / €40), slashing a cool $10 off the final $60 (£39.99 / €49.99) price tag. Access to the game's ongoing beta is priced at $75. Elite: Dangerous began as a Kickstarter project, earning £1,578,316 (roughly $2 million) in January 2013 to fund its creation. [Image: Frontier Developments]
World of Speed gameplay video takes a spin through Moscow
World of Speed is an MMO-style racing game from Need for Speed: Shift and Shift 2: Unleashed developer Slightly Mad Studios, and this is some of the first gameplay footage we've seen since the game's announcement in February. The video shows off driver-seat and third-person perspectives, and we have to say, that shiny, reflective hood in first-person view is mighty pretty. World of Speed is due out on PC this year as a free, downloadable game published by My.com. Beta sign-ups are open now through the game's website. [Image: My.com]
League of Legends tops MMO revenue list, Hearthstone No. 10
MMO games, including MOBAs, compose 21 percent of the worldwide digital game market and are on track to generate $11 billion in revenue this year alone, SuperData Research reports. By 2017, that number is expected to rise to $13 billion. In 2014, the No. 1 MMO in terms of revenue is League of Legends, which has so far generated $946 million, beating out subscription games such as World of Warcraft, which is No. 4 on the list with $728 million. World of Tanks comes in at No. 5 and represents the largest revenue gap on the graph at $369 million. Dota 2 is No. 9 with $136 million, and Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is No. 10 with $114 million. See the full graph below.
Final Fantasy 14 expansion Heavensward announced
Square Enix MMO Final Fantasy 14 will be receiving its first expansion in spring 2015, reports our sister site, Massively. The expansion, called "Heavensward," will feature new jobs, a new race, new primals to fight, a level cap raise to 60 and new areas to explore, including the city-state of Ishgard, which is constantly at war with a horde of intelligent dragons. There's still plenty unanswered at this point in time. What are the new jobs? What is the new race and what does it look like? Is the expansion's title supposed to be "heaven sword" and "sword" is just misspelled? Or is it "heavens ward"? So many questions! Good thing we'll be able to find out more during the London Fan Festival on October 25. For now, if you're dying for any and every bit of Heavensward you can get, check out a teaser trailer after the break.
The Think Tank: Confronting the 'unbundling' of MMORPGs
Last month, the long-running, scholarly virtual world blog Terra Nova updated with a post suggesting that the blog, like the worlds it covered, might be coming to an end (the blog, at least, has been saved in the interim). Founder Dr Edward Castronova argued that virtual worlds and MMOs have seen a recent "unbundling," with sociality, story, multi-player combat, and economy splitting off into different directions and platforms instead of staying unified in MMOs. The only MMO element that stayed were the people, and "it proved impossible to construct mechanisms that allowed people to find fulfillment from their fellow-players rather than frustration. In the end, the concept of a multi-player fantasy world broke on the shoals of the infinite weirdness of human personality." It's pretty depressing. But is it true? Are MMOs and virtual worlds doomed to forever splinter apart thanks to niche-ier media and be ruined by their own players? That's what I asked the Massively crew in this week's Think Tank (and our writers rose to the challenge -- every single one of them).
RuneScape getting Hearthstone treatment with new card game
RuneScape developer Jagex revealed a new complementary game to the studio's MMO today, Chronicle: RuneScape Legends. Set in RuneScape's primary world, Gielinor, the game is of the collectible card-battling variety and "focuses on quest building, allowing players to craft their own miniature RPGs against enemies." The game first debuted at Jagex's RuneFest event in London over the weekend, and the developer said it's been quietly working on Chronicle: RuneScape Legends "since the start of the year." Jagex's announcement follows the recent success of Blizzard's Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, a card game based on the World of Warcraft universe. Hearthstone reached 20 million players as of September on PC, Mac and mobile platforms. Likewise, Chronicle: RuneScape Legends will launch in 2015 for PC and Mac as well as mobile and tablet devices. [Image: Jagex]
