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Metareview - Guild Wars: Nightfall
Nightfall represents the third entry in NCsoft's successful Guild Wars series, and provides the most compelling reason yet for fans of single-player RPGs to try out this subscription-free MMO. While developer ArenaNet continues to push the franchise forward with new professions and exotic locales, some critics expressed concerns over the aging graphics engine and the fact that party formation in the virtual towns remains needlessly difficult. However, there's still the addictive gameplay, and the flexibility of self-contained expansions means you can jump in (or jump out) at any time. How many of you plan on picking up Nightfall? 1UP (90/100) thinks Nightfall will appeal to the NWN-Oblivion crowd: "The most noteworthy addition comes in the form of 14 new nonplayer hero characters who -- unlike the addlebrained henchmen of campaigns past -- offer complete customization options to players. It saves a lot of headaches, and makes Guild Wars feel more like a single-player RPG than ever before." Gamespot (82/100) appreciates the enhanced enemy AI: "Nightfall introduces many impressive-looking, powerful new enemies to fight, and it also seems to have updated their artificial intelligence to make them even more ruthless -- they'll happily go after your party's soft targets, like your monks and elementalists, not just attack the frontline." GameDaily (70/100) had some issues with Nightfall's pacing: "It takes a long time for the story to get started. Unlike previous games, players can't select a secondary profession until level 5. Even so, many players will have made it halfway to level 20 (the game's maximum level) before the story starts to pick up any real momentum. Of course, Guild Wars has never been a game that has put strong emphasis on levels, but it's the only marker players have to see if they've outgrown a particular area."
Joystiq impressions: Lord of the Rings Online
Turbine's upcoming Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar will usher gamers into a massively multiplayer online version of Tolkien's fantasy universe. I got to play some of the still-beta game at a recent media event; the title's setting and story will be its main selling point, otherwise it resembles other MMOs -- not to say that's a bad thing.It takes a little work to learn an MMO, and Turbine said the company isn't trying to change Lord of the Rings just to be different. Instead, game controls and quest system felt like other titles, and I was killing defenseless forest creatures right away. Lord of the Rings also looked like other MMOs; what I saw didn't set any new standards, but it matched competitors. I was told that game art and other assets were still being updated for the Spring, 2007 launch.Lord of the Rings Online's story-driven approach and setting should be unique. The game is based on the original three books and The Hobbit, not the recent movie properties. So while the game looks similar to the movies -- hobbit houses have round doors and passages, and Gandalf looks like Ian McKellen -- Turbine says that's because the game matches the original, detailed prose.
Blizzard launches Warcraft encyclopedia
If you've ever wondered about the true meaning of immortality, or have the compelling urge to brush up on your Darnassian, Blizzard has a new resource for you. The Warcraft Encyclopedia is now available to provide comprehensive details on the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. As of right now, only the elven races of Azeroth are featured, but Blizzard is planning frequent updates to the online compendium. Whether or not this project is intended to supplement or compete with the useful WoW Wiki is unknown, but fans can expect some unique content to go along with the Encyclopedia's fancier window dressing.
Shaiya, Guild Wars most anticipated in China
According to new research from Chinese gaming portal 17173.com, Guangdong-based distributor Optisp (EVE Online) is home to the most anticipated online game in China, the Korean import Shaiya: Light and Darkness. WoW distributor The9 is hosting two of China's other highly anticipated Korean titles, Guild Wars and Soul of the Ultimate Nation. The fever over Shaiya is reportedly due to some racy ads that prompted Chinese censors to request less suggestive promos. I'm sure the two half-naked women prominently featured in the game's propaganda had nothing to do with that. 17173 has collected some in-game screen shots and wallpapers of Shaiya's physical embodiments of "light" and "darkness" (can you guess who's who?).See also: China online gaming trends
Schilling just a rookie in games industry
Curt Schilling has turned his addiction into a business, founding his own game company, aptly dubbed Green Monster Games. Schill recently spoke about his aspirations at an MIT game forum, boasting that his studio's MMO is going to "blow the industry away."Schilling backs big words with an employee-friendly business model that has already attracted the likes of Spawn-creator Todd McFarlane and science fiction author R.A. Salvatore. But to shake up the industry, Schill will have to do better than a comic book dude and novel scribe, meaning -- if he can't secure the right investors -- Schilling's gonna end up dipping into his, presumably, healthy savings account.As other panelists at the MIT forum where quick to point out, MMOs are the most costly games to develop, market for, and maintain, with the industry average falling around the $20 million mark. Sounds like Schill's gonna have to toss the ole' baseball around a few more years to support this habit.[Thanks, Sam]
Role-playing titles that made a "quantum leap"
Gamasutra recently polled its readers on which role-playing game made the biggest "quantum leap" at the time it was released. Any RPG throughout the history of the genre was fair pickings, but the top entry was the game that received the most votes from readers identified as industry professionals (because grunts like you and me only dilute the quality of the selection process).Classic heavyweights such as Final Fantasy IV, Neverwinter Nights, EverQuest, Baldur's Gate II, and the Ultima series are celebrated as honorable mentions, which illustrates the impressive depth of the genre. I won't reveal the top five vote-getters, but a certain spike-haired dude with a huge sword is absent from the list -- just one omission of many that should fuel some interesting debates among the RPG faithful. What are your thoughts about the list?See also: "Epic" RPGs: too time-consuming for casual gamers? "RPG" missing from today's MMORPGs
Nightfall world premiere sets Guild Wars record
NCsoft and ArenaNet have confirmed a franchise record attendance for the world premiere event of Guild Wars Nightfall. This past weekend, nearly 500,000 MMO enthusiasts spent an average of 8.5 hours trying out the new expansion pack, which officially launches Oct. 27. How many of you participated in this event?If you've been thinking about trying out Guild Wars, the Factions expansion pack is on sale for $30 at Circuit City until tomorrow (and you don't need the original game to play).See also: 3 million hours spent on Guild Wars Factions preview weekend
Middle-earth expands to the Middle Kingdom
According to a press release from Turbine Entertainment, the MMO maker is partnering with China's CDC Games to bring Lord of the Rings Online: The Shadows of Angmar to Chinese gamers -- a market with a strong affinity for online fantasy games. Turbine has already experienced success with Dungeons & Dragons Online in China and Japan, thanks to some effective content localization, and CDC will use a similar strategy by giving Middle-earth a distinctly Asian makeover. I hope this just means substituting tofu and rice for lembas bread, and not giving Gandalf a Fu Manchu moustache.See also: LOTR Online gameplay footage
Cybering night elves is cheating, but will you stop?
Any gamer who's been playing massively multiplayer online games for a while has come across (?!) a couple of wood elves entwined in passionate embrace in an abandoned treehouse in Kelethin or has stumbled upon a pair of night elves deep in some abandoned mine grinding out more than just a few quests. For some, cybersex and MMOGs just go together -- virtual trysts seem a natural extension of living in a fantasy world. But be warned: you're flirting with danger. if you've got a real-world partner it's cheating, according to psychologist Dr. Janet Hall, who specializes in relationship counseling. "As soon as secret, intimate, emotional or physical information is shared, it's cheating," she told The Age.
Marvel Universe Online trailer update
Marvel Universe Online caught the attention of many true believers at X06, and now the MMO's trailer is available on the web. Microsoft and Cryptic Studios haven't included any gameplay sequences, but the extended CGI clip teases us with the usual suspects from the House of Ideas. Everyone seems to be grabbing a piece of the Marvel pie these days, with Activision handling the Spider-Man, X-Men Legends and Ultimate Alliance games, and EA attempting to rebound from the dreadful Nemesis fighter. Read more about how Marvel and City of Heroes developer Cryptic decided to play nice in the IP sandbox.
FFXI customers axed for using third party tools
The population of Vana'diel shrunk by another 3,330 today after Square Enix continued their crackdown on third party tool users of Final Fantasy XI Online. Similar actions were taken by the RPG maker over the summer when they suspended or terminated 3,400 PlayOnline customer accounts for violations of the game's user agreement.While most gamers appreciate a clean playing environment, should users of tools like Windower (which allows FFXI to be played in windowed mode) be penalized for adding an aftermarket feature that Square Enix probably should have implemented in the first place? The counterpoint to this argument is the maintenance cost and man hours necessary to selectively filter out cheat mods. Casting a wider net and banning all third party tool users allows developers to spend more resources on creating new games.
NCsoft expanding to consoles, handhelds
GamesIndustry.biz spoke with NCsoft's European product director Thomas Bidaux about the Korean publisher's expansion plans on next-gen hardware and portable devices. According to Bidaux, the MMO maker best known for City of Heroes and Guild Wars is looking to create a gaming experience that will transcend the boundaries of a single platform. "The holy grail of gaming is a game that plays across as many platforms as possible," he said. Traditionally, those types of games have been the big-budget franchises and movie tie-ins, such as Madden, Harry Potter, and King Kong -- which have often resulted in inconsistent gaming experiences of varying quality (depending on the platform). But Bidaux says NCsoft is also looking for persistent immersion: "It's about making a great game that you can play on a PC or console, and then incorporate your mobile phone to expand the whole universe."What licenses and properties would you like to see adapted to this type of cross-genre, "play anywhere" style of gaming? The model NCsoft appears to be shooting for is one that emphasizes the strengths of each platform. For instance, using a mobile phone or handheld system for character customization and puzzle solving on the go, the PC for strategizing and role-playing, and a console for more action-oriented elements.See also: No future for desktop and laptop PCs?
Online games as 'third places'
The latest issue of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication includes an article exploring how MMOs are becoming "third places." This established term comes from home and work being the first two places people people congregate; Starbucks credits much of its sprawl on exploiting the coffee shop as a third place, rather than pushing customers out the door.Assistant professors from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign extensively discuss how we're meeting each other more often in game worlds. They say the interaction gives a useful sense of community and may even be replacing physical third places. The writers argue that while the online communities aren't the same as those in-person, they shouldn't be dismissed as unimportant.We've always enjoyed the multiplayer aspects of gaming and playing games with friends, even if just passing off the controller. With frequent press about games and MMOs as the latest scapegoat, we like seeing articles like this taking a deeper look into into how these worlds are constructive.[Via del.icio.us]
EQII: Echoes of Faydwer previewed
GameSpy has put together a preview of SOE's new EverQuest II expansion, Echoes of Faydwer. Scheduled for a November launch, Echoes is the third proper EQII expansion following Desert of Flames and Kindgom of Sky. Perhaps hoping to court new players who may only be familiar with the PS2's Champions of Norrath series (or to convert stalwarts of the original EQ), SOE returns the action to the popular setting of Faydwer. The Faydark zone will actually be a starting point for a new pixie race, and you'll have the opportunity to pray at the altars of classic deities such as Mithaniel Marr and Innoruuk to earn miracle items that will aid you in your quests. While you're on your knees, pray you have enough time to actually play Echoes with the deluge of new games and console launches arriving this holiday season.
MMO golf game tees off
Massively multiplayer golf? Yes, you heard us right. Purporting to already have a million players worldwide, subscription-free MMO golf title Shot-Online hits retail stores this week. The game aims to combine the social aspects of MMO games with a serious golf mechanic, though its cartoony graphic style implies a less-than-serious approach.From an outside view, this just looks like a golf game with a bit of social infrastructure slapped on; rankings, communication and levelling your character make a potentially dull sports game something that's potentially engrossing. It isn't true novelty -- the idea of ranking and progression in sports games, as well as competitive multiplayer, date back a way -- but at least it's not elves.
Multiverse becoming popular with indie MMO developers
According to this CNET article, MMO development platform Multiverse is becoming a hit. The "talk of the Austin Game Conference", about 100 developers are already signed up for the beta, and while some potential products seem to be going the sword-and-sorcery route, others look more interesting.However, as a commenter at Wonderland points out, Multiverse isn't the only option out there. With a high-profile investor in James Cameron, and plenty of publicity, it's overshadowing products like HeroEngine -- more options for development mean more diverse final products, but the 'indie MMO' space could certainly become quite exciting thanks to Multiverse and its cronies.
Try Guild Wars expansion free ... again
The next expansion in the Guild Wars series, Nightfall, is just around the corner -- but for anyone who can't wait until October, NCsoft are running an open preview event on September 22-24. During that weekend, Nightfall will be free to play for just about anyone, regardless of whether you have Guild Wars already.The previous expansion, Factions, had a very successful preview event, so it's no surprise the idea's being repeated. It makes sense for NCsoft to capitalise on Guild Wars' free nature by, well, making it even freer -- if only for a short while. Those of us already resigned to paying monthly for MMOs may find it a nice change to try a new one without cost, but as every hour spent on a free game is one that we have already paid for on another MMO, it's hard to drag us away.
World of Warcraft hits 7 million subscribers
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider. Wednesday morning at the Austin Game Conference it was announced that World of Warcraft has hit 7 million active subscribers world-wide. While the number doesn't surprise us -- as we've yet to see an MMO present a serious challenge to WoW's dominance of the genre -- such large figures are rather staggering. Despite all of the technical issues and player complaints, the game's popularity has continued to grow on a large scale (the game only announced it hit 6 million active subscribers at the beginning of March, this year). So congratulations, Blizzard, on another million players!
Rob Pardo's keynote at the Austin Game Conference
Elizabeth Harper is covering the MMO-heavy Austin Game Conference for Joystiq and our WoW-obsessed friends at WoW Insider.Haven't heard of Rob Pardo? Well, you might want to familiarize yourself with him. Not only is he Blizzard's Vice President of Game Development, but he recently was put on Time Magazine's list of the top 100 people, which points out that Pardo didn't invent the MMO, he just perfected it.So Wednesday morning, when the Austin Game Conference started out with a keynote from Mr. Pardo on the game design philosophy behind World of Warcraft, it wasn't to be missed. Read on for the highlights of the keynote.
WoW players set up memorial service for croc hunter
With many still lamenting the unfortunate death of Steve Irwin, the man who struck fear into the hearts of elusive crocodiles everywhere, several World of Warcraft players have decided that it would be a marvelous idea to have an in-game memorial service. User Bubbrubb asserts in a WoW forum post that he's deeply upset about the Australian's passing and that a dignified gathering on the computerized coastal area, Zoram Strand, would be a fitting way of saying goodbye. "I would like to spell out CRIKEY with players as a tribute to his wonderous catch phrase, and then we can dance and swim in the ocean to celebrate his life instead of mourning his death."The World of Warcraft has been host to similar events in the past, providing a common virtual ground for those hoping to express their grief with others. Of course, it also provides an outlet for those hoping to barge in on funerals and completely wreck the proceedings with little fear for real repercussion or reprisal. Let's hope there's a magical security detail for this one. [Via CVG]
