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Wake Up: The final day of The Matrix Online
Like we said in our article before, "...until everyone's RSI is smashed into a tiny, tiny ball." Now you see that we really weren't joking about that.But we were in The Matrix Online for the final hours as well, and we managed to get some great screenshots from the end of the game. There were explosions, lightning bolts, oddly colored skies until finally.... in the last few hours... it became beautiful again. The green skies were rolled back in favor of a blue sky tinged with hints of red. Then, of course, we all got our plugs pulled and ended up smashed into... well... you know.If you're interested in how it all looked before everything crashed, check out what we got to see during our final moments! The Last Day of Matrix Online>> %Gallery-69217%
Reminder: Check out The Matrix Online before it decompiles
Ashes to ashes, decompiling sky to deletion. The Matrix Online is reminding us all that it's slowing coming undone as the system becomes more and more unstable with each passing day. Ashes raining from the sky, eyes being seen in the clouds, zombies, agents, angels, and demons all appearing out of the system's corruption to wreak havoc across the Mega City.This week is the last week for The Matrix Online and all former subscribers are welcomed to come back to play one final time before the machines pull the plug for good. The Matrix crashes on July 31st, so be sure to be logged in on that day to be assaulted by pretty much everyone and everything until everyone's RSI is smashed into a tiny, tiny ball.
Station launcher moves out of beta, adds voice chat support
So the beta launcher is finally un-betaed! Sony has officially pushed the Station Launcher into the "final version," dropping in voice chat, simplified menus, faster servers for downloads, and the ability to run the launcher without administrative rights as well.The fun stuff, however, is really contained within the voice update. This new voice, dubbed "station voice," lets you communicate with friends from within the game or outside of the game. Creating a room from outside of the game is done with your in-game character, letting people who are on the station launcher join you, or people inside of the game join your room from the inside, no launcher required.Plus, the other new features like the upgraded servers that will give more downstream bandwidth for game updates, are certainly nothing to sneeze at.This doesn't mean that Sony is done with upgrading and changing the launcher, as they've already pledged to continue taking user feedback and pushing that into their product to constantly make a better launcher.For the full patch notes, check them out on the EverQuest forums, located in this thread.
Anti-Aliased: So long, and thanks for all the woah
It's a depressing news day for me today. As we've reported earlier, Sony Online Entertainment has finally made the decision to pull the plug on The Matrix Online, a decision that makes absolutely perfect sense given the dire straights the game has been in for the past few years.MxO was always "the little game that could" in regards to the community outlook. Even with horribly broken systems, a grind worthy of an Asian MMO, and periods where I literally sat around doing nothing, there was some odd charm about the game. Perhaps it was the setting, or maybe it was the really cool combat system (yes, it too was broken, but those animations were sweet), but I think it was the storyline.Let's have a look back the history of Matrix Online and some of the stories no one ever heard about.
Anti-Aliased: So long, and thanks for all the woah pt. 2
My personal favorite moment? Past attending a few of the Merovingian's parties (being a faction leader in the organization certainly qualifies you for the guest list), it had to have been investigating into the street magician, Cryptos. Cryptos appeared in the Mega City with a bang, placing "Cryptos coffins" all over the city as he popped out of them at certain intervals to speak riddles to players. As I attended one of the coffins for its speech, the clacking of heels turned my attention over my shoulder, my camera falling onto Niobe walking down the street towards me.She commented that she was surprised that I actually found my way down a street without falling over in a drunken stupor, while I smirked and laughed. Soon afterwards, a whole vanguard of Zionist players showed up, backing up Niobe with guns -- lots of guns."Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right here, *Lady* Return." She mocked. That would be when I pulled out the three best words in the Merovingian organization arsenal."You owe me. I helped you in the church at the funeral. You cannot neglect your debt, Niobe," I replied with a strong smile. She acted taken aback and motioned to the others behind her. The players all lowered their guns and shot me angry looks, to which I shrugged happily and laughed.In no other game could social combat be as effective as physical combat. You didn't always have to shoot your way out of a situation if you knew the right people... or just paid enough of them.An MMO not all about combat? Lies!Certainly the combat of MxO was awesome. You had great martial arts combat, you had insane wire-fu moves, and you even had bullet time. (It would basically slow down on your screen just long enough to show you some great action, then it would speed up again to match up with the action that had gone on while you were slowed down.)But some of the real charm of the game came in the fact that puzzles were hidden inside of it. Billboards, the newspaper, and even specially constructed events started by a simple forum post or a simple tell from a character lead into stories told in live action.The game had elements of collaborative puzzle solving, social tension started by organizational warfare, and a driving sense of community that no other game that I've played since has come close to having. People were there to really interact with the world, not just hit level 50 and grind their faces on endgame.Hopes for the futureIt's sad to see this game go, but I have the strong personal opinion that this game did not die because it embraced different styles of gameplay. It died because it stopped embracing them.What MxO was offering players no other game offered. If there had been more polish to the static content and the developers would have stayed on their path of dynamic storytelling, I think this game would certainly would have continued on with a loyal fanbase because it would have offered gameplay that no other mainstream MMO to date has embraced.And, with any luck, perhaps we'll see another attempt at this universe in the future. Look at what we have with two Star Wars MMOs coming out. The potential is still there for a great Matrix Online game.With all of this though, thank you developers for all of your work, and thank you Sony Online Entertainment for keeping it up as long as you did. While I may not agree with all of the decisions surrounding the game, the effort was still there to keep the game alive for as long as it was.Everything that has a beginning has an end. Colin Brennan is the weekly writer of Anti-Aliased who hates aimless hate. When he's not writing here for Massively, he's rambling on his personal blog, The Experience Curve. If you want to message him, send him an e-mail at colin.brennan AT weblogsinc DOT com. You can also follow him on Twitter through Massively, or through his personal feed.
SOE is jacking out of The Matrix Online
Hang on. Wait a minute. Has anyone else seen a sign of the apocalypse today, or is the news that Sony Online Entertainment is actually shutting down an MMO the only one out there currently? We had to ask because when we saw the news this morning, we really couldn't believe our eyes. SOE, long heralded for keeping MMOs open even with very small communities, has finally decided to close down The Matrix Online, leaving the remaining Redpills to jack out for the last time on July 31st, 2009. From what we've seen, remaining members of The Matrix Online community will have some community team interaction, as Daniel "Walrus" Myers is threatening to "[crush] everyone's RSI just one more time." Additionally, any MxO players making the jaunt to Las Vegas this year for SOE's Fan Faire will also be able to meet up with Walrus there, as he will be there for The Agency. Still, it's a sad day - and a memorable one - in seeing SOE shut down an MMO. We only wonder what this will mean for their other smaller-subscriber-number MMOs. Will we see any of them shuttered as well? Only time will tell. [Via Tipa from West Karana]
What happens at Fan Faire, stays at Fan Faire
Vegas, city of lights, nightlife, and SOE's Fan Faire! Sony has announced that they will once again be heading for Vegas to party down in high-rolling style. This year they'll be holding the event from June 25th to 28th at Bally's Hotel. The location they've picked is right in the middle of various Vegas attractions - although we're sure if you're there for the SOE party, you won't need to worry about that too much. Having attended last year's Fan Faire, we can definitely say that it's a great weekend of fun and interesting panels, nice people - and this year's lineup appears to be just as interesting. So far the scheduled events include: Special announcements and sneak peeks of upcoming SOE titles at the Third Annual Community Address from SOE President John Smedley Autograph signings with members of the original EQ development team and other key contributors Lots of in-game tournaments; and live, game-themed competitions and quests Developer forums and roundtables Cool giveaways and other fun items! Player of the Year To top it all off, prices for Vegas vacations are quite good, currently. So if you've been thinking about getting away, really dig SOE's games - or upcoming titles, and enjoy partying down with a great bunch of friendly, welcoming people, then definitely make some plans to attend this year's Fan Faire.
The Matrix Online update 66 brings about The Omega
The delayed Matrix Online update 66 saw the light of day today as the servers were brought down this morning for the patch. Update 66 brings in the new Windows Vista enhancements, which fixes many of the graphical problems users were experiencing when running the game on Vista, as well as new RSI capture items and the "little surprises" that Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain promised in his leaving letter.The surprises have come in the form of a new collector, named The Omega, and have included a few new clothing items that make use of the matrix code render and the ability to turn the Area K Black Trenchcoat into a white version and the white Patcher's Headgear into a new black "Omega" version.For the full patch notes, check them out on the Matrix Online forums.
Friday the 13th too cursed for Matrix Online update 66
We reported earlier in the week that The Matrix Online update 66 was due to hit servers yesterday, however community relations representative Virrago has informed the MxO players that the update will be pushed back to next week.The patch notes on this update are still in the dark, and no one is quite sure what will be included with this update past the fixes for Windows Vista and the removal of storyline progression. It looks like the MxO team will be releasing the notes the day of the patch, keeping everything a surprise until the last moment.Also up in the air is Ben "Rarebit" Chamberlain's leaving date, as his original intent was to leave after update 66 was pushed to the live servers. It would appear that he's staying with the team until the update is pushed, but that is unclear as of this posting. In any case, we wish him the best of luck with his future endeavors and thank him for all of his hard work putting together the innovative story of The Matrix Online.
The Matrix Online says goodbye to a developer
The Matrix Online is saying goodbye to one of their main developers as Ben Chamberlain, aka "Rarebit," leaves the MxO staff on February 13th. Rarebit was largely responsible in the last months for continuing the Matrix Online's main story via many live events each week -- the events that have kept the spirits of the dwindling community interested in the game.According to his leaving note, Rarebit is also concluding his work in the games industry after 10 years of work.His departure from the staff will begin shortly after Update 66 launches on live servers on February 12th. Update 66 will include the very critical patch that will clear up the many visual corruptions that occur when a user runs Matrix Online on Windows Vista, as well as provide secrets that Rarebit is holding to his chest. Rarebit has also announced that he will be releasing the outlines for the rest of the MxO storyline, providing all the wrap-ups to the game's main plot that have occurred since chapter 5.2.
Anti-Aliased: You've been Auto-Assaulted, part deux
I'm one of those people that likes to think that NCsoft has enough money to get by on. It's just my gut reaction that if you have a few successful games then you probably have some spending money in your wallet. So, I like to think that NCsoft, even though they certainly took a pretty huge hit when they invested in Tabula Rasa, could have easily kept the development process going. Perhaps it would have been much slower than it currently was, but there was no reason it couldn't keep going on some type level.They have, at least, provided some compensation for players who are currently subscribed to the game; the chance to try out games like City of Heroes and Lineage 2 are offered in the stead of TR gameplay time.
Anti-Aliased: I should market fanboi pesticide
This week's column is going to be a little different than the norm I usually cover, but it still falls into that which I love and dedicate my craft to -- the analysis of MMO culture. And who better to analyze than the bane of a game's existence, the fanboi!They're right, you're wrong. Their opinion is obviously the best opinion on the planet, even if it consists of "this gaem is teh rox, ur dumb and obviuosly a gey retard." (It always fascinates me how they can screw up a word like gay, but can somehow gain the coherence to spell retard correctly.) They clog up the message boards by defending everything the developer does, right down to eating an egg sandwich during their hour long lunch breaks.They probably mean well and want their game of choice to succeed, but they end up doing more damage to the community at large than good. So let's dedicate this column to the fanboi and how much they screw things up for everyone.
One Shots: Halcyon and on and on
The pounding music, the dancing bodies - nightlife in The Matrix Online is a whole other world. Today's One Shots comes to us from Michael V, who recently attended a server-wide dev party in MxO; a gorgeous, sleek game we don't get to see nearly enough of. Michael writes in:This screenshot is from Microgigs of the Syntax server from The Matrix Online. This was a dev-sponsored party in the club the Sanguine Room in the Moriah Projects district. Treats were handed out, a costume contest was held, and the Live Event character the Effectuator showed up and turned people into ninjas.Do you have any screenshots from a GM or Dev event in your favorite game that you'd like to share with us? Perhaps you play a game we don't spotlight very often and you'd like to show off some of the cool things you've experienced. Whatever your reason, we'd love to see your screenshots! Just send them to use here at oneshots AT massively.com along with a brief description of what we're seeing in the image. We'll take care of the rest.%Gallery-9798%
Anti-Aliased: Pourin' out one for all my guildies
The Twilight Empire of World of Warcraft's Ravenholdt (PvPRP) server is a very diverse guild. They're active roleplayers, dabbling in raids and gearing for 70, frequently aid their members in running instances, and meet often to both roleplay different storylines and just be together. Their leader, Empress Aerana, has high hopes and aspirations for the guild she's built from the ground up at level 20 and has continued to run until this day; almost a year of keeping the guild active on Ravenholdt.If you're looking at the above picture, you might recognize the paladin standing in the middle of the photo -- that's me, feeling kinda short at the moment. If it wasn't for Twilight Empire, I wouldn't be standing there in that room. The kindness of Aerana and the other guild members persuaded me to pick up my World of Warcraft disc and get back into the game -- something I've never done before for any other guild. With the frequent events, active membership and relaxed nature of the guild, I've felt right at home since I've jumped back in to the game. If it wasn't for the guild, the game wouldn't be half as fun. That's why this edition of Anti-Aliased is devoted to the concept of guilds and how critical they are to online gaming.
Anti-Aliased: There's other people there too, ya know.
I'll be blunt -- I hate grouping. Nothing pains me more than grouping up with four of the "internet's finest" and going into a dungeon to kill some monsters. 95% of the time, it seems I'm doomed to find 4chan (NSFW) rejects or screaming 10-year-old kids (NSFW). Of course, these are the parties that take an hour and a half to assemble and only last two rooms into the dungeon. Someone inevitably screws up and gets six mobs on them, and then they instantly turn around and blame the priest for "not being able to heal properly". Of course they don't actually say "not being able to heal properly"; it comes out more like "u suck n00b priest".
The Matrix gets new weapons, story missions, enemies
SOE deployed Update 60 on The Matrix Online's servers this week. The update doesn't just fix bugs. It also marks the beginning of Episode 10.2 of the story, introduces some new enemies in Datamine, and adds a reward for players who complete live critical missions.If you're looking to earn the new reward items (a consumable of some sort), said missions are scheduled every Thursday up through the 12th of June; the first of those occurred yesterday, but a recap has been published. The update also introduces a whopping 342 new level 50 weapon variants, some of which will drop during the high level critical missions.We're glad to see that MxO is still ticking despite the announced departure of Paul Chadwick, the esteemed comic book writer who had worked on the story until recently.
Agent Smith returns to the Matrix
In honor of the Matrix Online's third anniversary, the development team has let a genie out of a bottle: the insidious Agent Smith virus. As foretold by the Oracle, he's returned more powerful than ever -- and operatives on both sides of the Machine war are needed to stop him. The old lady has put together a team of virologists all around the gameworld of MxO, all near key city monuments. Seek them out to get access to quests and information about stopping Smith (again).For a real treat, log into the game on the exact anniversary: this Friday, March 21st. Between 3pm and 5pm PST (6pm and 8pm EST) the familiar faces of the MxO team will be online to chat and have some fun. Seek them out on Syntax server, in the Camon Heights Park area. Anniversary wishes, cookies, and cool in-game t-shirts are in the offing for both questers and party-goers alike. Just make sure to take the red pill in time.
Under The Hood: Going Live
Live events. Where developer interacts with players. Traditionally, this has been a pretty contested battlefield, ranging from forums, to chat rooms, to game masters. Where it really comes together, however, is in the classic legacy of live events, where developers and game masters interact with the players in-game. But not only that, they assist in furthering the story, or fleshing out the game world. But where did live events come from?
One Shots: We took the red pill!
I imagine that right now you're feeling a bit like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole. That's because today we're visiting the distorted world of the Matrix Online. Here we're witnessing a Live Event for the Machinist faction that took place during the game's hey-day. Jared, who shared this shot with us, explains the game's appeal: The first two-three months where the Live Events team was online almost every other night, making personal connections to players, organizing the troops and generally stalking the roleplay community. The game may have been awful, but the combination of the live events team and roleplay community made it more than worth it.We're excited to see lots of people sending screenshots to the One Shots mailbox for games other than Guild Wars. Not that we don't like Guild Wars -- but variety is the spice of life and we love to see shots from games we haven't highlighted lately. (Trust me, we'll come back to Guild Wars eventually!) We only post what you send us send your screenshots and stories from games long dead to oneshots@massively.com. You may see it posted here tomorrow! %Gallery-9798%
The Matrix Online: Bug fixes and the Winter Event
Recently, Daniel "Walrus" Myers popped his head out of The Matrix (or into, depending on which side you think this is) to give all the Redpills out there some great information on what's been planned for The Matrix Online in the upcoming month. Most of it, for those of us who play MxO, know that it involves evolving the storyline as we move from Chapter 8 (which just ended on November 15th -- hooray chapter and arc rewards!) to Chapter 9. Also included in the next batch of updates is the fix for Bullet Time animations and finishing moves. Also returning to The Matrix Online is the third annual Winter Holiday Event. More hats and snowballs (and new clothing pieces) please! We've been extra-good Redpills this year, we promise.
