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Massively's Massive Giveaways: Guild Wars part 3
If you've been with us this far, you know today is Guild Wars day here at Massively. Yes, we have delved into the land of scantily clad ladies and powerful, daring men that would make even Vallejo feel all warm and fuzzy. (Okay, maybe it just makes us feel all warm and fuzzy. But still...) This time, we're featuring four copies of Eye of the North to give away! Well, three boxed copies and one game key, but again, we know a download won't stop you from getting your monster slaying on.Four lucky winners will be chosen at random for this giveaway -- although I will warn you that Eye of the North requires you to have a copy of Guild Wars already. EotN is the first real game-required expansion to the series as opposed to the prior standalone "expansions." Of course, we have to throw out the official rules disclaimer that you must be 18 years of age, a resident of the U.S., leave a comment here before 2:00 pm Eastern on 11/10, and fully understand that the blonde hottie above will not show up at your house to give you your copy. But if you already have Guild Wars and would like to pick up a copy of the Eye of the North for your very own, here's your chance. On your mark, get set, comment!
Massively's Massive Giveaways - Guild Wars part 2
We don't know about you, but lunch hour is one of the best times of the day. Why? Not only do you get to relax for a bit, but in our case, it's a great time to get some gaming in. Of course, some people will undoubtedly scream at us for having food anywhere near the computer. (At least you're not having to buy our replacement keyboards, eh? ;D ) For this next giveaway, we're offering up today's featured game; Guild Wars. Why is this a great lunchtime game? Simple! The way the GW world is set up, you can generally easily grab a quest or two and blow through them in a lunch hour. Or you can just log in for a bit and enjoy the beautiful landscape, letting your mind chill out in some place that doesn't look like a cubicle or classroom for a bit. Now to the good part -- one lucky winner is getting what we like to consider the Guild Wars lunchtime escape pack! We're giving away all of the Guild Wars games (this time in full boxed set that we'll mail to you) for folks who need a game to enjoy some downtime in.This time, however, we'd like to hear what your favorite lunchtime escape is. Do you like to game, read, take a walk, or just come hang out with us here for lunch? Leave your lunchtime advice in the comments and you may be lucky enough to walk away with lots of Guild Wars goodness! As per the official rules, you must be 18 and up, a U.S. resident, and have left that lunchtime tip left here before 12:00 pm Eastern on 11/10 to be eligible.So tell us, what's your lunchtime zen?
City of Civilians and City of Aliens?
Ten Ton Hammer is reporting today on the rumor that NCsoft is adding a new "City of" title to the IP of their newly acquired CoX franchise. Well of course they are, they've been listening in on my conversations. I literally had this discussion with a friend of mine just a couple of days ago. The way I see it, you have heroes and villains duking it out in the city, but the citizens go along their humdrum lives without personality or purpose. So I am thinking, why not a Sims in Paragon City? The other idea I had as I was slicing up Rikti the other day was playing as the alien invading race. Sure they're trying to destroy mankind, but that's what makes good entertainment, no? I really think I have something here. With the civilians concept you could bring in a whole crowd of MMO lovers that want get a chance to build a virtual life within Paragon, and with the aliens you could start out on an invading vessel and port in to do damage and cause chaos. You heard it here first people. I so should be working for these guys.
NCsoft 2007 Q3 financial results & MMOG subscription numbers
NCsoft raked in $88.3 (US) million in sales for the quarter, a cool $11.2 million profit, and $10.7 million in operating costs, all on a consolidated big money-pit basis. Sales exploded in Europe mainly in due part to Guild Wars: Eye of the North, helping to rocket sales in Europe by 81% compared to those that took place in Q2. Overall sales jumped 5% compared to the previous quarter. Operating income and net income were not so lucky, sinking 8% and 5%, respectively, when compared to Q2's numbers. Taiwan saw an increase in net sales that rose by 15% thanks to a pick-up in Lineage II sales. Royalty sales increased as well by 20% due to strong Lineage sales in Taiwan. By game title, sales in the quarter for Lineage recorded $26.2 million, Lineage II $35.8 million, City of Heroes/City of Villain $6.3 million, and Guild Wars $14.4 million. Lineage and City of Heroes/City of Villains sales dropped 7% and 10%, respectively, and Lineage II and Guild Wars increased by 1% and 57%, respectively. NCsoft MMOG subscription numbers:Lineage[World-Wide]: 1,143,699 subscriptions (-47,026 from 2007 Q2)[North America]: 6,999 subscriptions (-2,094 from 2007 Q2)Lineage II[World-Wide]: 931,263 subscriptions (+27,007 from 2007 Q2)[North America + Europe]: 78,953 subscriptions (-5,767 from 2007 Q2) City of Heroes[North America + Europe] 139,313 subscriptions (-14,018 from 2007 Q2) Guild Wars[North America + Europe] 4,500,000 boxes sold (+583,000 from 2007 Q2)
Jesus Christ spotted in Tabula Rasa
Razor over at Razorwire experienced a surprising theophany in the world of Tabula Rasa. "I was playing Tabula Rasa last night," he said, "when a figure wearing battle armor and carrying a chain gun ran past me and my avatar provided the appropriate double-take for me. The character's name was Jesus Christ."Yes, Jesus Christ in Tabula Rasa. Obviously, Jesus Christ wasn't really playing Tabula Rasa (well, we assume he wasn't, anyway), but whether the use of the name amuses you, offends you, or both, it brings up some interesting questions about Tabula Rasa's naming policy -- questions Razor asks in his post. Give it a read. It's not super in-depth, but he points out that because Tabula Rasa is not a fantasy world like World of Warcraft or The Lord of the Rings Online, it uses a different naming policy. That policy opens the door to abuses that would have been nipped in the bud far earlier in those other titles.According to Razor there is unfortunately no way to report the name because the game's GM help features are still disabled.
Looking back at a CoX Halloween
Halloween has come to an end in CoX, and many of us are looking back at the event with fond memories. Van Hemlock this week talked about the run in he had with Echoias, the massively tall pumpkin-headed monster that was terrorizing Paragon City. I didn't get a chance to track him down myself, but Van Hemlock got the Hallowed Spirit badge for his troubles, a nice memento of the holiday.My personal triumph this holiday was collecting some 30 odd costumes, so now I'm "Fashionable," or so says the badge. Yeah, I went a little crazy with the trick-or-treating thing, but it was an excellent way to level, and I got myself a system during the last days of the holiday. I figured out the doors were timed, so I would find one that had a group of baddies near it, and would cycle between slaughtering the Clockwork and knocking on doors. In the end, I got two sets of costume pieces, which allowed me to not only get an extra costume slot for my main, but also to give one to my friend. Not bad for what at its core was level grinding. And the costumes have stuck with me even after the holiday, so if I feel the need to hit the streets as a ninja or a PPD cop, I can. What was your favorite part of the holiday?
The Daily Grind: NCsoft takes over Paragon City
News broke (right here on Massively, by the way) yesterday that NCsoft has bought up the City of Heroes and City of Villians IPs from creator Cryptic, and it's free stuff time over at NCsoft -- prestige for everybody and a debt wipe coming soon.So whaddaya think of this little turn of events? On the one hand, it seems to be good news for CoX players -- NCsoft now has a more vested interest in the game than ever, and clearly they're going to want to shore up players against the coming of Cryptic's Marvel Universe Online. On the other hand, this also means that MUO is poised to take a bite out of CoH, and without its creators, can Paragon City's game stand on its own?What do you think? If you're a CoH player, are you excited about the change, or scared by it? And if you don't play CoH, does the NCsoft takeover make you more or less interested in either CoX or MUO? Personally, I've never jumped into CoH, and the takeover means to me that the game is more or less on its way out. If Cryptic makes a big enough splash with MUO (and clearly they think they will, if they are willing to let go of a big IP like CoH), then this takeover may have simply turned out to be a last ditch effort by NCsoft to keep its superhero game alive.
The Digital Continuum: Don't Fear The Re: Console
Massively Multiplayer Online Games have always been the slaves to their PC masters, rarely able to exist on anything other than the PC platform. That isn't to say there haven't been partial attempts in the past such as Final Fantasy XI, but since launch that game has been developed for three different platforms including the PC. Developers still have yet to create a console MMOG that becomes as financially successful as some of the more popular PC titles. In all reality, it still remains easier to make and maintain MMOGs for PCs. The reason MMOG developers find creating and sustaining their games on the PC easier is the very problem with a console exclusive. When creating any Massively Multiplayer Online Game for the Xbox 360 or the Playstation 3 that problem happens to be that as advanced as those consoles are they do not offer the flexibility of a PC. A large part of Blizzard's longterm success with World of Warcraft comes from the depth of the community tools and game customization. It's the wonderful ability to alter your user interface and the incredibly addicting habit of alt-tabbing back and forth from game window, forum posts or online game guides. I'm personally unable count the number of times I've been playing City of Heroes windowed while listening to various albums, simultaneously browsing news, guild forum posts or maybe just checking my email. You may be able to get a browser onto your PS3 and you might manage custom music on both the 360/PS3 but in the end would it be as easy as a keystroke to flip back and forth between both of those functions?
Meet the October Guild Wars PvP champs
Another 'State of the Game' piece from the official Guild Wars site takes us once again behind the scenes, this time to have a chat with the winners of the October automated PvP Tournament. The guild, called Delta Formation, passed on some information about their history, their adversaries, and most usefully a ton of insight on tournaments, builds, and GW PvP in general.In terms of builds, [DF] likes to focus on flexibility rather than engaging in "build wars," where a team attempts to beat others by outbuilding them rather than outplaying them. [DF] plays balanced builds because members believe the effectiveness of the build is directly tied to the skill of the players using the build. If played correctly, they feel their balanced build can beat anyone else. That said, [DF] still runs a variety of other builds in its main guild or its smurfs. Sometimes they might be trying to throw off opponents by running other, less conventional builds. More often, they are trying out various gimmick builds to identify the weaknesses and strengths of those builds. For many gimmick builds the counter is obvious, but for others merely theory-crafting the counters might not be enough.
Weapons scaling in CoX Issue 11
Amongst all the other cool things we're seeing in Ish 11, Cryptic is adding weapons scaling to the customizable weapons toolkit. Weapons when you choose them will now scale according to how big and beefy or slim and tiny your character happens to be. Dave on Blog of Heroes says this will help a lot of characters, but says females still have the trouble of tiny, tiny hands.Scaling the weapons is great, and something that players have been clamoring for. But the female model's hands are so small that any amount of weapons scaling won't help. What we need, Dave suggests, is a slider for female hands, since male hands are already oversized for the scale of the models. I know I have a female tanker, and her hands look too dainty to do the amount of punching and bashing she is capable of. It ruins the feel of the character. So on this one I'll have to agree with Dave, but what do you think? Will the weapons scaling solve the problem of the infamously slender hands? Related Story
City of Heroes, City of Villains IPs sold to NCSoft
Independent developer Cryptic Studios has announced the sale of its intellectual and proprietary rights to super-powered MMO duo, City of Heroes and City of Villains. NCSoft, having acted as publisher for both franchises, will be taking ownership and will further license Cryptic's technology for future games. If all goes according to plan, both parties hope to make the transition invisible to currently playing saviors and psychopaths. In a separate FAQ, Cryptic notes that this sale of two cities was prompted by the studio's desire for "complete creative freedom" and resources to delve into new titles and worlds. No changes to existing accounts are foreseen, as Cryptic believes the franchise is "in good hands at NCSoft." In fact, many of the same hands will still be involved, with NCSoft offering Cryptic members employment and forming a team dedicated to providing new content for each title. Seemingly content with what it accomplished with City of Heroes and City of Villains, Cryptic likely made a wise decision by letting NCSoft maintain the game while it explores new territory. Bring on City of Morally Ambiguous Freaks, None of Whom Resemble Marvel Characters (Especially Not Wolverine)!
Update: a "new age" for City of Heroes franchise
The CoX news just keeps on coming. As we previously reported, NCsoft has acquired the full rights to the City of Heroes franchise from developer Cryptic Studios, and in addition, will be opening up a new studio named (dubbed NCsoft NorCal) to continue development of the game. We've been sifting through the deluge of press releases, developer responses, and forum posts on the topics, and we've found some bits and pieces. According to board rep Ex Libris, the entire CoX team has signed on with NCsoft, with the exception of Jack "Statesman" Emmert, the former Creative Director, and will be continuing their three issue per year schedule at the new NorCal studio.As a special thank you to players, NCsoft has given all players with retail City of Heroes accounts a full Good versus Evil upgrade, effective immediately; and free of charge. So if for some reason you haven't jumped on the City of Villains funwagon yet, the decision has been made for you! In addition, sometime after the launch of Issue 11, all Supergroups will receive a bonus 20,000 prestige for each member of their SG, up to a total of 3 million prestige. And finally, the devs will be instituting a debt wipe sometime in the near future - so if you want to rack up some debt gathering those badges, now would be the time to do it.This appears like part of a larger push by NCsoft to expand the CoX playerbase in anticipation of MUO's eventual arrival. Spirits are high though on the CoX boards, as most people expect that the developers can finally devote the time and attention to the game that it needs moving forward, where in the past Cryptic's focus at the executive level on their new properties was seen to be hampering development. Under NCsoft's full stewardship, that problem seems to be resolved. A "new age" indeed...
First semi-final event for the CoX costume contest tonight
Guardian's Best Dressed Costume Contest has been running for a couple days now, and today is the last day to enter. If you consider yourself the master of character creation, then you'll want to hop on over to the Pocket D dance floor Tonight at 7pm EST for the judging. You know, I might do it myself just to see all the awesome costumes that will be out there.A few specifics about the contest. There are seven categories, and the prizes range from 1 to 10 million influence and a title for your winning character. The final event will be held on November 27th at 8pm EST in Pocket D. In order to qualify for the finals you have to win a semi finals round, which will be held on the 6th, the 11th, the 13th, the 20th and the 25th. Even the semi-finalists will receive influential gifts, or infamous gifts, depending on what side of the game you play on. Personally, I would love to get third prize, since that's an Invention Origin Costume Piece of Choice, and my controller really needs her a pair of fairy wings.
NCsoft acquires City of Heroes IP, parts ways with Cryptic
In a fairly startling bit of news, NCsoft has announced that they have acquired the complete intellectual property rights to the City of Heroes franchise from developer Cryptic Studios, and will be forming a new studio in Northern California dedicated solely to the on-going development of the franchise. As part of the agreement, they'll be licensing Cryptic's proprietary engine for use with future games. The team currently responsible for managing CoH (including Matt "Positron" Miller, Aaron Brady, and Ken Morse) will be coming along for the ride, and Cryptic Studios will be aiding in the transition to make sure that the handover of all assets and responsibilities goes smoothly. In their statement, they say they don't expect that the transition will be visible to players, and the free issue updates will likely continue as planned.Cryptic Studios has published an FAQ on their website explaining the details on their end. To the question of what they'll be doing now that they are free of their duties involving the upkeep of City of Heroes, their response is: "Cryptic is developing new titles and new IPs, as well as expanding its business interests." It seems pretty clear though that the real reason Cryptic and CoH had to part ways was because of the inevitable conflict that is going to arise when Marvel Universe Online hits the MMO scene.The real question for CoH players is this: do you expect this new team to keep up the same standards for quality as Cryptic has held in the past? Is bringing along Positron and the rest of the management team enough to keep the spirit of the game alive, or is this the beginning of the end?
General British wants you for a trivia contest
To celebrate the successful launch of Tabula Rasa, the folks at NCsoft have set up a surprise in-game event ... for tonight! General British / Richard Garriott will be on-hand for the AFS Sci-Fi Trivia Contest to be held in-game throughout the evening, and across the servers. The release alerting us to the event included this quote from the man himself: "I wanted to quickly do something fun in-game as a thank you to the players who have made this such a smooth launch. We have continued NCsoft's track record for incredibly successful launches and player interest and excitement is higher than we expected in both North America and Europe. The battlefields are full of players taking down Bane invaders & we're having a blast kicking alien butt."No word on where in-game you'll be able to play, but one can only assume details will be given out in the public channels. Here are the times for each server: Centaurus 1pm – Central Pegasus – 6pm Central Orion – 8 pm Central Cassiopeia – 9pm Central Bring your trivia caps and you could find yourself winning some credits. Good luck!
Massively's massive giveaways
You know what video games and comic books have in common? Give up? We think it's the fact that both have had the misfortune of having some of the worst movie adaptations ever. Luckily, we have the ability to tell our own stories in CoX -- and hey, budding machinimators can use this world to create their own superhero or super villain movies. So for all you movie fans, comic fans, and perhaps budding machinimators out there, it's time for the last round of CoX prizes. This time we're giving away a 60-day game card, and one of the truly amazing CoX art books that came with the Collector's Edition of the game. There's only one catch (well, okay, outside of the official rules which say you have to be 18 years old and a US resident) -- we want to know what you think the absolute best comic-book movie adaptation has been to date?Leave your opinion in the comments by 8:00 PM EDT tomorrow, and you could win. Far better than sitting through bad comic-book movies, no?
Massively's massive giveaways - CoX, redux
We remember the first time we landed in City of Heroes, sometime back in 2004. After years of haunting our respective local comic book stores and following our favorite comic book characters, the time had come... We were going to get a chance to create and play our own superheroes! Of course, most of us then spent the next five hours playing with character customization options. Best. Mini-game. Ever.But to get back to the point -- for this giveaway, we're offering a 60-day CoX gamecard or a very cool CoX banner for two lucky random winners who answer the following question. Who was the comic book hero that inspired you when you were younger? Do you still have one that is your favorite? Tell us in the comments by 6:00 PM EDT tomorrow, and you could walk away with some NCsoft goodies! I keep thinking I'll jump in game and create Official Rules Man, with a battle cry of "18 and up, US residents only!" but that's probably right out. I mean, what kind of powerset would that guy have? Sleep?
Massively's massive giveaways: Good vs. Evil edition
For today's round of giveaways, we're focusing on NCsoft's City of Heroes and City of Villains. While we already have two 60-day game card giveaways in progress (and more to come -- check our giveaway page for the latest giveaways), this giveaway is focused for the poor individuals in the audience who have not yet had a chance to enjoy playing CoH or CoV. We have two copies of the Good Versus Evil Edition, which includes both CoH and CoV in one convenient package, donated by NCsoft, which we're passing on to you! To win, you have to be a US resident of age 18 or older and leave us a comment between now and 4:00 PM EST tomorrow, November 6th, telling us what type of hero or villain you'd create if you won this copy of the game. (Please check our full official rules before entering.) That said... what are you waiting for? Tell us all about your hero or villain to be!
Tabula Rasa launches in Austin, Texas
For those of you who have been in hiding recently, I'll let you in on a little secret: Tabula Rasa, the latest MMO from NCsoft, was launched this past Friday. In Austin, Texas, home to Destination Games, developer of Tabula Rasa, there wasn't much fanfare -- but the developers did leave their offices for a few hours on Friday night to chat with fans and sign autographs. When asked about the launch, the game's producer Starr Long told us that he felt things were going well -- there were about 5000 players logged on to the game when he left the office and no major complaints emerging of yet. (Though it sounds like the launch may not have gone so smoothly in Europe.) For those of you who couldn't make the launch event, however, we have good news! While you may not have had the opportunity to hang out with Richard Garriott, Starr Long, and the rest of the NCsoft crew, we did pick up a poster sighted by Garriott and Long which we're going to give away to one of our readers! Want a signed Tabula Rasa poster? All you have to do is leave one comment below (just one, please!) between now and 3:30 PM EST tomorrow (that's Tuesday, November 6th, folks!). As usual, with our contests, you must be age 18 or older and a US resident to enter: please direct any questions towards our official rules. In the end, we'll pick one winner at random to take home this fine piece of swag. %Gallery-9822%
Massively interviews: Starr Long of Tabula Rasa
Two weeks before the launch of NCsoft's latest MMO, Tabula Rasa, Massively had a chance to sit down and chat with the game's producer, Starr Long, in their Austin offices. We discuss Tabula Rasa's past, present, and future -- including a first glimpse at the game's ambitious expansion plans. So what's there to look forward to in Tabula Rasa? Alien-human hybrid races, a major expansion a year (each featuring an entirely new planet), and major content patches every few months. Need to know more? Keep reading!
