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Now Playing: October 11-17, 2010
Interestingly enough, the Opposing Force hates freedom just as much as the Taliban. Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
Now Playing: October 4-10, 2010
Castlevania re-enters the third dimension. Choose your platform to jump to a specific release list:
The Daily Grind: Do you wait for reviews?
There's always a bit of apprehension when it comes to picking up a new game -- it might be great, or it might be terrible and mean that you're out time and money. Picking up a new MMO on launch day is even more of a gamble, since it could result in your being in on the ground floor of the next big thing... or it could mean wasting a month of playtime on a game you don't like. So it can be tempting to wait for a review of some kind to come in from sources you can trust. On the one hand, having a review means that you have some idea of what you're getting into before you buy. On the other hand, reviews of MMOs are difficult at the best of times and outright incomplete at the worst -- after all, it can take a long time to reach the endgame and see all the game has to offer, at which point you're no longer in on the ground floor. So do you wait for reviews? How many external opinions do you need or want before you'll commit to a new game?
Final Fantasy XIV fatigue format fully put forward
Ever since the beginning of the third beta phase, "fatigue" has been a hot topic among Final Fantasy XIV fans. In a move familiar to longtime Square-Enix players, the system was put into place without a great deal of description, with players left to speculate as to how the system worked. But a very uncharacteristic move comes from director Nobuaki Komoto with an open statement on what the system is, how it works, and what it's meant to do. Many answers are given, albeit not the answers that all players would want. The short version is that for each class and character, you will get normal experience for eight hours, followed by a slow drop-off over the next seven hours that ends at no experience gain. This goes for both class levels and physical levels, which means that after 16 hours of play your character's physical level cannot advance further until a week has passed from the start of leveling. Komoto mentions the reasoning behind the system in the full letter, as well as the several ways that the team is working to adjust it. Although it's nice to have the system spelled out in full, "you can only level so much" won't sit well with a large part of Final Fantasy XIV's expected playerbase.
The Daily Grind: What will make you stay?
Wow, there are so many MMORPGs coming out in the near future. Whether it's because of full games like Final Fantasy XIV or expansions like Aion's Assault on Balaurea, September is shaping up to be a busy month. Further on in the fall you have DCUO, rumors of WoW's Cataclysm, and then on into 2011 you've got TERA, Rift: Planes of Telara, and of course SWTOR. With all the new blood coming soon, some hard choices will need to be made regarding our current games, some of them favorites and some of them mere diversions on the road to something new and shiny. Today's question is two-fold, Massively readers. One, does any of your current games tickle your fancy enough to remain faithful when the deluge of AAA titles hits in a few months? And two, what is it about your favorite game that's likely to make you stay?
Nexon iNitiative launching contest for new games
Having a great idea for a video game goes hand-in-hand with playing them, and it goes double for MMOs. (Admit it, you have at least two that you keep locked up tight in your mind on the chance that Blizzard or Turbine or NCsoft come calling. It's okay.) But more often than not, those of us who specialize in playing and talking about making games never get beyond the idea stage. Making these things costs quite a bit of money, after all, and one lone game fan ranting about ideas isn't usually going to attract venture capital. Nexon America wants to make life just a little bit easier for the indie game developers and aspiring developers out there. They've just launched the Nexon iNitiative to bring funding to smaller studios and independent games, with an open contest for submissions. The best idea gets a cool million dollars of invested money, as well as a chance at a Nexon publishing contract. So while it's not quite a private design studio to make your great MMO idea come to fruition, it's a great chance for small developers to get a big leg up. If you think you've got what it takes, check out the submission guidelines and get cracking!
Gamepot Partners with Square-Enix for Fantasy Earth Zero
Apparently, Square-Enix isn't satisfied with just launching the highly-anticipated Final Fantasy XIV this year. In partnership with Gamepot USA, they're also going to be rolling out Fantasy Earth Zero, a new game for this side of the pond. The game promises PvPvE elements a la Aion, will be free to play, and should be available early this year. Sound like a remarkably short turnaround? That's because the game isn't actually new, having launched in Japan in 2006. Square-Enix had initially put quite a bit of promotion behind the game, but it very nearly died in its home country soon thereafter. Gamepot saved the game from a swift death, uncoupled it from the rather ill-fated PlayOnline Viewer, and moved to a free-to-play model that's been working out quite well for the game ever since. Tortured history aside, players can expect Fantasy Earth Zero to deliver a very active PvP experience with large-scale battles, as well as the usual high production values associated with a Square game. Take a look at the official teaser site to see about entering the local beta, and keep an eye open for more details about the game become available in the likely very near future.
The Daily Grind: If all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?
How many times did we hear that growing up? Peer pressure is a powerful thing, but when it comes to the allure of a new MMO, it may take on a whole new meaning. Let's say you've had a favorite game that you've been playing for years now with a steady group of friends. A shiny new game comes along and those friends all want to check it out, and they're begging you to join them. The problem is, you love your current game and have already invested so much time and energy into getting your characters exactly the way you want them!So what do you do? Do you grudgingly follow your friends to this new game, even if you know you won't enjoy it? Is it really so much about staying in the group that you're willing to endure crappy game mechanics for the comaradarie of friends? Maybe the new game actually turns out to be much more fun anyway! Let us know if you've ever faced this situation and how you dealt with it.
MMOGology: I lost a friend to WAR
Last week I wrote about Blizzard's Recruit-a-Friend program and my experience leveling through World of Warcraft with triple XP. The Recruit-a-Friend program is a seemingly brilliant strategy on Blizzard's part. In addition to recruiting new players, it also serves as way of keeping existing players occupied while waiting for Wrath of the Lich King; players that might otherwise divert their attention to Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. Who can resist the allure of triple XP, right? My friend Rob couldn't and for a while we enjoyed the rush of leveling as fast as we could. But the thrill of light-speed-leveling wasn't enough to hold his attention for long. It was still the same content we'd run through time after time. An astute reader of mine, Jeromai, left the following comment about my last article, "There's a sidelong danger to power-leveling fast. All the content you once enjoyed as content now becomes a means to an end. It's a headlong race right towards the burnout phase of a game." Jeromai couldn't have been more right.I logged into WoW a few nights ago, ready to blast through another level or two with my friend. He never showed. A few days later I called him up and realized I'd lost him to WAR.
New games this week: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway edition
Don't be fooled. This week's list of new releases may look like the first really big fall week just chock-full of new, great games. Well, they're new all right (most of them at least) but we're not sure there's a ton of "can't miss" games on deck.Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway is an obvious one, LEGO Batman will probably be good, if a bit similar to every other LEGO game. Wii's got some good looking stuff too, with Wario Land: Shake It and Samba de Amigo. That's the killer, but there's definitely a fair amount of filler. Our favorite: Barbie Fashion Show: An Eye for Style. What's yours?%Gallery-23910%
New games this week: Tales of Vesperia edition
We had a little trouble picking our favorite release this week. Though Mario Super Sluggers made a compelling case, in the end, we had to go with the little game that helped the 360 rise, phoenix-like from the ashes in Japan (before, you know, it dug right back in to those comfy ashes the following week): Tales of Vesperia.Portable players get some good news this week too with the handheld release of N+. Check the full list right after the break.%Gallery-17071%
New games this week: Too Human edition
Wow, we can't believe we finally got to type that headline. This week, we get to welcome one of the few games that's actually older than Joystiq itself: Too Human, Denis Dyack's epic story of cybernetically enhanced, Norse-inspired technogods.Elsewhere in the gameosphere, PS3 owners can download the new Ratchet and Clank adventure, and PC players can buy Two Worlds: Epic Edition, the title of which just ripped off our Irony Meter and kicked it down three flights of stairs.
Huxley: a Brave New World?
It is a curious thing to hear of a game being themed after a classic speculative fiction novel. It's even more curious because the novel in question, Brave New World, has little in common with Starship Troopers (as the game's images suggest) and a whole lot in common with Idiocracy (did they have sex hormone gum in that movie?). Brave New World itself was Aldous Huxley's take on American excessive trust in technology, the future, manufacturing, science, and hedonism, culminating in images such as babies being processed in factories instead of born, people being altered to meet almost cookie cutter standards of beauty, and sex being so casual as to almost require assigned seating. One can only imagine what Aldous Huxley would think of the United States in 2008. Huxley promises to be a great game combining the MMO and FPS genres in a new and entertaining fashion, and I am all for creativity and license. But that's just the problem. When I heard about Huxley the game, my mind immediately leaped to the possibilities of some other first person shooter games derived from the other works of Aldous Huxley, and frankly, that boggles the mind.
The Daily Grind: Keep fishing or cut bait?
A new MMO comes out. You've read the reviews, Watched the promo videos. Changed your desktop to show the buxom model on their cover art. Subscribed to the newsletter. Read all the developer interviews. Attended the chats! Participated in the lively banter between the lead designer and the people of a well known community forum! You've made your own guild before you even got to play the game! You pre-ordered the special collector's edition, and the game's theme music is on continual repeat on your iPod!The fateful day comes, you install the game and ... well, it's a decent enough game, but it just isn't what you expected. You play it for a few days, and then start wishing you hadn't given away all your gold and sharded your epics in your old game. And maybe you suddenly regret telling the raid leader just exactly, precisely what you thought of him. So do you stick with the new game? Or return to the old? How long do you give a new game to grab you before you erase it from your hard drive, put the disks on the shelf, and call it a decent effort but just not the game you wanted to play? Just the free month? Until you reach the max level? Or just fifteen minutes perhaps?
Migrating your flock to a new MMO
When the temperature starts to drop and the food supply starts to dwindle, it's a common sight to see flocks of Canada Geese airborne and flying en masse to a warmer more hospitable climate. The analogy holds for online gaming as well. When you've run the same content over and over again and the once-lush graphical terrain of your virtual world starts to lose its luster, it can be an indicator that it's time for you and your flock to spread your wings and look for a new online world to call your own. After all, once you've assembled all the elements of a finely-honed grinding machine in the form of your circle of online friends, why re-invent the wheel? It's often best for you to all uproot at the same time and move together.Our friend Relmstein has written an excellent article on the subject of how to migrate your circle of friends from one MMO to another. As the author points out, there are a number of MMO titles coming along soon that are going to cause shifts in server population throughout the MMO galaxy. Instead of starting over from scratch why not take your friends with you? Check out Relmstein's article and learn some of the secrets of how to make a successful MMO transition.
Vogster Entertainment introduces CrimeCraft
CrimeCraft, a "gritty, crime drama MMO", has just been announced by Vogster Entertainment for your enjoyment. Hopefully no company will have an objection to the name.Vogster has yet to release in-depth information for the game, but their website points to a third-person shooter MMO that pushes cooperation via a fleshed out economy and territory control. They've already licensed out the Unreal Engine for the game, so we can expect some fun with physics and a polished graphics system.Vogster has announced that CrimeCraft will include five classes and feature an advanced character customization system, as well as allow players to evolve their characters through special fighting skills. Gangs will be able to claim control of territory and defend their holds from rival gangs, all while running from the police.Right now though, the game looks to be a version of All Points Bulletin except minus the police and with alot more dystopia. The game is set in a city where crime controls the streets and the cops can do little more than shrug and bunker down in specially sectioned off areas. Sounds to this blogger like someone needs to call out the tanks.We'll be following CrimeCraft and giving you more information as it's released. Until then, enjoy their teaser site.[Via TenTonHammer]
New games this week: Army of Two edition
OK, so we were sorely tempted to give the featured game honor to God of War: Chains of Olympus this week, but we've already told you how awesome it is in a metareview, and we featured a PSP game last week, so we're mixing it up with Army of Two. Will it be good? We have absolutely no idea. We hope so, but we just don't know. Also, the Best Game Title From a Game We'll Never Play award goes to ... wait, what's this? A three-way tie! Our congratulations go out to Petz Bunnyz, Homie Rollerz and, of course, Lets Ride Friends Forever. Way to go you three.
The Daily Grind: Your New Year MMO resolutions
From all of us here at Massively to all of you out there, we'd like to wish you a Happy New Year! For today's Daily Grind, we thought we'd ask the question just about everyone else is undoubtedly going to ask today; what your plans are for MMO gaming in 2008? For me personally, I have a fairly short list. Check out as many new MMOs as is humanly possible. I can't help it -- I'm a genre addict. Luckily with such a good first quarter full of new MMOs shaping up, this shouldn't be too hard. Spend more time with my home guild in World of Warcraft, even if it's just making raids once a week. -- Oh, and finally get that freaking epic flyer I keep waffling on bothering with. Put more time into the games I'm currently playing and try to hit endgame with at least one character in each game. (Where such thing is possible, anyway.) Try to enjoy as many end-of-beta events as is possible. (Those are always a lot of fun!) Branch out and check out some of the older games I haven't seriously tried beyond the initial phases. Dig up some more up-and-coming games that we can all check out together. I'd give you my short list of games that I plan to check out, but to be honest, that would probably be pushing the wall of tl;dr a bit. How about you? What are your New Year gaming resolutions? Anything on the radar for 2008 that you just can't wait to try out? Any games you're absolutely going to avoid like the plague?
WRUP: Avoiding the relatives edition
Yes, it's Friday again, and even though we missed it last week, that means its time for our weekly WRUP feature, in which we ask you, dear readers, what you're playing lately. I have to say that this weekend I'm pretty out of the loop in terms of MMO playing-- I've got the Macbook here at home in St. Louis (while all of my other gaming rigs are up in Chicago), so gaming time will be few and far between, I'm sure. WoW might get a little time, and I may jump on the EVE client (though I have to install it first, and before I left I made sure to set Astrogeology V to training, so I won't need to jump on there for a long time).But I'm sure we're not all stuck at home with just a laptop to carry us through-- what are you all playing? Anyone take advantage of Black Friday spending to grab a new MMO (like Lord of the Rings Online or Guild Wars-- both only $10 at Best Buy today), or taking the three day weekend to get some good grinding done in the virtual world of your choice?
Shipping this week: Frederic effing Chopin edition
A new week, new games. That's the way it goes, especially now that the holidays are fast approaching. This week, RPG fans get some love with Eternal Sonata, which centers around the fever dream fantasy world of Frederic Chopin (go get yourself some culture). The game is getting decent reviews so far, so you may want to check it out if you need an RPG fix. But wait, there's more! Look at the entire release list for this week: Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions Eternal Sonata Warriors Orochi Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights It's a varied list with games from several genres, so everyone should have something to be excited about. Well, except for the frothing fanboys out there. You may have noticed that not one of the games listed above is Halo 3. Maybe next week ....[Via Joystiq]
