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Huxley enters open beta (in Korea)
Webzen published a press release today announcing the start of Huxley's open beta test phase in South Korea. No word yet on when gamers in other regions will be able to participate. There have been hints that Webzen is backing away from the North American market, but today's press release reiterates the company's dedication to releasing Huxley "in markets around the world." This comes after an announcement that portal NHN will be distributing the game in North America and Europe, so we're pretty sure things are good.The press release is full of not-quite-true statements that Huxley is the very first game to combine the FPS and MMO genres. PlanetSide and Neocron come to mind right away, and there have probably been others. Still, we're watching Huxley with curiosity. Its production values are sky high (just look at the recent cinematic trailer) and its Unreal Engine-powered graphics are impressive. Webzen plans to release the game in Korea in 2009, so we'll be waiting a while yet.[Via Big Download]
Running down Warhammer Online's open beta with WAAAGH!
There's MMOs to play, plenty of activities and events are happening in World of Warcraft, EverQuest, EverQuest II, and Guild Wars. Even the space cases in EVE Online are tearing each other up in the Empyrean Age expansion. But there isn't always something for everyone, many of us yearn for a new creation not touched before, and the million boxes Age of Conan shipped attests to that. Right now Warhammer: Age of Reckoning is looking like the only real new option on the dinner table, and it may be time to be taking a leap into Warhammer's open beta. Over on the Warhammer Online blog WAAAGH! Syp has gathered and laid out all the facts and the rumors regarding the open beta. If you didn't know you can pre-order the Warhammer Online Collector's edition to guarantee a spot in the beta to beat the launch pandemonium. As for an estimate on when the open beta will start the latest WAR newsletter revealed that the guild beta will be starting in early July. This phase of testing will at least last for a month and it will be the last closed beta phase. Making it more than likely that WAR's open beta phase at the very least wont start until mid-August, if that, making the rest of summer pretty bleak MMO wise if you aren't planning on playing anything until WAR comes out.
A non-tester's visit to PS3's Home
Stephen Totilo (guest-editing at Kotaku this week) recently had a chance encounter with a Playstation 3 running the beta of Home, and managed to spend a short amount of time taking a look around. From his findings, it sounds like there haven't been any earth-shattering updates to the beta, and the areas he visited sound just like the previews from quite a while ago.Probably the key quote from Totilo is his closing note: "Whatever it needs to make it a hit, I don't think it's in there - yet." It's unlikely that having some other Home residents to hang out with would have made a big difference to his opinion, because really, a few rounds of rudimentary bowling and holding hands while watching trailers doesn't sound like very much fun. We're sure there will be other features by the time open beta kicks off, but it sounds as though progress is pretty slow right now.
WAR European guild beta live within a month
The long-anticipated Warhammer Online guild beta appears to finally be moving forward, as we've heard via the grapeline that European guild leaders are being notified about the imminent start of the guild beta. According to this email, guild leaders are being given until July 2 to submit the information for members hoping to participate in the beta. Interestingly, the NDA for the beta will remain in effect for the duration of the guild beta, so don't expect to see full-fledged personal accounts for a little while yet.This information will likely bristle some who were likely hoping that they'd be able to enjoy the open beta sometime this summer. It's probably too early to rule that out at this point, since we don't have any information yet about how EA Mythic will be handling the North American guild beta, and that has to be an important stepping point before they're willing to show Warhammer Online to the greater public.In the mean time, why not enjoy the recent MMOG Nation podcast, where our own Michael Zenke sits down for a candid chat with WAR designer Paul Barnett?
Realtime Worlds donates $1k to APB fansite
Fansites have always been a labor of love. People create, share and maintain them at a cost simply because they're passionate about something. In the case of APB-Evoloved.com that passion lies with Realtime Worlds' upcoming grand-theft-style MMO All Points Bulletin. Their love for the customization-centric MMO certainly isn't singular. In fact, another thing that their love for APB isn't is unnoticed. The fansite's webhosting woes were recently resolved through a $1,000 donation made by none-other than Realtime Worlds itself. How's that for fan appreciation?This is by no means a common occurrence for fansites and certainly shows how much Realtime Worlds appreciates what the guys at APB-Evolved.com are doing for their game and its community. Although this isn't the first time that the fansite has seen some love from the developer. With a fully open beta coming sometime in the future it's starting to seem certain that All Points Bulletin will have a very strong community -- especially if these sorts of things continue to happen.[Thanks, Tom]
Magic World Online's open beta starts tomorrow
Magic World Online -- an MMO from Chinese company Ingle Games -- is an underdog in the MMORPG arena, what with being 2D and all. It's been in closed beta testing for a while now, but if you're curious about it, you'll be pleased to know that the open beta will begin this Friday. You can download the client right away. We haven't played MWO ourselves, but there's an item mall, so we presume it's at least partially microtransaction-based. The interface (and even the website) are ripped almost exactly out of World of Warcraft, though.MWO hosts a whole bunch of unique features, such as integrated video chat. It also has legitimate, developer-supported bots. Bots -- programs that automate tasks like repeatedly using skills to level them up -- are discouraged in any form by most game developers. According to MWO's website, though, making these tools available to everyone will make the game "the most fair MMORPG." We suppose that's not much different in practice from EVE Online's offline skill training and autopilot traveling.
Play.com having WAR pre-order problems
When we last reported on Warhammer Online's pre-order foibles, we knew that the confusion was far from over. There were too many variables going into the distribution of those promotional codes for everything to go strictly according to plan. Predictably, there's some confusion coming in the wake of WAR Europe's announcement that Play.com would soon be distributing the pre-order packs, which include the codes for the Open Beta, the head start, and the exclusive in-game items.The problem is, European customers who ordered through Play have evidently been hearing differently from customer service. Today some European staffers have finally gotten on top of the problem, explaining that their distribution partners (who act as intermediaries between EA Mythic and Play) were the ones who had informed them the pre-order goodness was going out soon. Apparently some wires were crossed, and people are hearing different information. They've promised to get the situation sorted out promptly.
Fully public APB beta on its way
We haven't heard too much in the past month about the cops and robbers MMO All Points Bulletin from developer Realtime Worlds. At least not until recently, we haven't. While gameplay information may still be scare at least we now know that APB is entering its Alpha stage with an eventual fully public beta on the horizon. This information all comes from Mario Rizzo, Realtime Worlds' business development manager. While it's no official announcement, it is the next best thing. We can certainly understand why a public beta would do a game like All Points Bulletin a lot of good -- it's not exactly your typical MMO or sandbox action game. Heck, it's very likely that many players will simply be enamored with the character creation process that was such a smash hit at GDC this year. You can count on us spending the first hour or two of our time with the game's beta making an awesome character.
Dreamlords: The Reawakening now in public beta
Dreamlords: The Reawakening has been in closed beta since April, and according to a new press release has entered "public beta". At the time of this writing, the official website has not been updated with any information relating to this update. Do we dare assume that "public beta" means "open beta"? While at the site, however, notice the latest news regarding the server move on the 9th of June to "prepare for launch". So, we might be in open beta right now, and we might be seeing a full launch of the game fairly soon. We can't take this tension! When we know anything for sure, we'll let you know.[Thanks, Marcus!]
Rohan Online: Blood Feud open beta begins
Age of Conan is not the only recent MMO to completely underestimate demand. Asian import Rohan Online: Blood Feud had to open two additional servers as they were flooded with players eager to to join their open beta. Developer YNK Interactive was able to bring on a third server almost immediately, with two more on the way. They'll keep on adding them until they have enough to handle the load.Rohan Online is a free-to-play, PvP-oriented game with a manga-inspired character design and art style. It has a number of innovative elements. If, for example, someone kills you, revenge is easy and quick: Once you are revived, you can teleport instantly to your killer for a rematch. This adds a little something extra to PvP ganking. Kill someone, and when you finally let your guard down ... when you're at your weakest ... that's when you feel the sword bite into your neck. Player guilds can also rule any of the cities in the game. Battles for their control occur every Saturday, with the winners getting the power of taxation over any transactions performed in the town. And, as is usual for games of this nature, there is an item shop.[Via Classy Gamer]
Ubisoft attacks your summer with EndWar beta, register today!
Tipsters are going mad! Mad we tell ya! Today Ubisoft has been shooting off emails to registered users inviting them to register for a chance to beta test Tom Clancy's EndWar. The Xbox 360 exclusive open beta is scheduled to run for three weeks between June and July and allow users to the real-time strategy game online in 1v1 or 2v2 matches across three multiplayer maps.Registration is now open for the open beta and Ubisoft reminds registrants that this is an actual beta and bugs are probably going to occur. Oh and remember kids, you need an Xbox Live Gold account, at least 3GB of free hard drive space (a bag full-o-memory cards won't do!) and a pocket full of hopes and dreams to get into the beta that's sure to fill up fast. If you are lucky enough to be selected for the beta you will be notified by Ubisoft at a later time.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
White Lion confirmed as final High Elf career
At long last, Mythic has finally confirmed the last of the High Elf careers for Warhammer Online. After months of speculation and lots of hints, they've finally confirmed that the White Lion class will round out WAR's robust list of player careers. The White Lion will be fulfilling the melee DPS niche on the side of order and will focus on the dynamics between the hardy White Lion and his war lion pet.Unlike his Destruction counterpart the Squig Herder whose Squigs are relatively expendable balls of sentient fungus, the White Lion's bond with his pet starts at level one, and there will be a good degree of customization available so that each player's pet will be relatively unique. War lions will grow and change as their master grows in power, and will even be capable of fighting in a feral capacity if you fell his master in battle first.We're excited to see the last of WAR's careers fall into place. Here's hoping we're only a few steps away from the open beta!
An end to easy XP as the Family get whacked
They had it coming. City of Heroes Issue 12: Midnight Hour, now in Open Beta, comes with a nerf or two as well as all the good stuff. Over on the Test server, some changes have been made to high-level Family mobs. The changes are now on their second iteration. In the first round, high-level Family minions were altered in status, increasing their relative power without increasing the XP rewards, so that more work had to be done for the same overall result. In response to a request for clarification ('lol devs pwnt the family mish?') the Dev Castle responded 'Indeed.'In the latest round, minions are back to being minions again, but the XP reward has been nerfed down. The reason given, which will surprise nobody at all, is 'their reward scale has been lowered to be commensurate with the risk involved in the encounter'.So why target the Family?
One million signed up for AoC beta by the end
Age of Conan's beta test has concluded, and the retail launch is only a few days away, so it's a perfect time for Funcom to start (or rather, continue) hyping the game to the Nth degree. What better way to convince people to play it that than to make the argument: "everyone else is doing it!" Funcom announced on the AoC community website that the AoC beta has surpassed 1,000,000 sign-ups.A little over a month ago we reported that Warhammer Online had hit the same landmark, and our readers had some interesting comments about how much this landmark really matters. Now is an especially good time to ask that question -- some players might not be buying AoC because of performance and stability issues in the IGN open beta event. It's not a stretch to bring into question the true function of a beta (is it marketing, or technical testing?), as well.Does it matter? We don't know, but we'll find out soon enough.
Requiem: Bloodymare slashes its way to open beta
Temperions to arms! The battle against the darkness of Ethergia has begun again as Gravity announces the start of the open beta for their newest title, Requiem: Bloodymare. The doors to Ethergia will open up once again starting this Thursday, May 15th, at 7 PM PDT (10 PM EST) and will stay open for an undisclosed amount of time.This phase of the beta will be open to everyone, both closed beta players and the public. All that's required is the new Requiem client, which can be downloaded from the playrequiem.com website, and a Requiem account. All prior accounts will be reset, and all new characters will start off in a totally new tutorial space called Turba Island.This change already addresses one of the large gripes from the previous test - the lack of a decent tutorial space. It seems that Gravity has been listening to all of the feedback they've received about Requiem during the closed beta, and are working to improve upon their game. However, only time will tell as to what else has been changed and added to by the Requiem team.
WRUP: Open beta edition
Happy Friday! We don't know about you, but it's been a long week here at Massively, so we are thrilled to be at the point where we get to ask you, as we do every Friday: What aRe yoU Playing?Our own Akela Talamasca has been busy -- he's been playing lots of Mythos lately, as well as Warrior Epic and City of Heroes. Tateru Nino continues playing her cavalcade of games -- Second Life is in there, of course, as well as LotRO, and even a little Hello Kitty Online beta action. And me, I'm just a few levels away from getting another 70 in WoW, I'm getting my Guild Wars on, and I'm hoping to head into the Age of Conan this weekend as well, time permitting (outside of the MMO world, it's also a travel weekend for me, so I'm going to try out The World Ends With You -- it does have some MMO-like features, though, since you can not only come into contact with other players with your DS' wifi, but even buy and sell items from them).But enough about us -- what are you up to? Are you checking out AoC's beta, or maybe looking at issue 12 in CoH? Are you playing something we've never heard of? Tell us about it!Previously on WRUP...
Do you want some marketing with your open beta?
Many more developers are answering that question with a enthusiastic, "Yes, moar marketing plz." Why shouldn't they, when a open beta is a great way to let people get a hands on with your game before it comes out. If your open beta is in fairly solid shape for most people's systems, the good word-of-mouth will pay off. That pre-launch buzz is going to net you more sales, and isn't that what you want in the long run?But this whole controversy isn't getting started up because no one realized that open beta could also be spun as marketing. No, this controversy is being started up because many of Funcom's actions regarding the Age of Conan open beta were blatant marketing strategies. Yet, all of us were scratching our heads when a bomb finally dropped -- the open beta used a prior version of the AoC client?
Massive PvP battle to end the Age of Conan Open Beta
May 10th is the beginning of the end for Age of Conan's Open Beta. In honor of the event, and to get our appetites primed for the game's launch on the 20th, Funcom is set to to close up the testing phase with a bang. The official site reports that the last days of Beta will feature mass PvP combat, automatically leveled characters, lots of free loot, and totally unlocked high level content. In just four days all level 13 characters (max level for the Open Beta) will be bumped to 20th level. Every server will be flipped to PvP-only, and every 20th level character will receive level-appropriate gear and a ton of cash. All level 20 and up content will be opened to you - but only for as long as the Beta lasts. Unfortunately, no word on how much longer you'll be able to play; Funcom has plans to release that information later this week. Make sure to stay tuned.%Gallery-21897% Can't wait to get into Hyborea? Massively has your early ticket. Check out all of our Age of Conan Beta guides starting on May 1st and continuing throughout the month!
The Daily Grind: How was the first weekend of AoC's open beta for you?
Some are in the closed beta, many many others are in the open beta. We thought we'd ask you this morning how your first weekend of the open Age of Conan beta went? With our team, the experiences ran the gamut. For some, there were only one or two minor things we noticed and the rest was smooth as silk. Others of the team had horrendous crashes of the client all weekend long, and at least a couple of folks weren't able to get in at all, hitting the authentication errors that some have noted on the forums. (They're waiting on mail replies from support too, so you're not alone out there.) So how was your experience with the Age of Conan beta this weekend? Did you find anything that caused massive problems? How about things that were really done well? Did it make you decide to order -- or cancel your pre-order? Do you just not care? We've told you what some of the team here thinks; now we want to hear from you!
One Shots: Welcome to Tortage
What is best in life? If you listen to most of the people who would pop by Massively on a Sunday, that would involve playing MMOGs! This weekend is no exception for most of the staff here. Many of us find ourselves in the Age of Conan beta, which is where today's One Shots was taken. This screen is of the blockaded town of Tortage, crushed cruelly under the fist of Strom. We won't give away any spoilers for those of you who are looking forward to this game, but this blogger can say that it is running surprisingly well on her machine, despite it being in beta. Have you been playing in the open beta this weekend? Perhaps you're sticking with your favorite MMO instead. Wherever your travels take you this weekend, we'd love to see screenshots of them! Just pack them up and send them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com. Your screens could be next!%Gallery-9798%
