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The Daily Grind: Did you reconnect with any games thanks to PAX East?
Now that PAX East is winding down, it seems as good a time as any to take stock of the news coming from this year's convention. On a personal level, I was excited to hear about the (eventual) MMOification of one of my favorite games. I also enjoyed catching up with Guns of Icarus, an indie title already holding its own and with its eyes on a larger persistent world prize. What about you, Massively readers? Did you glean any useful nuggets from PAX East or perhaps rediscover a game you'd not thought about in a while? Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of April 11th to 13th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2014. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, Landmark, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
PAX East 2014: State of Decay eyes multiplayer, stays offline
The ground is fairly littered with zombie games of some sort these days. That isn't meant as a mark against Undead Labs' State of Decay, but it does raise questions of focus. How do you make a zombie game more unique? According to the studio's Jeff Strain at this year's PAX East, you focus upon building at the community level rather than individual survival. While games like DayZ focus on the personal, State of Decay is much more focused on the idea of putting society as a whole back together and trying to accumulate resources and structures for survivors as a whole. Of course, most of our readers are more interested in what comes next, specifically Class4. That's the proposed sequel to State of Decay, previously codenamed Class3; it's meant to be a full MMO according to previous statements, a game in which you can worry about rebuilding not just a local community but the world as a whole. And Undead Labs certainly isn't hurting for talent that's familiar with online games, especially with the acquisition of ArenaNet co-founder Patrick Wyatt in January. So what's happening?
PAX East 2014: Guns of Icarus Online's expanding environment
PAX East taught me that I am apparently not the right person to pilot a ship in Guns of Icarus Online. In my defense, I was trying to do what my ship was designed to do. The co-op mode on display is all about delivering supplies to a final point on a map, and I was flying the fast scoutship. So I figured, why bother slowing down? Why not just jink left and right and avoid anything in my way? As it turns out, the reasons to not do that are quite simple: The boss encounter at the cargo dropoff requires two people, and you need to actually retain control of the point rather than just wing to it at full speed. So I may have sent my ship crashing to the ground in a tumble of burning wood and broken steel. (By "may have" I of course mean "I definitely did this.") This isn't a failing on the part of the game, just a failing on my part for trying to bull-rush through something. But it's still fun; the game gives players a variety of things to do while they're busy crewing the various stations across the ship. And it's just one place the developers are going with the game.
PAX East 2014: The Repopulation's Josh Hall on the future of the game
If you're looking for Kickstarter success stories, The Repopulation definitely qualifies. While the game hasn't yet been released, it's managed to run not one but two successful campaigns looking to fans for funding, and it's managed its development carefully to keep itself on track for release. The game feels like a well-managed professional affair. And it's been a bit more quiet, but that comes down largely to the focus on getting the game out of its current alpha state and into its first beta. At this year's PAX East, I sat down to talk with Josh Hall, one of the core team members on the project, about where the game is in development and what it's heading for in the next few months. While the final alpha stage has taken slightly longer than originally planned, the team is on track for launching the first beta phase at some point over the summer, and it's eyeing further release plans.
PAX East 2014: PlanetSide 2's Higby on weekly updates
It's been three months since PlanetSide 2 started updating once every week, if you don't count one update that was pushed back simply because it wasn't quite ready. As creative director Matt Higby put it to me at this year's PAX East, the schedule comes second to making sure that every update is the best it can be. But it's still been quite a ride, and it means that the game has kept up a schedule that's astonishingly fast. More than a year out from launch, Higby has a lot to say about the game's development process as well as the updates it's already undergone. It's not an unmitigated success story, but it's filled with a lot of lessons and improvements. And like any MMO, the game's development is far from finished. In PlanetSide 2's case, it's a complex process that requires supporting new players, veterans, casual gamers, and professional gaming, sometimes in unconventional fashions.
PAX East 2014: Landmark's current tools and future crafts
We've all seen what gamers are capable of making in Minecraft. A quick search online turns up replicas of everything imaginable, sublime works of art, even inexplicable cat fountains. According to Dave Georgeson, this is exactly what led to the creation of Landmark, and by his own admission the development team owes Notch a Christmas card solely because of that. Without that limitation, Landmark wouldn't be what it is now, nor would it be developing into what it will eventually be. At this year's PAX East, Georgeson explained to me that as much fun as Minecraft is, it lacks something crucial: a way for players to see all of these creations. Landmark, by contrast, is designed from the ground up not just to allow that sort of interaction but to actively encourage it. And that's only the beginning; the game's current status as a sort of super-Minecraft is the simplest core expression of the game's promise. By the time it's done, the whole point is to make a game that can be anything, a game for all seasons and tastes.
PAX South in San Antonio announced for January 23-25
PAX Prime, PAX East, PAX Australia and now ... PAX South. The new show will take place in January 2015. The announcement was just made at PAX East by Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins. PAX South will run from January 23-25 at an undisclosed venue. "We've been hearing for years that those in the south had a tough time making it to the northern corners of the country," Penny Arcade President Robert Khoo explained during the conference. "PAX South has always been a matter of 'when' rather than 'if.'" This announcement makes us feel like we should start predicting future expansions to the PAX tour, since extra shows don't seem entirely out of the question. Anyone care to take a bet that PAX Antarctica is next on the list? What about PAX Atlantis, where Bioshock franchise owner 2K Games co-hosts the event in a recreation of Rapture, complete with splicers? Talk about untapped markets! Update: The location of PAX South is the Henry B. Gonzalez convention center. [Image: Penny Arcade]
PAX East 2014: WildStar's panel is all about the endgame
So what happens when when you reach the end of WildStar? You've got a while to think about it, obviously, the game isn't even out just yet. But it's an obvious concern. People are going to hit the level cap, and what are they going to be doing then? Staring at the walls, singing songs, perhaps clawing desperately at the metaphorical walls in the hopes of getting the next major patch somewhat sooner? According to the WildStar panel at PAX East, the development team is hoping to launch with a fairly robust endgame no matter what you're hoping to do. The panel went through pretty much every part of the game, from items to PvP to solo story questing, all of which is intended to work together to create an environment wherein you don't run out of things to do and don't find yourself forced out of what you find fun. How well it will work remains to be seen, but there's certainly a lot on the table to start with.
PAX East 2014: Hearthstone reveals Naxxramas single-player adventure
Hearthstone is planning to revisit one of Azeroth's most notorious locations in the card game's first single-player adventure: Curse of Naxxramas. Blizzard announced at PAX East that a new single-player mode for the game will be coming "soon" starting with a romp through the necropolis of Naxxramas. In it, players will journey through five wings of a dungeon, accumulate new cards, and fight bosses with their own unique abilities. Thirty new cards and nine class challenges will come with the adventure as well as a Naxxramas-themed game board. Once it's released, Curse of Naxxramas will slowly unlock its wings over the course of five weeks. The first wing will be free, with the remaining four requiring purchase. It will release on all platforms simultaneously. Massively's on the ground in Boston during the weekend of April 11th to 13th, bringing you all the best news from PAX East 2014. Whether you're dying to know more about WildStar, Landmark, or any MMO in between, we aim to have it covered!
PAX East 2014: First impressions of Warlords of Draenor
The biggest problem that Warlords of Draenor is facing right now is one of first impressions. This isn't a mark against World of Warcraft so much as it's the nature of the beast. I wrote a while back about how World of Warcraft can't really be back, all things considered; it's too firmly a part of the establishment to ever shake the image that it's created over the past several years. You know what it is. You know how it plays. Odds are good that you've played it. Warlords of Draenor also features no new races, no new classes, no overhaul of the talent system, and in the build I got to play, very few of the new models. That's where the first impression problem crops up. A lot of the things that are being baked into the expansion just don't show up at first glance. That isn't to say that the first glance is bad, just that it overwhelmingly sends the message of "this is still World of Warcraft; no need for elaboration."
PAX East 2014: Star Citizen and the DFM are 'more than just PvP'
Chris Roberts took the stage at a backer-only pre-PAX event in Boston last night to show off some of Star Citizen's alpha dogfighting footage. Despite a few technical glitches, fans were able to get an extended glimpse of the game's first playable module, which Roberts said will likely release in a month or so. The dogfighting module will be presented as part of the in-universe fiction and thus will take the form of a space sim called Arena Commander which released to gamers in the year 2944. Players will load into the DFM through their pre-existing hangar module where they'll choose between five alpha game modes: Free Flight, Battle Royale, Squadron Battle, Capture the Core, and Vanduul Swarm (basically a horde mode). Cloud Imperium is including leaderboards and plenty of stats which will show up both on Star Citizen's web-based player and organization profiles as well as in the finished game. The upcoming module will also feature co-op capabilities along with PvE AI. "At the end of the day, for me, it's not all about combat," Roberts explained, "so if [combat's] not your thing you don't have to worry about it." Click past the cut to watch the full livestream.
The Daily Grind: What do you hope to see at this year's PAX East?
Massively will be on the ground in Boston at this year's PAX East, which officially starts on Saturday. We'll be scurrying all over convention land to check out WildStar, Landmark, EVE Valkyrie, Warlords of Draenor, Guild Wars 2, Star Citizen, The Repopulation, PlanetSide 2, Guns of Icarus, State of Decay, and Infinite Crisis, among others. A few big MMO studios won't be present, of course; I think everyone will grok why ZeniMax Online might be a bit too busy for another con just now. But big guns like Carbine and SOE and Blizzard will all be in attendance at the first gamer-centric rather than media-centric con of the year. So what are you looking forward to seeing out of PAX? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
PAX East 2014 panels bring you joy(stiq)
If you're one of the few that managed to pick up tickets to PAX East 2014 in the narrow window they were available, then your schedule of events is now available to view. The Joystiq staff will be at PAX East this year in full force, and they're even headlining the event's list of fascinating panels. If you're looking to maximize your odds at high-fiving folks like Joystiq's Managing Editor Susan Arendt, News Content Director Alexander Sliwinski or Reviews Content Director Richard Mitchell, you'll want to attend panels such as "Was I Wrong? Revisiting Controversial Reviews," "We didn't start the DLC fire, but we fed the monster. Now what?" and "Keep Your Opinion to Yourself: The Myth of the 'Objective' Game Review." We promise that not every panel will take multiple tweets to tell your friends about. When you're not attending every one of Joystiq's panels, the PAX East Indie Showcase appears to be a good destination for PAX-goers, as six mobile indie games will be on display this year. PAX East 2014 will be held in Boston on April 11 through April 13. [Image: PAX East]
PAX separates from Penny Arcade in co-founder's New Year resolution
Penny Arcade the comic is officially distancing itself from PAX, the yearly gaming convention held in Seattle, Boston and Melbourne. Co-creator Mike Krahulik announced the ideological split in a blog post, as part of his New Year's resolution to be less of "a bully." "You'll notice that it is no longer the Penny Arcade Expo," Krahulik writes. "It's outgrown us and it belongs to the gaming community at large now not just PA fans. Someday I expect to attend a PAX and not even be recognized. That's honestly fine with me. I don't want the material on PA or who I am to keep people from attending and enjoying PAX." Penny Arcade similarly distanced itself from the charity it started, Child's Play, when Krahulik and co-creator Jerry Holkins realized the comic's content was impeding the charity's outreach, Krahulik says. Child's Play is now its own organization that Penny Arcade supports from afar. Much of Krahulik's resolution stems from "a difficult year" where he received negative public attention for things he said on Twitter, the Penny Arcade blog and at PAX. In 2010, Penny Arcade ran a comic that made light of rape, and Krahulik and Holkins responded to outcry by selling merchandise supporting the strip – the "dickwolves" debacle. Krahulik and Holkins removed the dickwolves stuff from its stores, but on a panel at PAX Prime 2013, Krahulik said that pulling the merch was "a mistake." His statement reopened the wound.
PAX East 2014 registration opens tomorrow
Hey, friends, what are you doing April 11, 2014 through April 13, 2014? If you're planning on attending PAX East 2014 in Boston during that time, you may want to get your mouse-clicking fingers ready for the event's registration, which is slated to open tomorrow. The official PAX East site says that hopeful attendees should check the site as soon as 12:00pm ET tomorrow to be there the exact moment registration opens up. Planning in advance is certainly more important for those looking to stay in Boston for the whole event; the official PAX Twitter account notes that the three-day passes sold out in one day last year.
PAX Prime 2013 and FFXIV relaunch event in pictures
This year's PAX Prime has come and gone, but during my trip I snapped a bundle of pictures we're pretty sure you're going to love. Enjoy some booths, crowds, games, and quite a bit of the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn launch event. Even Jesus showed up for my photo shoot!
The Summoner's Guidebook: You're wrong about the LoL community
I'm finally home from PAX, and I'm exhausted. And if there's one thing everyone I talked to mentioned, it's that Riot Games was the elephant in the con. Everyone was comparing something to a similar thing Riot did, whether that was mistakes made or successes had or risks taken. League of Legends is enormous, and even as a columnist for the game, I didn't really grasp just how big it was until now. Let me paint you a story. I'm familiar with fandoms. They're not a new thing. However, when you go to a huge convention and you see that probably a quarter of the people play League of Legends, it changes your perspective. When every non-Riot developer talks about LoL, it opens your eyes to just how pervasive the game is. There was another unified thing about everyone I talked to who played LoL: All of them hated jerks. None of them were intentional trolls, and everyone loved the game and wanted to make it better. All the Riot staffers I talked to preached the same mantra: "It's all about the fans." It's clear that their attitude has paid some pretty big dividends. There's a lot of you guys, and you're all pretty awesome.
PAX Prime 2013: Breaking tables in DC Universe Online
During this year's PAX Prime, I was able to grab some hands-on time with the PlayStation 4 version of DC Universe Online. The demo was made up of content from the brand-new DLC, Sons of Trigon. The DLC features three new duos and an alert, whereas I feature slightly rusty DCUO skills. In fact, nearly all of my DCUO experience has been with a keyboard and mouse, so I reached for the controller with hesitation. I managed to pull slightly more confidence from a long history of PlayStation gaming and Sony's staunch refusal to change the basic layout of its controller for 19 years and counting.
Ask Massively: The best and worst of PAX Prime 2013
PAX Prime is the last major western gaming con of the year, and we'd like to believe it's given us all something to think about as we head into a winter full of special snowflake games. Alas, PAX Prime this year seems to have left us all bewildered at best and underwhelmed at worst, at least when it comes to pure MMORPGs. Now it's time to explain why. We're going to tell you about what was for us the most surprising reveal, the most disappointing offering, and of course, the best MMO in show. The ground rules for our discussion? They're basically the same as for E3: It had to be a game or topic we can justify covering on Massively. Every staff member was permitted to chime in (though not all did). We stuck to three big categories rather than create so many that every game could "win" something, not that these are really awards. Roll the dice!
Guild Wars 2 interview picks Colin Johanson's brain
If you could corner a developer and ask any question that popped into your mind, what would it be? Matt Visual attempts to cover all of the burning questions that many players have about Guild Wars 2 in his piece with Colin Johanson from PAX Prime. The half-hour interview covers a wide range of topics including gear progression, dungeon hard modes, legendary items, a new wardrobe system, housing, and dueling. One interesting tidbit is that the devs have been working on cloaks but have had some issues with the animations. Check out the full video after the break and see if your burning question gets quenched.
