PerfectWorld
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Third-person MOBA 'Gigantic' to close on July 31st
Gigantic's long and troubled development cycle is finally over. The colorful, hero-based MOBA will be shut down on July 31st, developer Motiga announced in a blog post yesterday. Ultimately, the game "did not resonate" with as many players as the studio had hoped, limiting the viability of future updates and support. As a result, the January Update — which contains new hero T-Mat, various skins and computer-controlled bloomer creatures — will be "the final content update." Microtransactions have been switched off, making all heroes free to unlock, and store items will be heavily discounted for anyone who has leftover cash to spend.
Captain's Log: To boldly go where... Perfect World has never gone before?
Captain's Log, Stardate 64918.1... Hello, computer (and players)! Isn't it amazing how the MMO gaming world works? One week you might be ecstatic about the planned updates for your favorite game, and the next week you are wondering if that same game is even going to last another day. Like many other Star Trek Online players, I was in this boat just last week. When Atari announced that it was going to be divesting interest in Cryptic, many players initially went into panic mode. But as I stated in my entry last week, I strongly felt that things were going to turn out just fine, possibly for the better -- and they definitely have. Earlier this week, Perfect World Entertainment announced that it would acquire a 100% equity stake from Atari, with Cryptic Studios remaining as the sole shareholder. Made famous for its free-to-play games, including Perfect World International, Pocketpet Journey West, and Forsaken World, Perfect World has the potential to help STO continue to grow. While the new owners are very excited at the opportunity to utilize the engine Cryptic is famous for, they are also excited at the fact that Champions Online uses the free-to-play business model. Oh dear -- here we go again. Ensign, warp 10! Everything is going to be OK and here's why...
A Perfect (and perfectly copied) World
See anything familiar about this website for a Malaysian online game called Perfect World? Yeah, so did Aerandul, and anyone else who's been to the official World of Warcraft site. They've got it all, from the feminine figure up top, right down to the menus on the side (although WoW's menus are collapsible, and this site's are not.The game itself even looks pretty close (ok, well, not that close), although stealing WoW's look and feel are a little more common than stealing its actual website design. As for what will happen to these guys, EU CM Aeus doesn't have specifics (or maybe just doesn't know), but my guess is that Blizzard might drop them a C&D, and then either hire someone in Malaysia to see the case through, or just forget about the whole thing. As he says, we'll have to watch the website-- if it goes down or changes, then we'll know Blizzard was successful.
