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Fallen Earth farming to go live tomorrow
Tomorrow's update 2.6 for Fallen Earth will bring the long-awaited farming feature to the post-apocalyptic MMO after enjoying a few weeks on the game's public test server. As stated in a previous exclusive on Massively, these farms will allow players to create 3-, 6-, and 9-plot farms with crops you can grow, livestock you can raise, and western-themed gear you can wear. Rare and valuable materials can be harvested from these farms and the higher-end farm houses even have space for indoor seating, vaults, and more. If you'd like to see these farms in action, be sure to watch my livestream this Thursday at 8:00 p.m. EST where I'll show off the farm buildings and give my impressions on how it all works. [Source: GamersFirst press release]%Gallery-48606%
Fallen Earth readies the land for farms
Fallen Earth's latest state of the game is as country as one can get. The title is currently testing out farms, which should go live in the game sometime in December. Farms are a branch of the construction crafting set, which can grow plants and animals. That's right: Through the magic of cloning, livestock can be cloned right there on the farm. Players can build one of these farms anywhere with enough space and no landscape conflicts. They come with a farmhouse and several amenities and last for four hours before disappearing. Of course, don't take the state of the game for it; read our in-depth interview of the new farming system from last month! The state of the game also said that the next stage of the Coresuit will be coming in the new year, player housing is still being investigated on the technical front, and a certain mount will be getting an update this holiday season.
Xsyon offers a free-to-play option
Have you been wanting to get in and check out the post-apocalyptic world of Xsyon but hesitant about plunking down the cash just to get a taste? Well now you can! Notorious Games just announced a free-to-play option for the current Prelude phase of Xsyon. Previously, Xsyon offered a free trial server, but weekly wipes prevented folks from really experiencing parts of the game. Now, without any cash commitment, new players can game alongside everyone else on the main server. F2P also allows any survivors who left the chance to come back and reestablish themselves in the Tahoe Basin before the game moves to its next phase, Apocalypse. As with many F2P options, there are some limitations, especially regarding the formation and management of tribes. For instance, players without paid access can neither form tribes nor count toward membership totals in existing tribes, thereby preventing individuals and groups from artificially padding tribe counts to enlarge tribe borders. For more details on restrictions, check out the official list.
Get into Grimlands' second closed beta starting today
Guess what? Grimlands' second closed beta phase is here, but it only lasts through Wednesday, December 5th! The post-apocalyptic shooter now features a total of 23 dungeons, as well as more mercenaries and mutants. Publisher gamigo says that Grimlands is also sporting an overhauled UI, "substantially more intelligent opponents, a reworked shooter feeling, and improved graphic effects." This beta phase has room for 10,000 testers, and you can download the client by registering on the game's official website. You can also get a look at the official CBT2 trailer after the cut. [Source: gamigo press release]
Xsyon looks to go gold with a little help from Kickstarter
Xyson is an ambitious sandbox MMO that first opened to public consumption in 2011 under the name Xsyon: Prelude. While the game has been out since that time with no secret about its "not really launched yet" status, the team at Notorious Games has just announced today that official launch is finally right around the corner. But they need your help. Thanks to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, Xsyon aims to raise a total of $250,000 to help the game launch under the new name Xyson: Apocalypse. As lead designer Jordi Grau Davis says in the Kickstarter pitch, this will be what Xsyon was intended to be with two servers, nine times the world of Prelude, the addition of religion and magic, a larger dev team, and more. If you'd like to try the current version of the game out before making a decision to support this project, Xsyon: Prelude has a free trial, and you can learn much more about Notorious Games' plans with the future of the title on their Kickstarter project page. [Source: Notorious Games press release]
MMO Blender: Beyond Shawn's Thunderdome
If there's one thing I've noticed about these MMO Blender articles, it's that the Massively staff members seem to really like their sandboxes. Maybe it's not even so much a staff preference as it is a statement about where we all are as MMO players. Themeparks have been done and have been perfected, but many of us want to stretch the limitations of a truly persistent and open online world. At least that's what I'd like to think. It's an ideal situation I can dream about, but do we all really want a truly open world with limitless possibilities? What would we do with so few rules? My perfect MMO has what I'd consider to be the best of all worlds. The trick is, of course, getting it all to work in one game.
Farming in Fallen Earth: An exclusive interview with the devs
Late last week, Reloaded Games and GamersFirst announced that farming was coming to the post-apocalyptic sandbox Fallen Earth. The initial dev blog gave us some information on how farming will be implemented, but not much more beyond that. We took that as an invitation to pick the dev team's collective brain, and pick we did. Read on after the cut to learn more on how farming will work in Fallen Earth and how close it will be to FarmVille -- plus you can point your eyes at two exclusive screenshots of the farms themselves.
Fallen Earth to introduce farming
Fallen Earth's upcoming content includes new stage 3 coresuits, skill and mutation adjustments, and farming. Yes, farming is coming to Fallen Earth! According to the most recent dev blog, post-apocalyptic farming will be a crafting skill that will allow a player to build a three-, six-, or nine-plot farm where organic resources can be grown through seed planting, and animals can be raised. Additionally, harvesting will give a player the chance to get a common, uncommon, or rare component. Farming in PvP zones will increase the resource yield. Be sure to read the entire dev blog for more information on what's coming to the PTS with the next content patch.
Fallen Earth and APB: Reloaded go trick-or-treating
GamersFirst is bringing scary back to two of its biggest titles for Halloween. The publisher announced special events and seasonal sales for APB: Reloaded and Fallen Earth, some of which are happening at this very moment. Players in APB can get a preview of the upcoming Asylum District as they go there to compete in the Fright Club. A costume contest is scheduled for October 31st as well, and GMs will be present to lead a grand parade through the streets. Finally, the pumpkin-happy devs are throwing another Pumpkin Head Customization Contest with even better prizes than last year. In the vast wasteland of Fallen Earth, survivors are encouraged to go trick-or-treating with the devs for exclusive items. The location of said trick-or-treating will be hinted at in chat. Fallen Earth is also selling its cosmetic gear for half off starting tomorrow.
The War Z's Halloween beta launch includes new content, special offers
Halloween might be the only time of the year when no one is surprised by streets full of zombies. And for players waiting to get into the spirit by destroying the ravenous flesh-eating hordes, The War Z's closed beta client is ready and willing. Today's launch features new content in the form of all-new zombies to slaughter, new skins, special holiday-themed items, and a map that has doubled in size. And for folks who previously missed out on the Legend package, Hammerpoint Interactive is offering it again for a limited time. Purchasing this package will grant a player full access to the game, $30 of in-game funds, six months of server hosting, three weekend pass keys for friends, and special player recognition both in-game and on the forums. For more information, check out the official site. [Source: Hammerpoint Interactive press release]
Xsyon opens free trial server
If you've got a hankering for some sandbox action, but find the thought of a subscription up-front is a deal-breaker, then Notorious Games has heard your unspoken plea! The studio announced that a free trial server is now open to the public. The trial server is the same game as the subscription server, although the separation will certainly protect those investing in the title. All you have to do to access the trial server is sign up on the forums, after which instructions will appear on your account page. There's one caveat of playing Xsyon for free, however: The team plans to hit the big reset switch on the trial server every Monday. So if you're looking to preserve your hard work, you'll eventually have to subscribe. [Thanks to UltimateCarl for the tip!]
Choose My Adventure: You decide the MMO and how I play it
It's finally time for my second round of Choose My Adventure. The last time I helmed CMA, Lineage II was top pick, and I had a lot of fun with it. I took tons of screenshots and video to keep you in the loop as to my progress, and you can expect the same, whichever game is chosen this time. MJ's turn with The Secret World was a lot of fun to read and follow. She even livestreamed some of her shenanigans... I mean, adventures. You can bet I'll be playing with one finger over the PrtScn button and livestreaming some of my adventures as well. I hope to make this a multimedia extravaganza of epic proportions. Take a look through your choices and vote, vote, vote. And make sure to get those votes in by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday the 21st!
GDC Online 2012: A (severed) hands-on with The War Z
Everyone loves zombies. We all enjoy shooting them to bits, pummeling them with a hammer, and watching them die... again. But I'd been feeling a bit tired of the zombie genre, even though some of my favorite titles are heavy on the zombs. Then I sat down and played through a bit of The War Z, a new post-apocalyptic horror shooter MMO that tosses players on servers up to 60 miles square and holding up to 250 players. Those zones are chock-full of zombies, so players who care to risk it all can hope to survive as they run, gun, and generally get their wits scared out of them. I wasn't alone during my short time in the game, thanks to Alex Josef, Director of Communications for Hammerpoint Interactive We sat down for an interview and wound up smashing zombie heads with a flashlight. Ah, the perils of writing about games! Join me past the cut to read what I thought. %Gallery-168282%
Get under your desks: Syfy debuts 'Nuclear Family' on Xbox 360
Xbox 360 is getting some explosive exclusive content on October 1 with Syfy Digital's third original series, Nuclear Family. Nuclear Family follows a family in a post-apocalyptic world as they struggle to survive and find their missing child, who was lost in the "mysterious mega-explosion." The whole plot sounds a bit like The Warriors and Revolution's long-lost love child.All 20 episodes of Nuclear Family will launch on Xbox 360 exclusively via the Syfy app, followed by a simultaneous release on Syfy.com, Hulu, VOD, the Syfy mobile app and Roku on October 15.
One Shots: Wings
Resident Massively Aion columnist MJ Guthrie could sum up the best reason to play her favorite MMO in just one word: wings! That's something reader Leandra plainly echoes in today's featured One Shots submission. She sent us this image of her character soaring through Aion along with this note: I've been toying around with Aion a bit and took my baby Chanter, Elanyne, for her first flight through the Abyss. I kept an eye out for Elyos, but thankfully (though somewhat disappointingly), I was able to quest in peace. I guess I'll have to level up more and then go looking to pick some fights! You red, you dead -- that's what I always say! Leandra's flight and a few other reader screenies are tucked beyond the break.
The Game Archaeologist: Happy birthday, Warhammer Online and Fallen Earth!
September is a special month for me because it was around this time that two MMOs personally meaningful to me launched. Four years ago, Warhammer Online came into being amid a flurry of hype, insane expectations, and fan frenzy. It's the game that excited me enough to start my journey as a blogger, eventually landing me a spot here on Massively. And three years ago, Fallen Earth opened my eyes to how much fun an MMO about the end of the world and crafting could be. Despite the fact that neither of these titles qualifies for the title of "success" these days, I still bear a soft spot in my heart for them. I spent well over a year in each game, racking up several memories and useful lessons that I'd carry with me going forward. And I don't regret a single day playing them. Since this month is the fourth anniversary of WAR and the third of Fallen Earth, I wanted to offer a hearty "congrats!" and take a minute to see what's been moving and shaking in these games during this past year.
Xsyon creature migration system unveiled
As part of making a dynamic, living world, Notorious Games unveiled Xsyon's unique new creature migration system. Unlike worlds where mobs are static, this sandbox will ensure that animals don't just hang around one place. Instead, as animals breed and the populations expand, they will move from regions with higher populations to areas with lower ones. Different species will also exhibit different tendencies when migrating. Smaller, tamer critters will congregate toward the shores of Lake Tahoe and civilization, whereas the more dangerous creatures will migrate toward the mountains away from people. The wild animals that venture too close or into the toxic mist will mutate and return to wreak havoc upon the denizens of the land. [Source: Notorious Games press release]
Seven minutes of The War Z gameplay footage released
What's new with zombie survival apocalyptic sandbox The War Z? That's hard to say since we haven't seen much of the game since its announcement. Any opportunity to get a further glance at its gameplay is a welcome one, though. IGN delivers the goods in the form of seven minutes of video featuring sniping, stealth approaches, and general combat. You can also see plenty of The War Z's environments as well as occasional looks at the inventory and UI. The full clip is yours after the cut.
The Perfect Ten: Ways MMOs explain infinite resurrection
Why? Why do we die in MMOs and receive an infinite number of resurrections? Are we in a type of hell defined by endless combat and suffering, doomed to never escape the cycle? Is this a cruel experiment being performed by supreme alien beings from afar? Does that make us the living undead, immortal Highlanders, or something even more significant? If you're looking at me with that look you have in your eye right now, I'd like to remind you that asking these questions is more in line with the core of RPGs than just mashing the 1-2-3 buttons. The rules that make up and dictate our virtual lives should have both meaning and sense, yet so many of these games expect us to just blithely accept that we can come back from the dead over and over without nary an explanation. Well, I like explanations. Even if it's just polite nonsense, a thought-out reason as to why our characters are death-proof tells me that the devs treat their game with a higher degree of integrity than others. So here are 10 MMOs in which the endless cycle of death and resurrection gets at least a backhanded explanation instead of "shut up, just accept it."
Fallen Earth unveils new weapons and bosses in time for its third anniversary [Updated]
Anniversary gifts require careful thought, but Fallen Earth seems to know just what its players want. So patch 2.5 adds three powerful new weapons for players to use across the wastelands as well as three new bosses that carry required components for those weapons. It's not really the traditional gift for a three-year anniversary, but some traditions are going to go out the window when the entire world is a ravaged wasteland dominated by crazed survivalists. The three G.O.R.E weapons each have three tiers and can be upgraded, although the process is greatly enhanced by players who find G.O.R.E. enhancements. Not coincidentally, these can be found on the three new bosses added with the patch. The full patch notes also include a few art fixes and minor quality-of-life improvements, the sort of things that go very nicely with your new anniversary guns. [Update: The team has updated the patch notes to clarify that not all of the new weapon components can be purchased through the cash shop. Specifically, "all components that are required to build the weapons are earned in-game using resource harvesters, killing boss mobs, and from high-level merchants (for in-game currency only)." Players may purchase optional G.O.R.E. enhancements and new boss baits through the cash shop, although both of these drop from monsters as well.] %Gallery-48606%
