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PlanetSide 2's New Conglomerate faction detailed
The distinction between terrorist and freedom fighter can be subjective, and the latest PlanetSide 2 dev blog offers an appropriate example. The piece profiles one of the three factions fighting for control of the planet Auraxis, and the New Conglomerate is either a bastion of liberty or a collection of cowardly infidels depending on whom you ask. The NC are "in total open war with both the Terran Republic and the Vanu Sovereignty, seeking to free humanity from the tyrannical grip of the former and defend them from the fanatical alien influence of the latter," according to the blog entry. If you're more interested in PlanetSide 2's gameplay than its lore, Sony Online Entertainment wants you to know that the New Conglomerate is "built around hitting first, hitting hardest, and taking a beating." Vehicles like the Reaver and the Vanguard are built to stay in the fight longer at the cost of mobility and speed. Head to the official PlanetSide 2 website for further details.
Bloodline Champions begins the battle with Season 1
"Our biggest update yet!" the promotions for Bloodline Champions shout at us in an all-caps font. If you're a fan of this wildly popular online battle arena, then Season 1: The Battle Begins will have you pumped up for the next evolution of this game. The keystone to this update is a new Bloodline: the Reaver. The Reaver is a melee fighter who wields a horking big sword and stops at nothing to dominate the battlefield. E-sport warriors should appreciate having this frenzied warrior in their inventory. Players participating in Season 1 can take part in a ladder tournament system, through which they can earn exclusive items by fighting their way to the top. The Season also introduces emotes to the game, two new maps (the close-quarter Altar of Dorn Zweig and the huge Ruins of Razmorg), and additional store items. Stunlock Studios even put together a Charitable Champions Pack -- which includes an exclusive avatar and title -- to help the disaster relief efforts in Japan, as 100% of the proceeds go toward this effort. You can read more about Bloodline Champions' huge update over at the official website, and make sure to check out our first impressions of the game!
Enter at Your Own Rift: Zero-sum game
Ever since I started following RIFT, I've been entranced by the wide-open -- but not limitless -- class system. After all, the virtual world and everything populating it is only half the game; the other half resides in the avatar that sticks with you while you explore it all. Many MMOs have interesting ways of letting you build and grow your character, but sooner or later they come to a point where there's little more to be done other than incrementally increasing your stats by gaining better gear. Not so with RIFT, as even a level 50 can drop a few coins to shape a completely new build from scratch. No longer are we bound to a rigidly defined creation; we are free to experiment, tinker, and try out these roles to our hearts' content. With RIFT's soul system, there are a few ground rules that everyone learns early in the game. You can have up to three souls in your archetype active at any one time; you can only spend as many points in a build as you have in levels (such as 10 points at level 10); and you'll end up with 66 points at level 50, which means that you'll at least dabble in a second soul tree with every build. And while you can certainly spread soul points across all three trees, today I wanted to look at the benefits of a zero-point soul, the "third wheel," if you will, of builds.
Five by five: PlanetSide Next reveals the Reaver
For a new MMO that's supposedly launching this year, we've heard precious little about the tentatively titled PlanetSide Next so far. Today, our knowledge grows by an inch as PlanetSide Universe got its hands on an exclusive picture of one of the new ships of the game, the Reaver. Like the ships in other screenshots we've seen, this is a model and not necessarily representative of the actual vehicle in-game. Still, it definitely looks like it means business, and evokes the image of modern attack helicopters minus the rotor blades. SOE's John Smedley has talked up this MMO sequel as having "massive battles on a scale no other FPS will touch." The studio is looking at late Q1/early Q2 2011 for a release window for the game. The first beta testers will be current PlanetSide players, so if you want to get a look at the future, it may behoove you to jump on board the present. %Gallery-115730%
Perfect World is back to the Kung Foo! dojo
Back in February (yes, we know it's hard to remember that far back) Perfect World Entertainment announced that it was pulling the highly anticipated martial-arts MMO Kung Foo! out of beta. The game's developers believed the game needed some rehabilitation to recover from some devastating injuries inflicted by the opinions of the beta testers. Today, the game zen masters have announced the free-to-play RPG has re-centered its qi and is now known as Legend of Martial Arts. The game now features an all-new look and feel, not to mention a variety of new quests and content. LOMA is also pleased to announce a new race called the Reavers, who, of course, have a brand new starting zone. Closed beta for the new design starts on November 24th. Each player who who helped out in the Kung Foo! beta will receive not only an automagic invitation to the closed beta but also a Gold Prize -- an item that grants one day of double XP -- for his or her first character created in open beta. For more detail check out the official Legend of Martial Arts website.
E3 2010: Hands-on with Rift: Planes of Telara
We've had our eye on Rift: Planes of Telara for some time now, especially after getting a little face time with the game back in April. Fortune smiles upon us all once more as Trion Worlds made the trek to E3 to showcase this gorgeous fantasy title. Shouldering our way to the front of the line -- hey, hey, I'm reporting here! -- we took the wheel of an interactive demo while the developers were kind enough to answer a few questions about Rift. Your very first decision in game will be to choose a faction: the Guardians or the Defiant. Both are tasked with saving a world under attack, although they each have their own approach and butt heads against the other in the process. The Guardians are blessed by the gods and are chosen to be their holy knights, while the Defiant take the anti-hero route and rely on their own technology to wage this war. The Defiant had created vast cities in the desert using their magical tech, but they were infiltrated by dragons and saw their great achievements wiped away, reducing them to desert wanderers. There are races unique to each faction, as well as races shared by both. We learned that the Defiant have access to both the Eth (human) and Bahmi (human/elemental) races.
Hands-on with Age of Conan's Barbarian class
Last week at CES, I was able to do a hands on with Age of Conan's Dark Templar class. I also spent a good couple of hours ignoring the dirty looks of conventioneers as I hogged the Barbarian class demo machine as well. I was able to take a couple of shaky videos of gameplay (I blame the excitement) and write down some of the abilities of the class currently in beta.Before you dive in after the jump, you might also want to check out Michael Zenke's hands-on impression of the game, his interview with with Conan Designer Jason Stone about the graphic upgrades recently introduced to the closed beta and Age of Conan's newly announced Collector's Edition information, And if that's not enough information, you can also check the extensive tour and interview Akela Talamesca had of the game in December with more video coverage than you can shake a DV cam at.Now, on to the details of my test drive with AoC's Barbarian class.%Gallery-13299%
