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E3 Expo putting 'caps' on media badges based on site traffic
"Sneaking" into E3 2011 is going to be a lot more difficult for many enthusiasts than it has been in the past. According to an email sent out by the E3 Media Team (i.e., the ESA) and forwarded to us by a tipster, "E3 Expo 2011 show management has placed 'caps' on this year's media badge assignments due to the tremendous number of requests for media badges. As part of the overall qualification process, the Media Team uses Compete.com, xinureturns.com, Quantcast.com and Alexa as the standard measurement/ranking tools in determining media badge approvals for online-based applicants." Over the years, the ESA has experimented with controlling E3 attendance at the behest of game publishers, but this year's new measures have have raised concerns about promoting a "closed loop." Limiting entry based on site traffic suggests that well-trafficked sites will be the ones to gain increased access to publishers and developers, and, in turn, more traffic, while smaller, independent sites will be stifled by the restriction and unable to grow. Another concern points out that the data generated by sites like Compete can be inaccurate, given "you have to insert code to properly track" for the service. "We require that sites be fully launched, operational for six months, and that the website receives a minimum of 8,000 monthly unique impressions as a baseline for each media badge issued," adds the email notice (published in full after the break). That means if you haven't started your New Year's resolution to launch a video games site yet, it's too late to "pull a Destructoid." Of course, if you happen to work at Roscoe's, we might be able to work something out ... for a taste of that sweet, sweet unicorn meat.
Habbo Hotel touts 200 million registrations
If you haven't heard of Habbo Hotel, you might just be in the minority. Sulake, the Finnish maker of the teen-focused virtual community and social game, has just announced that the title has surpassed 200 million registrations as of January 2011. If you're curious, one registration equals one character in the long-running virtual world, but the total number of unique registered users is unclear. Habbo Hotel celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, and since its founding in 2000, it has expanded to more than 150 countries across the globe. The year 2010 represented the virtual world's most successful to date, with 42 million new registrations and over 400 million play hours logged. "The fast, continuous development of Habbo Hotel has enabled us to make quick changes and create new features according to our users' needs," said Sulake CEO Timo Soininen via press release.
Update to the Massively makeover
Hello, readers! It's been a few weeks since our massive Massively site overhaul landed, and our web gurus have been scurrying in the background fixing bugs and responding to your reports. Not all of the bugs have been vaporized just yet, but we'd like to update you on the status of some of the problems that most affect you. RSS -- Our most-reported problem over the last few weeks revolved around our RSS feeds. Many users reported a doubling-up of posts as the site spewed out two copies of every post. Others reported an inability to subscribe to specific categories and bloggers, and still others were finding that every RSS feed was producing copies of the podcast (great news for podcast fans, I guess!). Our techs currently report that all of our RSS feeds should be functioning now, but they note that many RSS readers do not well tolerate the kind of switcheroo we had to do. If you're still having problems, unsubscribe again from all of your Massively feeds and try resubbing one more time. I can tell you that I am using Google Reader and stopped having problems a few days ago. If you need to resub to specific feeds, this will help: for the writers, visit the individual pages on our team portal; for columns and features, hop over to our columns list; and for specific games, click on your chosen game in the games list for a category with a feed button. There's more behind the cut... follow along!
SSX 'Descent' sites registered
With Shaun White now taking it to the streets, perhaps there's an opening on the slope for EA's snowboarding franchise, SSX, to reemerge from hibernation. A mess of newly registered domains points to the possibility of a reboot of the series, which has been sidelined since 2007's pedestrian Wii release, Blur. Professional domain registration outfit Corporate Domains, Inc. (what a gig!) has locked down URL variations of "SSX: Deadly Descent," plus an "SSX: First Descent" domain -- suggestive of the popular reboot motif: the origin story. While none of this activity is confirmation of a new SSX game, EA has worked through Corporate Domains in the past in advance of public announcements, most recently to secure web real estate for potential Need for Speed names (though Hot Pursuit was ultimately recycled) and The Sims Medieval. As for SSX, it's been more than a year since EA Montreal's Alain Tascan left open the possibility for a new entry in the series, saying in September 2009, "If the market is there and is ready for a new one, then we'll consider it." Perhaps through Move and Kinect, EA Montreal sees its ready market and an opportunity to build on the motion-controlled framework established in its Blur effort. Of course, fans of the last-generation games might prefer to see the series' original developer, EA Canada, stage the comeback. And what a meta-comeback story it could be! (The studio could use a big win following the NBA Elite 11 fail, after all.) Still, all this domain fuss could just as easily be over the naming of the SSX iPhone game, which has been -- quietly -- in the works for too long.
The Daily Grind: Do you keep old account information?
Odds are good that you've played a fair number of MMOs over the years. Every single one comes with a code telling you that it's very important you hold on to that code, that you need to keep a log of all your account information so that nothing gets lost. And if you ever lose it, you know that's an excellent reminder, since if you'd paid attention then you wouldn't be sifting through your desk now desperately searching for the notebook paper where you'd written your password. Most players are fairly good about holding on to the important information for games that they're currently playing, but we can all get sloppier about former games. Have you ever wound up losing important information for your older games that forced you to buy a new copy or made resubscribing harder than it could have been? Or do you make sure to hold on to all of your information in a safe place, so that you can sign back up for any game at a moment's notice?
PSA: E3 2010 online registration closes this Wednesday
If you're a member of the video game industry who has been lollygagging when it comes to your E3 2010 registration, this should be a wake-up call: Online registration will end this Wednesday, June 9, at 11PM Pacific (a.k.a. June 10 at 2AM ET). This is the first time E3 online registration has ever been shut down prior to the start of the event. The ESA, which runs E3, explained that the measure is being taken this year because registered attendance is close to hitting the limit. The organization expects between 41,000 and 45,000 industry professionals, analysts, journalists and retailers (and probably a few impostors) to attend. Qualified industry professionals can still purchase badges on site, but that involves things like ... lines, ewwww.
The Sims 'Medieval' web domains registered
A fan site of all things Simlish, called Infinite Sims, recently uncovered a handful of web domains registered by the ever-stealthy, third-party outfit Corporate Domains, Inc. These reserved addresses could be an indication of an upcoming expansion to the Sims universe -- one that could take the bright, cheerful world of Sunset Valley back into the Dark Ages. The reserved domain names all include some variation of "thesimsmedieval" or "thesimsgetmedieval," which might hint at the subject matter of the next batch of content for the highly successful franchise. Hey, we wouldn't mind trying to move up the Sim caste system. Maybe learn how to joust? Perhaps go pheasant hunting in the northern wilds? Learn how to relieve ourselves properly in a sturdy waste bucket? No, wait. That last thing sounds terrible.
OnLive offering one year free membership to pre-registrants
Smart move by OnLive today. The controversial streaming game service is offering to waive the $14.95 monthly access fee for a full year (originally it was 3 months) for anyone who enthusiastically pre-registered early -- many of you we suspect. It's even tossing in a coupon for a free game when you register for the offer. The only catch seems to be the credit card required to complete registration as proof that you're over 18. If you didn't pre-register then tough luck, no offer for you. But at least you can take comfort in knowing that a small army of gamers will be taking the service to task unencumbered by membership fees. In other words, we'll know right quickly if OnLive can live up to its "ultra high-performance" streaming gameplay on entry-level PCs and Macs. [Thanks, Michael M.]
We should be set on Need for Speed subtitles for a while
Superannuation recently did its thing and uncovered a whole slew of newly reserved domain names associated with the Need for Speed franchise. The subtitles suggested by the registered domains are (deep breath): Boost, Drift Kings, Eliminator, Lightning, No Limits, Overdrive, Proven, Redline, Showdown, Street Kings, Takedown, The Run, Time Attack and Underground East. One of these many names could potentially (hopefully!) be the title of the next, possibly Criterion-developed installment in the series -- but then again there could always be a need for more domain registrations yet to come from EA. Actually, the registered domains were reserved by Corporate Domains, Inc. (CSC), an intermediary company that manages web real estate in order to protects its clients' "brand identity." So, it's technically possible that these acquisitions weren't made with EA's blessing, and that this collection is really just a massive prank executed by one of CSC's various corporate clients. A jealous publisher then? That's far from the most likely scenario -- but it would definitely be the most hilarious.
Red Faction 'Origins' and 'Armageddon' website domains registered
Internet paperwork bloodhound Superannuation has sniffed out several Red Faction–based domain name registrations by THQ. A series of domains corresponding to would-be titles in "Red Faction Armageddon" and "Red Faction Origins" have been secured by the publisher. These two potential Red Faction projects would appear to correspond with the current plan for the franchise, which sees SyFy producing a "back-door pilot" for TV (Origins, maybe?) and the next installment of the game series planned for March 2011 (why not Armageddon?). Of course, these things are never so neatly tied together, are they? There are numerous possibilities for the two Red Faction titles used in the new domain registrations. Anyway, have you played Guerrilla yet? It's a really fun game, we swear.
Sony secures inFamous 2 web domain
Sony recently made yet another addition to the growing mound of evidence for a sequel to last year's electrifying action title, inFamous. Superannuation has discovered that SCEA has registered the domain: infamous2thegame.com. You can try visiting it now, if you'd like. You're going to get a "Server Not Found" error, though. And then you're going to feel really silly. As with all web domain registrations, this could just be a case of Sony locking down the name for potential future use and preventing the uncomfortable situation of having to seize it from a third-party registerer. Still, with E3 just over a month away, the timing of the inFamous 2 domain registration could indicate that an official announcement is coming soon. Especially if, before then, Sony registers: infamous2isrealanditwillbeannouncedate3.com.
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Driver: San Francisco domains registered by Ubisoft
Thanks to a good catch by Superannuation, we may now know the title of Ubisoft's proposed follow-up to Assassin's Creed 2: "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood." That's the name of a currently inactive domain registered by Ubisoft earlier this year. Additionally, the publisher has scooped up "driversanfranciscogame.com," which could be the name and location of the announced Driver reboot. "Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood" would certainly be a suitable name for what's expected to be the first game in the series with "an online multiplayer mode" (not counting the iPhone game, of course). As for "Driver: San Francisco," what better place to jump start the drained franchise? Some of the world's greatest feats of driving have taken place in San Fran, after all. Ever seen the movie Bullit? Have you played San Francisco Rush? Don't tell us you missed San Francisco Rush 2049!
Registrations open for SL Pro! conference, February
Registrations are presently open for SL Pro! a two day conference being run by Linden Lab for 'serious' professional Second Life content-creators to take place in late February this year, in Second Life itself, with a bit of help from NMC (the New Media Consortium). Unfortunately, it's a conference with more than one track, where the two tracks generally have a fair bit of overlap, so that's a bit of an issue. The two tracks are building and scripting, each with eight sessions.
Mythos teaser and closed beta registration page emerges
Things are stirring behind the scenes in the world of Mythos, the little MMO that could. A newly launched site offers a very small teaser, but also, a closed beta registration form which is of far more interest. While Mythos was much-loved in its previous form, we don't doubt the followers of the Diablo-esque dungeon-crawler are keen to see if the magic is still there in HanbitSoft's re-envisioning.If you're not up on the history of this title, now (at its new beginning) seems a good time for us to sum things up. It started out as a way for Flagship Studios to test their networking technology for the then-upcoming Hellgate: London, but soon grew into a popular game in its own right through a widespread closed beta test. It was all set to transition from experiment to fully-fledged title and move into open beta when the well-documented trouble at Flagship derailed the whole thing. However, Flagship's Korean publisher HanbitSoft acquired the game's license and decided to make use of it. They reassured eager fans only a few months ago that Mythos would be re-born better than ever. Only time will tell if that's true, but with this new closed beta registration, it shouldn't be too long before a select group finds out for themselves. In the meantime, all of the old Mythos devs will be working away on Torchlight at Runic Games. Torchlight undoubtedly stands to be significant competition for Mythos in the future, but it won't be ready (in its MMO form at least) any time soon.
Don't forget about the Fallen Earth Dev Hunt!
Just a friendly reminder to all of those interested in shooting some Fallen Earth developers -- the developer hunt contest is this weekend! Yes, remember that Saturday, August 8th will be filled with developer chasing action! You can even win some nice prizes, as we've said before!Plus, even if you aren't a beta tester, you still have time to actually register your interest for the contest! Go to the Fallen Earth website and fill out the registration form before tomorrow, August 6th. Once you do that, you'll be registered for the contest and good to go. But it's only open until tomorrow, so you better act fast if you want to have a taste of the apocalypse mixed with the blood of developers!
Battle.net registration now online in China
World of Warcraft has, as you have probably heard, been offline in China for a while now. Even though The9 originally said they'd transfer over their servers to NetEase, they later decided to fight it out, leaving WoW offline for a matter of weeks. And it isn't quite up yet, but they're getting there -- this (very roughly) translated article says that Battle.net servers are now up and running, so Chinese players can now at least sign in to Battle.net, if not into the game itself. We already went through the same thing here in the US and the EU, so Azeroth should be back online in China any day now.Meanwhile, the poor folks at The9 have not been doing so well -- they were on top of the world last year, but when World of Warcraft up and flew the griffon out of there, they lost the majority of their business. A new AP article has them revising their expected earnings down by an "estimated 55 to 75 percent." Ouch.Let that be a lesson, NetEase. Keep your instances running and your downtime low, because if Blizzard pulls the plug on a game you're running, they'll be taking a ton of money with them.
SOE Fan Faire 2009 now open for registration
With this year marking EverQuest's 10th anniversary, you can bet that SOE's Fan Faire 2009 is going to be a little grander than usual. As it turns out, then plan is for an expanded weekend event with all sorts of awesome stuff for fans to check out. Want to try DC Universe Online? You'll be able to play it all you like at Fan Faire via playable demos of upcoming SOE titles. Hey, maybe you'll be the first to see The Agency in quite some time!Beyond even that, there are plans for sneak peeks at new games in development, which should be pretty exciting. But that's just really a small glimpse of the goings on planned for this year's event. If you want to get a much bigger picture, head on over to the registration site. We're sure this year will be full of great news information and tons of events for the fans.
No more serial numbers in iWork retail boxes
Customers who buy iWork '09 retail boxes may be surprised by what they don't find inside. Namely, a registration code. Apple has stopped shipping iWork with a registration code starting with version '09. "Install iWork '09 from the enclosed disc and you're ready to go," says Apple.Of course, those using the downloaded trial version will have to enter a serial number if they want to activate their trial version. While iWork has traditionally required users to enter a registration code, iLife has not. Some have implied that this is a tacit invitation to piracy -- install our software on random machines, get hooked then pay for an upgrade, but we're unconvinced. Also, we have no indication (as of this writing, at least) that the iWork apps don't phone home to verify that they're validly installed.[Via Ars]
China to impose real-name registration for online games
The Chinese government takes games seriously. More specifically, they view games as something that must be tightly regulated. Given how many young people in China spend hours every day in Internet cafes, the government has a system in place that -- they claim -- limits the amount of time a given person can play online games. However, kids in China have easily found ways to game this system, according to IncGamers.The Chinese Government's next step is to implement a real name registration system in 2009, which would link game accounts with a given person's ID number. The concept seems to be less about taking anonymity away from gamers than it is about preventing them from finding ways of racking up ludicrous amounts of play time, something that the Chinese government believes is a growing problem that must be curbed.
BlizzCon 2007 Beta codes will be used for Wrath
EU CM Wryxian has good news for everyone who attended BlizzCon last year (or just bought the beta key cards off of eBay): the codes given out last year will be used for the Wrath of the Lich King beta. Wryx says if you've got a code, register it immediately, and then do what everyone else is doing -- wait for the beta email to show up.To tell the truth, I'm a little disappointed. I've got a beta key from BlizzCon, but I've already signed up for the Wrath beta through the usual channels. Of course, we still don't know how this works -- maybe those with a key will be given access before those who just signed up randomly, but it sure seems like everybody will get in eventually. Which means that even if you didn't get a key at BlizzCon, you'll still get into the beta anyway. I thought that Blizzard would have treated those who came out to their event a little better (and, at the very least, been a lot clearer about how registration for the beta is working -- are they making it up as they go along?).But on the other hand, the open registration just means more people will get into the beta, and I don't have a problem with that -- the more the merrier. As always, the problem with Blizzard is communication -- it's fine if they want to keep which beta these WWI or BlizzCon keys are for a secret, but when the beta registration actually starts, they should make a plan, stick with it, and let all of us would-be beta testers in on what it is.