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One Shots: Crystal death
Reader Vexia is going to kick off our meeting of the Dungeoneers Anonymous Club here at Massively (motto: "Aw, just wipe it") by meeting a recent screenshot challenge to send in a picture from a dungeon. "Here is the Crystal Tower in Final Fantasy XIV, which cuts a fine figure over Silvertear Lake," she wrote in. "It's stunning to behold both within and without, and it contains bosses reminiscent of those in Final Fantasy III, the first Final Fantasy game to feature the Crystal Tower dungeon. The Keeper of the Lake can be seen in the right corner of this shot, a monument that contains the bones of the Guardian of Silvertear Falls (the Midgardsormr) and the wreckage of the massive Garlean Empire airship (Agrius). The Midgardsormr sacrificed itself to bring down the airship in a valiant act of altruism that no doubt saved the lives of many innocent Eorzeans! It's one of my favorite bits of the game's lore." Did you get all of that? I feel as though there's going to be a test. I might need to cheat off of your sheets. Insert one quarter to continue this column, by the way.
The Perfect Ten: The sadistic shopper's list for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
With the holiday shopping season upon us, gamers are hot for great deals and cheap entertainment. As my wife's logic goes, if something is 80% off, you buy it, even if you didn't really want it in the first place. It's the principle of the thing, an automatic 80% dose of smug satisfaction at being a savvy shopper! Not every deal should be pursued, however. Although most video games are playable for years and decades after release, not so with MMOs that have had their service shuttered. It's recently come to my attention that even though these games are completely unplayable -- rendered nothing more than a few cents' worth of a DVD and cardboard packaging -- online retailers haven't kept up with the times and keep these products on the virtual shelves long past their expiration dates. That's not to say you should avoid these products at all cost, because studies show that a large percentage of Massively readers have a sick and twisted sense of humor. What would make a better gift this Christmas than a multi-million-dollar-budget MMO that died a horrible death years before? So don't be the typical gifter who settles for a Blu-ray player or an iPod -- give a package of misery, disillusionment and broken dreams! Hit the jump for 10 items that absolutely belong in your shopping cart if you wish to be feared!
Codemasters to close US service for RF Online
If you're a fan of RF Online, you may be saddened to hear that Codemasters Online will be closing down operations of the sci-fi MMO on November 10th of this year. This closing will affect both North America and Europe. According to the official website, the game's license is set to expire shortly, and Codemasters and Korean developer CCR could not agree on any terms to keep the game alive.This game, while not wildly popular, did make history as one of the first Eastern-style MMOs to make it to the Western market. It's also the first MMO serviced by Codemasters, who has since gone on to publish such hits as Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online in Europe. For more information on the closing of RF Online, check out the game's official Closing FAQ.
RF Online server rollback combats cheaters and 500% inflation
RF Online in the Philippines recently had serious issues with dupe hacks, prompting an unannounced rollback of the servers. PlayNoEvil writes that the operator of RF Online for the Philippines, Level Up Games, discovered a dupe exploit and tried to purge it from the servers as well as those who used it. However due to time constraints with unraveling the intricacies of the exploit, the company decided to roll back the game to a point before the exploit was used. Level Up Games issued a statement on the problem: Based on DB evidence, numbers as well as feedback from the community, the GMs, the Vanguards and also from our field agents, there was an oversupply of in-game currency and gold - as high as 500 %. GMTristan of RF Online Philippines clarified the situation further on his blog:
Codemasters plans to bring MMO development in-house
Well-known European games publisher Codemasters has announced that they plan to move some MMO development in-house. The company currently acts as publisher for a number of Western massively multiplayer games, such as Lord of the Rings Online and Jumpgate Evolution. It also acts as an EU partner for the Korean games and RF OnlineArchlord. Today vice president of Codemasters Online Gaming David Solari has informed GamesIndustry.biz that in-house development was 'always a part of the plan.'In a lengthy interview with the site, Solari notes that entering the PC MMO marketplace is a daunting task - but they feel they're prepared. The numerous games they've licensed will give them an edge, and has given them a great sense of where the industry is going. His concluding statement is especially interesting, given recent comments by Bobby Kotick in the growing tit-for-tat war between EA and Activision/Blizzard. "I don't think you can compete with Warcraft. In two or three year's there will be something else that will be able to compete with Warcraft but nobody will be able to tell you what that is now. Chucking money at something isn't the answer."
Microtransactions, an Asian perspective
One question that has showed up more than a few times at the recently concluded GDC08 is the viability of microtransactions in MMOs. What are microtransactions, anyway? For those not too familiar with the term, it refers to an interesting game revenue model whereby users pay for individual game components, whether it be items, unlocking new levels, access to dungeons, etc. When the question about microtransactions was brought up at the Future of MMOs panel, there were many strong reactions from the panelists. Most of them scoffed at the idea, Blizzard -- supposedly popular for creating some sort of fantasy MMO -- in fact, has already officially rejected the model. Cryptic Studios' Jack Emmert called microtransactions "the biggest bunch of nonsense," (some transcripts show that he had harsher words for it) and that they "make (him) want to die". Although I can't attribute this quote directly to anyone, microtransactions have been defined as "any transaction whose value is currently too small to be worth bothering with" -- pegged at somewhere below US $1. The only one at the panel who defended the revenue model was Nexon's Min Kim, notably the only Asian among the panelists. Why is this notable? Well, Blizzard's Rob Pardo defined it as an "East vs West question", which Emmert dismisses. But Pardo is actually on to something, and I'll try to explain why.Free-to-play MMOs supported by microtransactions is the dominant revenue model in Asia. This isn't an accident of design. It's an evolution of revenue philosophy shaped by social and economic conditions. Let's put that in perspective. Most people in the world do not have computers let alone an Internet connection. This is why Internet Cafés are so prominent in Asia. In South Korea, these Internet Cafés, or PC baangs, are ubiquitous, with more than 20,000 serving up games and other Internet content all over the country. Although of course, South Korea is exceptional. 90% of the population is wired and PC baangs became popular because of LAN games. But elsewhere in Asia, Internet Cafés or LAN rooms are a popular, if not dominant, way to access LAN game and MMOs particularly China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.
Codemasters to reveal new MMO in March
Codemasters -- the U.K. company that runs DDO, LotRO, RF Online, and ArchLord in the European market -- has announced a coming announcement. Is that anything like having a meeting to talk about having a meeting?Wisecracks aside, here's what the folks at Codemasters want every one to know: they will be announcing a new MMO at the Connect 2008 event in March. Connect 2008 is Codemasters' own online gaming expo of sorts. It will take place in Birmingham. Oh, and the game will be playable at the event, too. If you're in the U.K. and you're an avid player of one of Codemasters' games, it might be worth a trip.So mark your calendars for March 14th; then and only then will we know what this mysterious European release is! There's a sign-up sheet for event-related news alerts in case you want to be really, really on top of this, but rest assured that we'll bring you all the info as soon as it comes.
As the Worlds Turn: Land of the Free
Free. Everyone likes things that are free. Well, except when it involves a free kick to the twig and berries. These days, free things are often accompanied by plenty of small-type that make it anything but free. Requiring you to sever a limb or to sign over half of your first born does not constitute free. However, there has been a glut of free-to-play MMOs emerging on the market. Some of these have been around for a while that somehow lost the desire to charge people and others have come out of the gate with no fees like a naked hippy at an outdoor music festival. What I'd like to do this week is take a look at some free-to-play games and see what they have to offer in the realm of game design and development. If you're looking for a review or a first-impression on any of these games, you're in the wrong place. There are far more capable people than I who can do just that. So put the wallet away, we're about to go free ... just keep the clothes on.
RF Online on going free-to-play, localization differences
Warcry has posted a nice interview with Chris Dye and Kyle Rowley, Community Officer and Manager for RF Online, an MMO that sits in an interesting place-- it originally started out as a hardcore Korean MMO, and has now warped here in North America into a Westernized, free-to-play offshoot of the original. It's an interesting strategy, and only one that MMOs can pull off-- if your players don't like the game you release, just update it into a completely different one.One very interesting change they made was to up loot drops-- apparently Western players felt they weren't getting rewarded the way they want to, so Codemasters (who publishes the game here) doubled the drop rates, not once but twice. On the other side of this, they've gone RMT to make the game free to play-- players can play real cash for ingame money used to buy ingame items. For some reason, that's flown in the Eastern MMO market, but not here so far-- it'll be interesting to see how RF Online players get into it (or don't).Unfortunately, none of the interview actually focuses on whether RFO is any more fun to play. Then again, it is free now-- you could do worse than to go grab the download and check it out for yourself.
RF Online opens new world
Codemasters Online has opened a new world server for RF Online called Solus. It seems that ever since the game has gone free to play, the popularity of the game has overpopulated the other two worlds, Novus and Lumen. Lumen was also opened within the last 30 days, so they are trying to respond to the increased popularity of the game as quickly as possible.The game is gorgeous and fun, particularly for a free game. I have yet to play very long, however, because their European downtimes have unfortunately coincided with my U.S. available playtimes.If you are interested in trying RF Online, you can sign up for and download your free copy here. Codemasters highly recommends starting new characters on Solus in order to avoid any population related issues.Now, if I can just figure out how to turn off that song in the launcher...
RF Online is now free
It sounds like I am repeating myself, but honestly I'm not. No sooner did we post about the Fileplanet promotion connected to RF Online and their free game keys then the game went and changed its mind. I guess they realized that people like free games, particularly ones this pretty, and decided to give everyone a chance to experience their game, not just those with Fileplanet accounts. Armed with this knowledge, I proceeded to spend more time that I should have this weekend playing the game for the first time. I rolled a spiritualist since all my friends wanted to play DPS (I guess it happens in every game) or tanks. Interestingly enough I seemed to be the only one who rolled a spiritualist of the dozens of recent players on Sunday, so I guess I can make an assumption that people find it more fun to slash things with an incredibly huge sword than to heal others slashing things with incredibly huge swords. So far I like the game, apart from the slaughter of the Flems, an incredibly adorable race of telepathic bunny creatures that beg for you to stop hurting them. Exactly how much harm can they be doing to the area, really? I haven't seen much in the way of storyline, but like I said I was only in the game during this past weekend. One tip though, when you create your character, do yourself a favor and skip the tutorial. This tutorial assumes you do not know how to open an options menu, and will teach you how to walk in every direction, and you and I both know this is something you already know.
Codies make futuristic MMO RF Online a freebie
While it seems as if everyone and their brother has it in their head to release an MMO these days, most of these fall flat on on their faces before even being released, and those that do make it to retail face the unenviable task of drawing players away from the likes of World of Warcraft or Club Penguin. What's a publisher to do? Well in the case of Codemasters and the CCR-developed RF Online, you make the game free and cross your fingers hoping that people care enough to come play.Codies officials today confirmed that RF Online, which launched in February 2006 to a host of mediocre reviews, is now "completely free" to download and play with no monthly subscription, complete with a newly released content update, Episode II: Pioneers of Novus. The move smacks of desperation on the part of publisher, and echoes a similar effort with its poorly received MMO ArchLord, which was made free to play earlier this year. According to Codemasters, since that time the game has seen its player base grow by 700%...and if that figure translated to any money whatsoever that would mean something. As it stands, sure, anyone is willing to try anything once if it's free. We just wonder how long the company can continue to sustain these types of games without generating dollar one.
RF Online + Fileplanet = Free forever
A friend of mine tipped me off to this one (thanks MIkey!), and if you are as big a fan of the blending of Science Fiction and Fantasy in MMOs as he is, you'll be excited to. In a limited time promotion with File Planet, RF Online is allowing those with Fileplanet accounts access to play the game for free -- forever. They are calling it a relaunch, a reintroduction of the game to the public, if you will. As a reward to those that have Fileplanet accounts -- if you don't that is your homework assignment for tonight, my friend -- RF Online is giving out Play Free Keys. It's like a Beta key, but to the actual game, and it never expires. If you haven't given RF Online a chance, now would be the time. The only thing you have to lose is some hard drive space, but what you gain is a world replete with dwarves, elves, and mechs.
