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Gamescom 2012: End of Nations trailer spotlights customization
Whether they're sporting traditional or tie-dye or polka-dots, players meeting on the battlefield in End of Nations won't have to worry about blending in with the crowd thanks to the variety of customization options available in the Armory. Trion Worlds released a trailer at Gamescom 2012 showcasing some of these available customizations in the upcoming free-to-play MMORTS. The customization in the Armory, however, goes beyond just a colorful outer shell; players also use this feature to set load outs, design and create companies, and modify units. Want different armaments? The Armory is where you get them. Check out the variety of options as well as some in-game footage in the trailer after the break. And players interested in experiencing the feature for themselves can sign up for the beta on the official site.
Age of Empires Online adding new civilization and booster pack next week
The Babylonians are joining Age of Empires Online. In a recent interview, Gas Powered Games revealed that both this industrious new pro civilization and a new booster pack, Fertile Crescent, will be added to the game on August 16th to coincide with the game's one-year anniversary. The Babylonians bring with them new ways to build, protect, and conquer, from mobile storehouses called Ox Carts to The Siege Tower (think Trojan horse) to shield bearers. Additionally, the Babylonians can build out of wood instead of stone. The land of Mesopotamia also opens up the game with the Fertile Crescent booster pack. This area has level-scaling repeatable quests for the level 20 to 40 crowd. Lead designer Brian Frick noted that this type of scaling content is the direction the company is going in the future. He added, "We just want to have more of our content be fun for all levels to play." Both the new Babylon pro civ and the booster pack will be purchased using Empire Points, the in-game currency; Babylon will cost 900 EP, and the Fertile Crescent will cost 450 EP. You can read more details in the full interview.
Trion showing off RIFT expansion, Defiance PvP at Gamescom
Gamescom is coming next week, and most major publishers are gearing up to make the trip. The latest announcement comes to us from Trion, which is showing its stable of games including RIFT, End of Nations, Defiance, and Warface. Next week's convention will mark the "consumer debut" of RIFT's Storm Legion expansion, and MMORTS End of Nations will be playable on a massive 24-PC setup. Defiance is bringing "previously unseen PvP gameplay" to the table, while Warface will be presented inside a giant helicopter-themed display arena. [Source: Trion press release]
End of Nations outlines Heroes and Mercenaries in a new video
End of Nations has a large number of units, and each of them has a relatively fixed role. You know at a glance what any given unit is meant to do and how it works with other units in the game. And then there are hero units, which are specifically meant to throw that balance off. Heroes possess multiple special abilities, generally ones that synergize well with other units, allowing you to pull out an unexpected set of abilities on an unsuspecting opponent. Some Heroes are willing to work for any side in a conflict, and these Mercenaries are arguably even more powerful. When you hire a company of Mercenaries, you acquire both a Hero unit and several sidekick units specifically tuned to complement the Hero's abilities. That means a full strike force tuned for maximum impact, one that might enable a strategy not normally available to your faction. Jump on past the break for the full video explaining Heroes and showing these powerful units in action. [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
Catch another End of Nations beta livestream tonight
End of Nations' second closed beta kicked off in the wee hours of this morning. To celebrate, Trion is hosting another livestream event designed to show off the MMORTS title's gameplay (and the changes that have been made since the first closed beta). The beta event itself happens today through Sunday, August 5th, while the livestream goes down tonight at 8:00 p.m. EDT on the EoN TwitchTV channel. Devs will be showing off new content, including a 4v4 base assault map called Blue Water and a 4v4 domination map called Resource Hog. [Source: Trion press release]
End of Nations second closed beta event scheduled for early August
This cold war... just got hot! Now that we've got cheesy movie poster taglines out of the way, let's talk about End of Nations' upcoming closed beta event. Trion Worlds announced that the event is scheduled for August 3rd, starting at 12:01 a.m. EDT and going until August 5th at 11:59 p.m. EDT. If you don't have a key for the beta yet, don't despair. You can sign up on the End of Nations beta page for a chance to get in, or watch Trion's social media for giveaways. Alternatively, beta access is guaranteed for those who pre-purcase the digital Founder's Edition. [Source: Trion Worlds press release]
Exclusive: Illyriad major trade update launching this week
Illyriad fans, rejoice! The highly anticipated trade revamp is hitting the free-to-play fantasy MMORTS at the end of this week. This huge update will significantly alter the economic landscape of the game. Going beyond just an overhaul of the trade system, this update also introduces crafting, expands harvesting, and opens the way for players to gain power and wealth through commerce. How significant are these changes? Currently there are 17 items that can be traded among players; after the update, that number skyrockets to over 300. With the addition of crafted equipment, troop customization increases from eight basic troop types to include thousands of possibilities. Other changes include over 50 new special resource types, nine new mounts, 72 new weapons, 53 new armor types, 13 new specialist buildings, and 187 new technologies to research. The sheer number of additions is not the only change. With many commodities being regional, potential business moguls will find that establishing trade routes and even creating monopolies will be profitable. If you enjoy economic strategies instead of just military, check Illyriad out. [Source: Illyriad Games press release]
Catch Trion's End of Nations livestream tonight
Want to see some End of Nations gameplay? Of course you do. Trion's upcoming MMORTS made a big splash at this year's E3, and now the devs are gearing up for the world premier live broadcast of the game on Trion's TwitchTV channel. Be at your computer around 8:30 p.m. EDT tonight and you'll get to see senior producer Chris Lena, community director Elizabeth Tobey, and community manager Lance James putting the game through its paces. Tonight's shindig is a preview of EoN's initial closed beta event, which kicks off Friday, July 20th. [Source: Trion press release]
End of Nations' elite units and 56-player battles
Trion Worlds is on the cusp of opening the doors for End of Nations' July 20th closed beta event, and its staff is busy talking up the free-to-play MMORTS to any and all who will listen. French Community Manager Franck Vacher spoke with ZAM about controlling a chaotic battlefield and how the game is developing in these late hours. While End of Nations has instanced battles as small as 2v2, the crown jewels of the system are its massive 56-player battles. Vacher said that the team is preparing to test the large battles and gives a good reason that players will want to do their best to take over the game world. "Usually you get some type of bonus -- for example, a loot bonus of, say, five percent -- because you control the territory," he said. "For some of the maps, it changes the objective. On the Bluewater map, you're defender or attacker, so your objective will be completely different." Vacher also commented on the new elite units that were recently added to the game. "It's hard to say [whether] they're overpowered or underpowered -- sometimes when I'm playing, I don't take any heroes because they don't fit with my other units. We'll be working more on balance in the beta, as our alpha's been more about the technical aspects of the game."
Star Supremacy holds storyline contest
Before Star Supremacy's launch, Barbily Games both sought player input on design decisions by offering a spaceship design contest and solicited feedback for future events. Fast forward to today, when players now have the opportunity to submit their own ideas about what the MMORTS title's storyline should be in a new contest. Players eager to see their ideas truly influence a game need to post their entry on the official event thread. The winner of the storyline event will have his or her ideas about how Star Supremacy should grow and develop story-wise incorporated into the game. [Source: Barbily Games press release]
The Soapbox: League of Legends is the new World of Warcraft
Disclaimer: The Soapbox column is entirely the opinion of this week's writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of Massively as a whole. If you're afraid of opinions other than your own, you might want to skip this column. Every now and then, a game comes out of nowhere with such incredible financial success that it causes the games industry to completely lose perspective. All it takes is one game to start raking in the millions for developers, publishers and investors to stumble around with dollar signs in their eyes for years to come. Innovation grinds to a halt and everyone starts blindly copying whichever game just hit the jackpot. It's like some huge industry-wide superstition takes over and convinces people that if they do the same dance the same way, it'll rain again. World of Warcraft has consistently had this effect since shortly after its launch in 2004. To this day, several studios per year excitedly announce yet another fantasy MMO that lifts its entire feature set and every gameplay mechanic wholesale from World of Warcraft as if it were a model for automatic success. The same thing is happening again in online gaming today, not from MMOs but from MOBAs, a new genre based on the competitive gaming classic DotA. Developers are still chasing the massive money made by yet another hugely successful game, and this time it's League of Legends.
End of Nations beta starts July 20th, founder's edition guarantees access
What do Trion and Tears for Fears have in common? Not much aside from the title Everybody Wants to Rule the World, which will now be stuck in your head for the next couple of hours. You're welcome. Trion has co-opted the phrase in its latest press release for End of Nations, which reveals that the game's first closed beta event is coming on July 20th. The first event "promises both large and small player maps across a variety of different terrains, as well as a multitude of upgrade options and a wide range of units and battle tactics to deploy," according to the devs. You can either apply for beta and hope for the best or shell out $29.99 for the founder's edition and its guaranteed access. Details on both options are available at the official EoN website. We've also got a complete list of founder edition goodies listed for you after the cut.
Company of Heroes 2 wants to remind you of World War 2's Russian casualties
War is hell, and it never changes, as we've been repeatedly told by video games. Company of Heroes 2, however, isn't about a fictional future proxy war or some such – it's about the Russian front during World War 2. It's about firing on your own soldiers who were terrified enough to retreat. It's about being handed ammo without a gun because there isn't enough money to afford the luxury of both guns and ammunition, and being told to grab a gun from one of your fallen comrades when you get a chance.In case it weren't clear, the trailer above for Company of Heroes 2 attempts to elucidate that reality – a reality you'll be carefully navigating come next year when the game launches on PC.%Gallery-159400%
Age of Empires Online adopts a truly free business model
Last month, the Age of Empires Online developers announced an aim to take the game away from its "free-to-try" business model and move to truly free. With the latest update, the real-time strategy game will not only convert to a truly free-to-play model but also offer new content to players in the form of Alliance Wars (a team-based competition for level-40 players) along with new purchasable vanity items and consumables. In the move to make all premium content available through gameplay, the game's currency -- Empire Points -- can now be earned through conventional play or purchased through Steam. Chris Taylor, founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games, explains, "With Empire Points and this true free-to-play business model, we are giving players what they have repeatedly asked for... fewer pay walls and more ways for players to experience this legendary franchise." As the game transitions to this new model, all current players will receive a gift of 500 Empire Points automatically, while new accounts will receive 100. Current players who had Empire Points previously will see them converted into in-game coin. [Source: Gas Powered Games press release]
New End of Nations Warfront episode looks back at E3, forward to release
If you missed E3 last week, then you also missed Trion's spectacular End of Nations booth on the show floor. Fortunately the firm has released a new episode of its Warfront series. The clip runs for about five minutes, which is plenty of time to take in the E3 sights, sounds, and a few brief interviews with Petroglyph devs who are hard at work on End of Nations. You should also check out Massively's EoN impressions if you haven't already, and stay tuned for further updates from Trion's foray into the MMORTS space.
E3 2012: End of Nations shows its MMO-ish roots
If there's one thing I love about game companies, it's their capacity to innovate. Trion Worlds and Petroglyph are teaming together to do just that with their new MMORTS End of Nations. I had the chance to demo End of Nations at E3 and talk a bit to the folks at Petroglyph, which is gearing up to launch a strong seller that is taking risks with experimentation for the RTS genre. A lot of questions come to mind when one ponders how an MMORTS will function. How many players are there? Will lag be a significant problem? Unit control? These MMORTS games are so new that experimenting in how the game mechanics work is key. The demo was entirely functional and entertaining to play. Let's dive into some details.
E3 2012: InnoGames talks pirate MMOs, strategy titles, and games for women
At this year's E3, we had a nice long chat with German studio InnoGames about its MMO repertoire. The company actually started out quite small with three college buddies, who released their first game only to their close friends. That game, Tribal Wars, and its original servers are still around, albeit with some updated graphics to keep things looking fresh, but we wanted to focus on the team's more recent offerings. While InnoGames has several titles under its belt, including Bounty Hounds, we focused primarily on Kartuga, a pirate-themed strategy MMO; Lagoonia, a social building game created by and aimed at women; and Forge of Empires, which is similar to the Age of Empires series. All three games are free-to-play browser games, and we even got a pinch of hands-on time.
End of Nations E3 trailer gets play-by-play treatment
Trion's MMO real-time strategy game End of Nations got a new E3 trailer loaded with in-game battles and voice-over commentary. The free-to-play game will go through a "PvP preview" period this summer, and is slated to launch this fall.
Jagex closing down browser-based 8Realms
More MMO layoffs are in the news this week as noted free-to-play maker Jagex is shuttering its browser-based 8Realms project. A source told Massively that the social empire-building game "has been a major (and very expensive) flop. Many of us are losing our jobs, some are being moved to other departments." We contacted Jagex for an official comment and were provided a statement by COO Daniel Clough: "Jagex has always been committed to creating fun and compelling games. During the 8Realms beta it has become clear that the game doesn't meet our high expectations for success and we are therefore channeling our focus on other exciting opportunities in the pipeline."
Dungeon Defenders shifts into an RTS with Summoner hero class
Dungeon Defenders has expanded its perspective on PC and Mac gameplay (and probably life and love and stuff) with the new Summoner character, who can conduct battle from on high as if in an RTS. Overlord Mode allows the Summoner to supervise entire armies from a top-down perspective, altering the game entirely.Along with omniscient battle control, the Summoner gets two pets, can levitate for 15 seconds, build an army from sentient crystal and basically wreak havoc on the battlefield, as the above video shows. The Summoner DLC pack is available via Steam for $4.%Gallery-156098%
