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CCP issues brief mea culpa, EVE CSM to meet with devs
It seems as if an olive branch has been extended in the escalating conflict between CCP and hardcore fans of the company's EVE Online MMORPG. Arnar Hrafn Gylfason, otherwise known as CCP Zulu, has issued an apologetic blog post as a followup to the controversial piece he penned last Friday. Zulu chalks up the confrontational tone of the previous post to the stresses surrounding CCP's recent data leaks and also advises fans that the company is flying the Council of Stellar Management to Iceland for meetings on June 30th and July 1st. More importantly for players chaffed by CCP's assumed about-face regarding game-altering microtransactions, Zulu finally answers the burning question regarding whether or not EVE Online will eventually see pay-to-win cash shop items. "There are not and never have been plans to sell 'gold ammo' for Aurum," Zulu writes, alluding to fan reactions to the Fearless newsletter leak. While CCP certainly isn't out of the woods yet with regard to this public relations nightmare, the fact that the company is acknowledging a serious breach of customer trust, coupled with the "no gold ammo" quote, seems to be having a calming effect on the community as it waits for details to emerge from next week's emergency CSM summit.
The Daily Grind: What Star Wars Galaxies features will you miss the most?
Yep, it's another Star Wars Galaxies-flavored Daily Grind (if you think the sentimentality is thick now, wait until the week of December 15th). When the long-running sandbox title rides into the sunset this winter, it will be taking with it quite a few unique features that have been deemed unnecessary in all the games since. Whether we're talking about the Dancer, Image Designer, and Musician functionality, the space game that allows for interaction and personalization inside the spacecraft as well as out, or the player-generated content features made possible by the Storyteller and Chronicle systems, there's a lot to love about SWG even if you don't particularly love Star Wars (or the game's disregard for Star Wars lore). Today's breakfast topic follows on from yesterday's, but this time around we want to know about feature sets instead of personal memories. What SWG features will you miss the most? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Old Republic's Daniel Erickson says writers are game designers
Can game writers be classified as game designers? BioWare writing director Daniel Erickson thinks so. In a brief interview at PC Gamer, Erickson lays out his views on the legitimacy of game writing in no uncertain terms. "You can teach a writer to be a junior game designer. You cannot teach a junior game designer to be a writer. You need somebody who is a senior master level writer and then you teach them the basics of game design," he says. Erickson goes on to describe BioWare's writer boot camp, which involves a three-month training period and a lot of work that will never see the light of day. While the article doesn't directly mention Star Wars: The Old Republic, it's clear that Erickson and BioWare are looking to further spread the word regarding the upcoming MMO's heavy narrative focus.
Anarchy Online celebrates 10 years this weekend
It seems like there's an MMO anniversary happening every other day around these parts. While it's indeed commendable for some of these games to last a year or three, Funcom's Anarchy Online has just reached the lofty summit reserved for the likes of EverQuest and Ultima Online: Yep, Rubi-Ka is 10 years old and still going strong. Funcom has issued a press release that's heavy on the innovative aspects of the world's first sci-fi MMORPG. "Instancing, massive player vs. player combat, digital download of games, in-game advertisement, virtual world radio, concerts, virtual items, and freemium business models" are just a few of the initiatives that showed up early in Anarchy Online. The release also serves to accentuate how much has changed since the game's genesis, as it notes that AO's original 1995 design document questioned the future viability of the internet and hoped for 2,500 subscribers. No 10-year anniversary would be complete without a respectable bash, and Funcom's release also outlines the festivities coming your way in the form of events and new content. The party (jointly produced by Funcom and Gridstream Productions) starts tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. EDT and will continue into the weekend. Even if you're not up for virtual dancing, you'll want to check it out for a new birthday raid, new vehicles, clothing, gear, action figures, and pets. Head to the official website to learn more.
BioWare setting up public TOR demo outside San Diego Comic-Con
Star Wars: The Old Republic community coordinator David Bass unleashed a pleasant surprise on unsuspecting BioWare fans earlier today. In a post on the official TOR forums, Bass told of a playable demo at the upcoming San Diego Comic-Con. Big deal, I don't have a Comic-Con badge, we hear a few of you saying. Well, take heart. BioWare also recently announced that Mass Effect 3 (as well as downloadable content from Dragon Age II) would be playable at a hotel across the street from the con, and Bass says that The Old Republic will be there as well. "Anyone (yes even you!) can come to the Hilton and wait in line to play any of the BioWare games," Bass wrote. You'd better get there early, though, and plan on packing your patience as well as a slew of your favorite portable Star Wars games to pass the time.
EVE Online's new agent finder detailed [Updated]
Hey capsuleers, did you take the day off work to sample the wonders of Incarna? We hope not, because CCP has extended the downtime for EVE Online's latest update. If you did take a day, or if you're simply in need of some juicy New Eden-related reading material, you'll want to have a look at the newest CCP dev blog. The entry examines the new agent finder functionality, and CCP Punkturis has some interesting tidbits to share along with a few interface screencaps. The goal, as outlined in an earlier agent-related dev blog, was to simplify the convoluted mission-running system and allow players to more easily find agents of an appropriate skill level, faction, and activity. The new finder filters agents by faction standing and also sorts them by distance (meaning you'll get info on the closest contacts first). Players may also filter various agent-related searches like mission types, and you can read all the details and leave feedback at the official EVE website. [Update]: CCP's dev blog gnomes are apparently working overtime today, as the company has just released an extensive look at the making of Incarna's turret system renovation.
EVE Online Incarna goes live
EVE Online players, rejoice! The day you've been waiting for is finally here. Today marks the release of EVE Online's much-anticipated Incarna expansion. The most notable addition with this update is undoubtedly the new ability for players to finally exit their spaceships and explore the universe's many space stations on their own two feet. All players will be required to (re)create their avatars upon logging in after the patch in order to allow them to experience the new ambulatory features. In other news, there can now be only one jump bridge in a system at a given time, and character creation and the new player experience have both been revamped in order to make the game's notoriously steep learning curve a bit more welcoming for new capsuleers. The full patch notes include far more than can possibly be squished into this post, so if you're anxious to know what exactly this new update entails, head on over to the official site.
EVE Online's Incarna 1.0 coming Tuesday
It's almost Incarna time for residents of CCP's New Eden, and EVE Online's website has been updated with a brief blurb warning users to prepare for some extended downtime on patch day. The update process is scheduled to last for 14 hours on Tuesday, June 21st, so make sure you've got some long-haul skills in your training queue this Monday. Incarna version 1.0 is bringing the much-ballyhooed captain's quarters patch to EVE, and it represents the first step towards fully functional space station interiors. The update will also feature a new tutorial experience (though the familiar voice of Aura isn't going anywhere) as well as new agent finder and corporation recruitment tools. CCP says that full patch notes are in the works, and in the meantime, you can join the forum discussion at the official EVE website.
Inaugural Fallen Earth dev blog talks PvE, PvP, and roleplay content
Yesterday we broke the news that GamersFirst had acquired Fallen Earth and has set about molding the post-apocalyptic sci-fi title into a free-to-play experience. Today we're happy to tell you about the new Fallen Earth dev blog and its lengthy inaugural post. The entry comes courtesy of associate game director Joseph "Linus" Willmon, and he expends a good deal of virtual ink on topics that include the free-to-play roadmap, various changes that will result from the conversion, a transition time frame, and post-F2P design priorities. While the entire post is quite intriguing for fans of the game's grungy wasteland shtick, that last bit is particularly interesting since it specifically targets three groups of players (one of which is almost universally ignored in dev circles) and promises them content updates. "Anyone who's played Fallen Earth knows there are three core groups -- sometimes always at odds with one another -- that form the basis of the community: PvP players, PvE players, and roleplayers. The design priorities for the future will look towards building specific features and content aimed at each group, making the world much more robust and, we hope, exciting to experience," Willmon writes.
15 Minutes of Fame: (Almost) 15 authors of fame
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. 15 Minutes of Fame tries to feature as wide a variety of WoW players as possible. It's not only about being famous in the real world, or being a somebody in the WoW community, or playing WoW despite some remarkable circumstance. 15 Minutes covers all those things, yes ... But we also try to talk with players who are representative of the typical player experience -- ambassadors of the Folks Next Door, if you will. But no matter how we try to balance things, we always seem to end up back at another interview with an author. Writers who game are a particular bunch. They always have a lot to say about the fantasy genre and the game lore and way the world of Azeroth is unfolding; it makes for a pretty interesting interview. So when we realized that we'd pretty much overshot the bottom of our dance card despite the line of authors winding past the punch bowl and out the door ... Well, we decided it was time to give everyone a full helping of nothing but WoW-playing writers. With our common enjoyment of WoW and the fantasy genre, we figure most readers will find something from these authors they'll want to curl up with on the couch. Welcome, then, to 15 Minutes of Fame's list of (Almost) 15 WoW-Playing Authors of Fame.
PitchBlack Games announces Prime: Battle for Dominus
PitchBlack Games has officially unveiled its new upcoming title, Prime: Battle for Dominus. The game takes a departure from the omnipresent high-fantasy genre, opting instead for a futuristic science-fiction approach. Built on the HERO engine, Prime is named for the element that is the key source of contention in the game's world. This so-called "prime element" is used to power all of the game's advanced technology, and players will find themselves fighting tooth and nail for control of this precious commodity. Players can choose to join one of three playable factions: the Humans, the genetically modified Rodon, or the young race of the Salent. Developers boast that the game will include 11 seamless, fully explorable worlds, each with its own secrets for players to uncover. Players can establish control of these worlds by constructing bases from which to push back invaders who will come in search of precious prime. As one might guess, PvP looks to play a large role in the game, with each faction fighting for dominance over valuable resources with which to advance its own ends. Players looking to make a profit can take up the mantle of the bounty hunter and sell their services to the highest bidder. Perhaps the most remarkable feature of the game, however, is GM-run events. Prime will offer live events to provide an unprecedented level of player engagement. If you want to find out more about this promising new title or apply to test the game, head on over to the game's official site.
Bigpoint and Mail.Ru partnering for global distribution deal
Bigpoint and Mail.Ru Group have just announced a corporate partnership that aims to bring titles from each publisher to new prospective markets. Bigpoint, a browser MMO specialist most famous for its free-to-play Battlestar Galactica title, will bring its games to Mail.Ru's Russian-speaking audience via the latter's existing portal delivery service. Similarly, Bigpoint users will find Mail.Ru titles like GodsWar Online accessible via the Bigpoint website. Bigpoint games will also be making their way to Mail.Ru's Odnoklassniki and My World social networking services. "As successful browser-game providers, Bigpoint.com and Mail.Ru are a match made in heaven. We're happy to expand both our game portfolio and our international network of partners at the same time," said Bigpoint CEO Nils Holger Henning in a recent press release.
EVE dev blog talks increased system specs, Incarna performance
Performance is always a concern when it comes to MMORPGs, and EVE Online is no different. The game has traditionally run quite well on older hardware despite graphical upgrades and thousands of simultaneous users sharing the same virtual space. In the latest EVE dev blog, CCP Zulu addresses the impact that the upcoming Incarna expansion is likely to have on client performance, and to make a long story short, CCP is upping the game's minimum and recommended hardware configurations. Zulu says that the change is mostly directed at users with lower-end Nvidia 6000 or 7000 series graphics cards who are trying to run multiple EVE clients on a single machine (a common practice due to the number of alt accounts and the fact that only one character per account can actively skill-train). "We therefore decided to temporarily add the option to not load the Incarna interiors while still retaining full access to all options and menus. This allows us to accommodate users with old and gnarly hardware [... and] also develop for those with top-of-the-line gaming computers," Zulu explains. Check out the blog entry, and the system specs, on the official EVE website.
Duel of the fates: Two class previews outline the positives and negatives of SWTOR
Star Wars: The Old Republic previews are coming fast and furious in the afterglow of E3, and PC Gamer adds to the mix a pair of them that focuses on extensive (and class-specific) play sessions. First up is a 17-hour session with the Bounty Hunter, and the reviewer has nice things to say about BioWare's story-telling prowess (and a whole lot of meh for TOR's MMORPG elements). The lengthy piece touches on combat, grouping (which is described as quite awkward due to the narrative focus), and BioWare's infamous penchant for NPC romance. The author concludes that TOR is worth playing if you're into single-player storytelling. "If BioWare had sacrificed the story-driven aspect of their game, there wouldn't be much reason to play The Old Republic. Other MMOs have better combat models and more impressive worlds," the magazine says. The second preview (by a different author) also features a 17-hour stint, this time at the controls of an Imperial Agent. The piece focuses on the specifics of the Agent questing experience and also paints TOR in a more positive light. "The quest design feels reminiscent of World of Warcraft's Burning Crusade expansion [...] and the game's PvP system feels like a refined and upgraded version of Warhammer Online's," the author says. You can read the full text of both articles at PC Gamer.
CCP video blog talks EVE immersion, Incarna deployment
As the clocks ticks down on EVE Online's long-awaited Incarna update, CCP is starting to roll out more PR to get fans in the mood (and to catch the eye of casual observers). The eight-year old title has long been considered one of the massive genre's premier sandboxes, but Incarna's deployment is adding a radical new dimension to the game that is taking time to both design and deploy. A new video blog featuring EVE creative director Torfi Frans Olafsson and senior designer Craig Scott looks to fill fans in on what Incarna has to offer. It's all about immersion, according to Olafsson, who says that the new avatar-based sections of the game will give players a stronger sense of self and a deeper awareness of the game environment and the scale of New Eden. Olafsson also explains why CCP is taking its sweet time with Incarna's rollout and why it's chosen to do it in stages (the first of which is the captain's quarters update on June 21st). In a nutshell, the staggered deployment is due to the update's complexity as well as to the fact that it's being grafted onto a live service that cannot be taken down for extensive tweaks. "To be honest, it's like changing the engine on a race car while it's doing 200 mph on a race track," he explains. Check out the full clip after the cut.
Black Prophecy launches North American open beta
E3 is still in full swing, but Reakktor and gamigo are already looking past the publicity-soaked annual gaming convention and into the future. That future is now for North American fans of Black Prophecy, and today marks the beginning of open beta for the title that launched in Europe last March. Black Prophecy features real-time dogfighting, customizable ships, storylines, and open-world gameplay, all set against an interstellar backdrop punctuated by constant war and lush visuals. You can register for the open beta on the game's official website, as well as download the client. Be sure to check out all our previous coverage to get up to speed.
E3 2011: GamersFirst talks Fallen Earth and F2P
Last week the devs at Icarus Studios dropped the first hints of their collaboration with noted free-to-play developer GamersFirst. Despite a lot of speculation and anticipation (fueled in part by the fact that the Fallen Earth website went offline for a few hours for updates), no free-to-play announcement was forthcoming. Yesterday at the annual E3 convention in Los Angeles, our own Rubi Bayer managed to corner GamersFirst's Darek Connole to ask him what the heck is going on in terms of wasteland business models and future development considerations. Is Fallen Earth's cash shop expanding? Is the game going free-to-play? GamersFirst remains coy on both subjects, but you can check out the full interview after the cut for more details.
Ask Cryptic hints at shared Foundry functionality for Star Trek Online, Neverwinter
There's a new Ask Cryptic in town, and this month's Star Trek Online update finds producer Dan Stahl fielding a plethora of community questions that cover a wide range of topics. While many of the questions (and answers) are straightforward one-liners, Stahl does go into a bit of detail about STO's Foundry functionality. He mentions that the content creation tool will be getting a round of bug fixes as well as new map hookups (including Star Fleet Academy) for the library. Stahl also says that Cryptic's Foundry team is currently hard at work on Neverwinter's player-generated content toolset, and the fruits of its labor will eventually be seen in STO as well. "One thing I continue to stress is adding the ability for more acting and blocking features so that players can create their own dramatic scenes," Stahl explains. Head to the official STO website for the full text.
E3 2011: New Dark Millennium Online teaser sighted in the wild
The first E3 tidbit on THQ's Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium Online is officially loose on the interwebs, and it takes the form of a short teaser video. When we say short, we mean short (as in, less than a minute in length -- 10 seconds of which are given over to company logos). Since the footage is heavily stylized, it's hard to tell exactly what is gameplay and what is cinematic. In any event, it all looks pretty cool, and fans looking forward to Vigil's take on the dark and dystopian far-future setting will be left wanting a bit more. The video also plays it coy when it comes to WAR40K's release date, opting for a cryptic "coming soon" tag when all the pyrotechnics have died down. Have a look after the cut and let us know what you think. [Thanks to Alluvian for the tip!] Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 6-9, bringing you all the best news from E3 2011. Whether you're dying to know more about Star Wars: The Old Republic, RIFT, or any MMO in between, you can bet we'll have it covered!
EVE's Incarna countdown kicks off
This has got to be a tough week for stick-in-the-mud EVE Online vets who are convinced that an expanding New Eden is a bad thing. First it was yesterday's official Dust 514 E3 reveal (consoles, platform exclusivity, and shooters, oh my!), and today we've got an official countdown clock to the EVE version of dress-up... er, Incarna. Yes, the long-awaited walking-in-stations/ambulation/EVE-with-legs update is less than two weeks away, and CCP has prepared a new section of its official EVE website devoted to all things Incarna. The new portal has a good bit of info on the expansion, including a new video dev blog featuring Team BFF and its commitment to improving and expanding EVE's minutia. If you're newly interested in EVE, Incarna, or really anything to do with New Eden, head to the new site and have a look at the video after the cut.
