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Behind the Curtain: This too shall pass
And so we mark the passing of another MMO. I was going to add an adjective to that sentence, maybe 'great', 'fine' or even just 'good'. I couldn't decide, as I didn't play Tabula Rasa beyond the Open Beta. That's clearly not my fault though, obviously it's something to do with the developers not making exactly the game I wanted, needed or deserved at the time. Cry, whine, QQ, etc.Don't worry, this won't be an obituary for TR. That would be silly; I'm not lying when I say I didn't play it beyond Open Beta. I liked it well enough, but it lacked the spark that drives me to log on, night after night. The news of TR's demise however, has got me thinking. Like it or not, nothing lasts forever. MMOs are subject to the same financial rules as any other business, and sometimes those rules mean you lose. Regardless of how long we've been playing any particular game, how many alts you've raised up or how much of a home you've made for yourself in the community there, there's a chance your MMO will die eventually. Some games last longer than others; gaining enough momentum to garner a fair-sized and dedicated fanbase before they're shut down. Others barely get out of Beta testing before things go South, and the doors are closed before momentum really gets going.
Sound Advice closing up shop, liquidating stores
Another one bites the proverbial dust. Hot on the heels of Tweeter zipping up its distribution centers comes word that the Florida-based Sound Advice will be throwing in the towel as well. Interestingly enough, we just heard hours ago that ripples from the Circuit City / Tweeter closings could affect upscale dealers, and here we are watching 22 boutique shops liquidate their current inventory and call it a done deal. About 50 employees stand to lose their jobs, but of course, those with an outlet around can take advantage of some killer deals right about now. Granted, this probably has quite a bit to do with the fact that Tweeter actually acquired Sound Advice in 2001 for $61 million, and generally speaking, children don't fare too well when their parents hit the skids.
Royalty rate stays the same, iTunes Store still open
The U.S. Copyright Royalty Board decided today to keep rates the same for digital music stores, kneecapping Apple's threat to shut down the iTunes Store rather than operate at a loss. The three-member board kept the royalty rate at 9.1 cents, and mandated a 24-cent rate for ringtones. The board has never before established mechanical rates for digital files. "We're pleased with the CRB's decision to keep royalty rates stable," said an unnamed Apple spokesman. The popularity of Eddy Cue's statement that Apple would shutter the iTunes Store apparently had an effect on the board. "Sure it was posturing," said a music industry source, according to CNET. "I don't think Apple would have gone out of business but a statement like that from the biggest music retailer is going to carry some weight." [Via CNET.]
VP: Apple would rather close iTunes Store than pay additional royalties
If a ruling expected tomorrow by the Copyright Royalty Board raises royalties for online music sales from 9 to 15 cents per track, Apple would rather shut the iTunes store down than operate it at a loss. Them's fightin' words. Eddy Cue, Apple's iTunes VP, wrote in a statement to the Times of London, "If [iTunes] was forced to absorb any increase in the ... royalty rate, the result would be to significantly increase the likelihood of the store operating at a financial loss -- which is no alternative at all. Apple has repeatedly made it clear that it is in this business to make money, and most likely would not continue to operate [iTunes] if it were no longer possible to do so profitably." Of course, this is the "nuclear" option. Apple is most likely trying to gain aggressive leverage before the CRB decision is made. Apple is essentially asking music publishers, "do you want all the revenue you've earned through iTunes, or another measly 6 cents per track?" Shrewd, but is it shrewd enough? Some analysts speculate that Apple is more likely to pass the additional cost on to the consumer, rather than demolish a key slice of their business. What that will do to sales in the U.S. is hard to say. If the CRB raises royalties, what do you think will happen? Will you continue to buy music online? Sound off in comments. [Via IGM.]
Sprint pulling the plug on PCS Mail, all four users suffer nervous breakdown
PCS Mail -- a rarely used service which provided Sprint customers with an @sprintpcs.com email address -- is officially going away in 2009. The carrier has just posted up an informational site announcing that the service will be discontinued on December 31st, and there's even a few helpful links if you're struggling to understand how to move on with your life and train yourself to utilize another e-mail client. First Voice Command, now this -- anything else you're planning to shutter, Sprint?[Via RCRWireless]
Fury MMO shuts down
It has happened again. Another MMO with a unique idea is shutting its doors for good. Sadly enough, it's not the first and won't be the last. According to the official announcement made today in the forums, Fury has reached their time limit for finding a solution to keep the servers open. Since no solution has been found, the servers and website will be shut down in 48 hours from the time of the announcement. Interestingly enough, they say they've also informed all stores more than a month ago to remove the boxes from their shelves, and plan to refund all purchases made within the last month.We wish the Fury developers and everyone at Auran the best of luck with future products. It's a highly competitive market out there for MMOs, and you did your best.
The Daily Grind: What MMOG would you kill off?
Yesterday we asked what deceased MMOG do you miss the most. Let's flip that question around and make it somewhat evil. It could be before the MMOG ever launched essentially erasing it and making it unknown or sometime after it launched. Any MMOG is fair game. What about the reasons for your conclusion. Maybe you played it for hundreds of days on end and that caused a rift in your awesome social life. Perhaps it's the fact that your buddies left you behind and you want to enact revenge to get your old group back. There has to be one MMOG that you don't like, find annoying, whatever the reason. Or maybe you wouldn't pull the plug on any MMOG. That's okay too. Let's know, and be sure to explain your reasoning for doing so other than "I hate that game" or "I don't care." Example: Richard Bartle would sacrifice World of Warcraft because at one time or still believes the demise would benefit independent MMORPG developers. Please keep the nerd rage at a minimum when explaining why you chose that particular MMOG.
Max Schaefer thanks Mythos community
It wasn't long ago that Max Schaefer, a Flagship Studios cofounder and operations chief, admitted to mistakes that the company encountered with Hellgate: London. Now, in a strange twist of irony the players are learning firsthand the lessons of Flagship's failures. The Mythos beta ended as it was placed on hiatus last night, possibly being the last time players will grace the world of Uld. Not long after that the Mythos beta forums went dark but before they did Max Schaefer left a wonderful message to the community. "They say it's not so much the destination as it is the journey that's important. We're really hoping that's the case around here these days. I can't really believe I'm writing a post like this, but here we are faced with the unpleasant task of taking a hiatus from this crazy project. Unlike most games, Mythos has been running with our testing community for almost its whole life. I really feel like we've all done this together. And despite this bump in the road, I think we've succeeded wildly. This is undoubtedly the best game community I've ever seen. This is the best game development team in the world, in both Seattle and San Francisco. The things we've learned here, and with you all, will be with us forever.
Mythos beta is shutting down tonight
The woes continue at Flagship Studios. It was just announced that the Mythos beta will shutdown tonight. The official time slotted for its cease of operations is at July 18th, 2008 at 11:59 CST. Community manager Tiggs left the message on the forums which are also due to close at the same time. "We, the ancient elders of Uld are issuing this warning to all citizens and travelers. Hurry! The great darkness that once plagued Uld is returning. Everyone is ordered to close down their shops and prepare. We predict the when night is at its peak the darkness will arrive. The ancient elders of Uld will be leaving immediately in order to preserve the lore of this wonderful world. Citizens please prepare thyself and know that the elders will be back from their travels some day."Flagship Studios claims that the Mythos beta is going on a hiatus. That's pretty vague term associated with the closure of a beta that stems from a financial and legal crisis at a development studio. It does signal a possible return later, and we do hope Mythos continues development in the near feature and sees a well-deserved release. Lead developer on Mythos, Travis Baldree recently posted on the forums expressing his thanks and gratitude along with his uncertainty for how long the Mythos beta would remain operational. Now we know, and so soon.
Philadelphia's citywide WiFi close to shutting down
It'd be absolutely spectacular to actually see one of these admittedly ambitious municipal WiFi projects actually work out every now and then, but instead, we're seeing the nails start to sink into yet another citywide WiFi coffin. This go 'round, the network blanketing most of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is on the verge of sending out its last signals unless the city can devise a plan in short order to take it over from EarthLink, who unsurprisingly wants out on the double. Unfortunately, we don't have a great feeling about the system's future -- history has a way of forecasting, you know?[Via CNET, image courtesy of Stippling]
Pirates of the Burning Seas makes seven servers walk the plank
Arrrr, it be cruel out there on the MMOceans as Pirates of the Burning Seas has shut down seven of its 11 servers. Developer Flying Lab explained that the upshot of the maneuver would be denser servers, especially after an update allowed for more characters per server.We'd speculate that PotBS probably hasn't come close to hitting its expected subscription numbers. The developer will soon make changes to the game, which may bring in new players. But, as we've learned in the post-WoW years, you can't relaunch an MMO no matter how many upgrades fix the initial product.[Via Massively]
Virtual Magic Kingdom comes to an end
It's a sad day for for those who enjoy some digitalized Disney magic. It's been decided that Virtual Magic Kingdom, the virtual world developed and released in 2005 to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the real Disneyland's opening, will be closed for good on May 21. According to an FAQ posted on the official website, the reason VMK is closing is because it was originally intended simply as a promotion for the event in 2005, and has continued to run far longer than they originally intended.Of course, all is not lost for those who subscribe to the cult of Disney. They've already announced a commitment to spend over $100 million in the virtual world space, and they recently consolidated all of their online efforts, including Pirates of the Caribbean Online and Toontown Online, into one division. Their execs already have a firm grasp on the role virtual worlds have to play in building up their brands, so it seems likely that they'll be actively chasing after the casual gaming dollar for the foreseeable future.[Via Worlds in Motion]
DS Daily: Sleep vs. shutdown
They each have their own uses, what with the sleep mode of the DS being a temporary means at pausing your game and shutting down the DS being a more finite halt in the title. Which do you use more? For us, it has to be sleep mode. Sure, things come up as you're trying to play a DS game, but, for us, sleep mode shows a commitment to come back to that game, where shutting down is less of a commitment to come back as soon as possible to the game in question and more of a promise to walk away from the DS and watch TV or blog. So, which is more useful to you?
Sega dissolves Korean subsidiary, nixing $330m Yokohama arcade complex
Aside from planning to axe 400 jobs as part of Sega Sammy's most recent "turnaround efforts," the outfit will also be closing the doors to its Korean subsidiary. Currently, Sega Korea is "handling the domestic distribution and sales of video game software, as well as the operation / sales of amusement facilities and machines," and reportedly, the closure will be executed in the name of "global business optimization." As it stands, there's no set date for the branch's dissolution, but just in case your smile wasn't turned upside-down already, the company also stated that it would discontinue the development of a ginormous $330m arcade complex slated for construction in Yokohama, Japan -- if you couldn't guess, that one's being shuttered so the firm can "focus its efforts on its core business to improve its performance" in short order. Seriously though, what the hell kind of company would spend $330m on arcade, anyway?[Via Joystiq, image courtesy of USMC]
Meizu CeBIT booth shut down by German authorities
Remember how the folks at the Meizu booth swore up and down that the M8 Mini One wasn't that similar to the iPhone? Well apparently the Hanover police think otherwise. According to a report, the booth (shown above in its vacated state) was shut down by cops for piracy during CeBIT and passersby were told that, "The venue is closed until further notice." It appears that after stopping down the M8 show, cops proceeded to confiscate equipment and literature associated with the painfully obvious knock-off, and will be making a more detailed statement on Thursday in regards to the action. Meizu, it might be time to get yourself a makeover... and a good attorney.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in; Image courtesy Heise Online]
TiVo officially shutting down TiVo Rewards referral program
Though we had heard whispers for the past few days, it looks like TiVo is coming clean with its plans to nix the long-standing TiVo Rewards program. For those unaware, said program was used to encourage TiVo owners to coax friends and family (or strangers, for that matter) to pick up a TiVo for themselves, and if they did so, the referrer would earn credits that could be redeemed for all sorts of wares. Additionally, users could accumulate points by charging up their TiVo Platinum MasterCard, but it looks like all that fun will come to an end on May 28th at 11:59PM EST. For more details on the phase out process, be sure and visit the read link.[Thanks, Aaron]
Save your Stage6 raid videos
Many raiders and machinima fans will be disappointed to learn that Stage6, one of the best purveyors of high quality DivX videos, will be shutting down. Moo announced yesterday in her his WoW Moviewatch the shut down will take place this Thursday. This is a big blow to not only the WoW community due to all the superb WoW videos hosted there, but also to the larger DivX community. If you're like me, you probably have half a dozen boss videos that you either need to watch, or do watch after wipes to learn from them. Stage6 has an option to save these videos to your hard disk, and it looks like after this Thursday, that will be the only way to enjoy them.In light of the closure of Stage6, what video sites will you use to get high quality boss and strategy videos from?Edit: A sincere apology to Moo for my gender mistake. Having not met any of my fellow bloggers in real life yet, I mistakenly assumed Moo was a masculine identity. /red-in-the-face. /apologize.
DivX shutting down Stage6
In a somewhat sudden announcement, DivX has decided to close the door on its Stage6 service. Reportedly, upload functionality has already been halted, but videos will still be available for viewing / downloading until February 28th. According to a DivX employee, the service simply became too unwieldy (and expensive) to manage, and while it did toss out the option of selling the service to someone else, things evidently didn't pan out. Adios, Stage6 -- 'twas a fun ride.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Analog cellular networks, R.I.P.: 1983 - 2008
Marking the end of a remarkable era in cellular technology, the FCC is officially letting American carriers decommission their legacy analog networks as of today, February 18, 2008. Few of us still own a phone based on AMPS -- Advanced Mobile Phone System, ironically, despite the fact that there's been nothing "advanced" about it for many years -- but we owe the very existence of the world's modern wireless infrastructure to the introduction and overwhelming success of the Bell Labs-developed technology. So successful was AMPS, in fact, that it eventually covered virtually 100 percent of the continental United States, a statistic CDMA and GSM have only recently begun to approach.
Amp'd going after former CEO to pay off debts
It wasn't a pretty end for Amp'd Mobile, but even the hasty one-week extension of service, sale of customers to Prexar and asset liquidation wasn't enough to keep creditors at bay -- the bankrupt company is now suing after its former CEO for cash. Claiming that Peter Adderton "refused to perform certain aspects of his employment" and "threatened to take action that would damage" Amp'd, the lawsuit seeks some $1.15M in payments made. Amp'd is also going after some 20 other partners in similar suits, ranging from Merrill Lynch to law firm Latham and Watkins to Playboy and MTV. We're not sure how that's going to play out, but it looks like those rumors about the content team and properties like "Lil' Bush" being sold off are definitely true -- William Morris is in charge of shopping the group out to the highest bidder. All in all, it looks like Amp'd's creditors aren't being shy about getting their cash -- but what repo man ever is?[Via mocoNews]
