Day: September 5, 2009

Fallen Earth: Delayed Again


FallenEarth

It seems like Fallen Earth LLC just can’t catch a break when it comes to server stability. What was originally supposed to be a September 9th release was pushed back last month to September 15th. Now, we have news that the title has been delayed again, to September 22nd, to deal with varying launch difficulties.

“Our main focus is to make sure that Fallen Earth is easily accessible to as many fans as possible,” said Jessica Orr, product manager for Fallen Earth. “We are working on initiatives that are near fruition and we simply need more time.”

Luckily for those of you who preordered, this means you will receive an extra six days on to your head start; The newest delay has not affected the head start.

Some Thoughts: After two delays, Fallen Earth LLC can expect an uproar if this launch goes badly (IE: Server crashes, obvious bugs, etc). It’s good to see a company that is willing to push back a product, and potentially lose customers, to ensure that their product will be ready on time, but some will see the developers as possibly pushing development too close to the line, making optimizations and fixing issues that should have been fixed long before the game went gold.

Interested in seeing how Fallen Earth will perform when it launches this September 22nd.

Codemasters Loses Archlord Rights


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Just as I’m talking about the battle over the future of Dungeons and Dragons online, here comes news from another sector of the internet: Codemasters has lost their rights to operate the MMO Archlord in the United States and Europe. Instead, the servers will shut down on October 1st, only to be reopened a couple days later by the new host, Webzen.

As far as MMOs go, Archlord in the west was the MMO that never was, isn’t, and never will be. The game by itself received unfavorable reviews, with Gamespot summing it up in two words: Dull and repetitive. The title was smashed for its countless hours of dull grind, with little reward, in a world that often seemed to be populated only by yourself. It isn’t any surprise that it took only ten months after release for Archlord to ditch the subscription rate, and go completely free to play, ala Guild Wars. Nowadays Archlord is described as “empty and full of bots.”

What caught my attention was, in every location I found discussion on Archlord, the discussion regularly turned to one factor: Corruption from Codemasters. Shady bans and a response along the lines you would expect from your local Wal Mart or Mcdonalds. Players being conveniently banned after spending large sums of cash on the in-game currency (Archlord kept its microtransaction service), and more. According to some of my sources, this activity is almost a mirror image of RF Online, another MMO published by Codemasters in the west.

This may not be the end for Codemasters driving MMOs into the ground. According to several of my sources, Turbine is looking to bring their MMOs home, meaning Codemasters may lose its European publishing rights to Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online.

If you have any dealings with Codemasters on LOTRO, DDO, RF Online, or the soon to be murdered and then resurrected Archlord, please drop us a comment.

Lord Of The Rings Online: Still Kicking


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Turbine has a modest list of titles, three to be exact (Asheron’s Call, Dungeons and Dragons, and Lord of the Rings), but I have no doubt that Turbine has a vested interest in all of their products (as long as you don’t bring up Asheron’s Call 2). Even Asheron’s Call, that hits a decade old this year, still receives updates regularly.

So I’m glad to see Turbine is bringing about the epic conclusion to Volume 2 in Lord of the Rings Online, with the upcoming expansion: Siege of Mirkwood. Turbine isn’t just looking for the normal increased level cap, new areas, new items, and balances, oh no. Siege of Mirkwood is expected to bring in a new skirmish mechanic, that allows players to run customizable soldiers through randomized instances, leveling them up as they go along.

Those of you who know Turbine will know that they do PvE, and they do it well. Whether Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons, any player who delves deep into the story will be asking themselves, “What PvP?”

Siege of Mirkwood is launching as a paid expansion this fall. If you’re interested in diving into the existing game, LOTRO costs ten dollars USD a month, only two thirds the cost of most mainstream MMOs