Author: Admin

Neverwinter Launches On Playstation 4


Neverwinter_PS4_03

Today, Perfect World Entertainment Inc., a leading publisher of free-to-play MMORPGs, and Cryptic Studios announced that Neverwinter – the Dungeons & Dragons-based, free-to-play MMORPG – is now available for PlayStation®4. Along the Sword Coast of the Forgotten Realms, Neverwinter players will experience a fully realized roleplaying-game based on Wizards of the Coast’s storied franchise with a living world and immersive fantasy storylines.

Neverwinter turns players into adventurers. Create a character with its own rich backstory from eight playable classes and several races. Begin questing through enchanting settings to save the city of Neverwinter and surrounding lands, engaging in fast-paced, action-packed against evil threats including dragons, cultists, demons, and more.

Adventurers will have access to the base game and nine expansions of content including the latest, The Maze Engine, allowing players to experience the latest Dungeons & Dragons adventures with their friends. PlayStation®4 adventurers can download all of this content for free starting today without a PlayStation®Plus subscription. More details and features can be found below.

  • D&D Experience – From tabletop to novels, Neverwinter is a fantastic digital recreation of the Dungeons & Dragons experience. Select from eight classes, fight alongside iconic heroes against classic monsters throughout the Forgotten Realms.
  • PlayStation®4 Features – Neverwinter will be free-to-play for all on PlayStation®4 owners (PlayStation®Plus not required) and feature controls optimized to incorporate the DualShock 4’s touchpad and Party Chat integration.
  • Solo & Co-op Content – Adventurers can experience a majority ofNeverwinter’s content solo or join up with their friends and large groups to conquer challenges from dungeons, the Demogorgon battle, Tiamat and more.
  • Endgame Content – Complete the main story content and reach the level cap of 70 to unlock campaigns centered on expansions, earning the best weapons and armor Neverwinter has to offer.

“Delivering the Neverwinter experience to the PlayStation 4 has been a major goal of ours for the last year, and we’re happy to be able to do so,” said Rob Overmeyer, Neverwinter’s executive producer. “Bringing full-fledged MMOs likeNeverwinter or Star Trek Online to consoles was a big challenge with many unknowns, but what we’ve found is simply: gamers like games. We can’t wait to see how the PlayStation Nation takes to the game and look forward to supporting it for years to come.”

Our Thoughts: You can check out MMO Fallout’s preview of Neverwinter here.

Final Fantasy XIV Teases Deep Dungeon


498f86d8acb4d44925b3f83e96c82c85a550f9a0_1

Final Fantasy XIV is gearing up for the release of patch 3.35, which introduces the Deep Dungeon. The Palace of the Dead is a (to start) fifty floor, randomly generated dungeon that can be explored in groups of up to four players. Your progression in the dungeon is separated from that of your normal adventurer, starting everyone over at level one and granting experience and equipment as you fight.

Rewards from the dungeon include experience, cosmetics, tomestones, and gil. Rewards useful outside of the dungeon are based on what level your various jobs are going in.

Players who do not own the Heavensward expansion are limited to the first forty levels. Given the messaging behind the patch notes, it is safe to presume that more stages will be added to the initially fifty in the future.

(Source: Final Fantasy XIV)

Beta Perspective: A Third Go On The Neverwinter Express


Neverwinter_PS4_01

How much do I like Neverwinter? Three systems in and I’m still playing it, that’s how much.

Neverwinter is an action-based MMORPG set in the Dungeons and Dragons Forgotten Realms campaign. It initially released on PC back in 2013, Xbox last year, and now the game has come to Playstation. Unlike its Microsoft counterpart, Neverwinter on Playstation 4 does not require a subscription to the system’s online service in order to play. There is an extensive cash shop and an optional VIP subscription system that I will get into further on.

If my time in Neverwinter in PS4 has taught me one thing, it is just how massive in scope the game has become since it launched just three years ago. I started Neverwinter on PC during its beta phase and haven’t taken much time off since. As such, I’ve experienced the content in small doses as it became available.

Beginning again on PS4, all I can say is…wow. Seventy levels, six massive campaigns, the daily quests, etc. It’s a bit like deciding you’re going to start getting into Game of Thrones after numerous books and six seasons. Despite this, Perfect World is constantly doing work to make the leveling process as smooth and clear as possible.

Neverwinter_PS4_02

Having already played the game for its Xbox release, Neverwinter’s ability to pull off a controller setup is pretty well cemented. Your analog sticks are used to move, the right triggers pull off your primary and secondary attacks, and other attacks are mapped to the face buttons. I expect a lot of people to have momentary trouble with jumping, which requires a pull of L1 + square. Unfortunately, I’ve committed this key combination to memory so well that I’ve started using it in other games.

Combat is a ballet of cooldowns and potions as you maneuver the field and dodge attacks. Each class has plenty of abilities to use as you level up, and you only have a few equipped at a time, making room for experimentation. Combat is satisfying, hitting enemies carries a heavy oomph to it and your character (regardless of class) is pretty capable of handing out some serious punishment.

One thing I have to point out about Neverwinter is that the game seriously panders to pack rats (of which I am one). Every zone has its trinket to collect and turn in for random gear packs, you collect seals of the lion, the unicorn, the drake, manticore, pegasus, adventurer, elements, and protector by completing tasks and dungeons. There are ardent coins, zen, astral diamonds, celestial coins, black ice, guild marks, and more.

Neverwinter_PS4_03

The big currency in Neverwinter are Astral Diamonds and Zen. Players will recognize Zen as the real money currency that is common among Perfect World titles, with Astral Diamonds being the complementary currency obtainable in-game. You can trade Astral Diamonds for Zen in-game, allowing players to buy AD with real money and vice versa. This makes it technically possible to buy all of the cash shop items without paying any real money.

Astral Diamonds are obtained via multiple daily blessings, as well as daily skirmishes, dungeons, and pvp. They are required to buy items on the auction house, also making it possible to buy cash shop items if you manage to find expensive drops in late-game dungeons. Foundry creators can receive tips from players who complete their levels.

The community that has been built up so far is awesome. Since players can use keyboards, there tends to be quite a few people in chat. Since Neverwinter has open world bosses for the dragon campaign, there are always people in chat looking for groups, willing to invite to full zones, and calling out respawn timers. As far as console MMOs go (that are not cross-platform with PC), this is the first I’ve seen with an active chat community.

The Playstation version definitely has less technical issues than on Xbox One, particularly in FPS loss at the main hub Protector’s Enclave. Barring the influx of new players on launch day, there isn’t much to note in the bug department outside of some issues with players not being able to redeem their extra character awarded in the head start package.

More to come on Neverwinter PS4.

Overwatch: Square Enix And Sony To Face Off


McCree_02

Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda and president of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Asia Atsushi Morita will be squaring off in the battlefield later this week. As reported by our friends over at MMO Culture, the heads of both developers will be putting together their own teams of six to fight it out in Overwatch (presumably not on Xbox), with the event to be streamed live online.

This is not the first time that the two companies have met on the digital battlefield, playing a match on Call of Duty: Black Ops III on PS4 which ended in a major win for Square Enix. You can watch the highlights, it is quite the sight.

The announcement video is linked below, but you won’t understand any of it unless you speak Japanese.

(Source: MMO Culture)

[Community] The Rebel Developer: “I Just Want To Get Rid of This Sh**y Game”


jYyHtZF

For this week’s Community Monday, I want to dive into the latest indie developer meltdown currently in progress. The subject for the latest incident is The Rebel, a Unity asset flip that currently has a 75% positive (of four reviews) rating on Steam. There is one person online at the time of this writing.

ss_433aa203b61c0513d068214cc78690c1891a99cf.1920x1080

The Rebel is developed and published by an independent developer Novukomp EEOD, an individual who refers to his game as “total s*** and [an] asset flip,” as shown here on the Unity forums.

An year ago I put my game on Greenlight steam. It was total S*** at the time and asset flip. You probably think the game did poorly and never got approved? Wrong! It was approved via greenlight and actually reached top 5th place in greenlight out of 1400+ games.

The thread, posted last Friday, complains about an inability to get the game on Steam despite Valve’s seeming approval. They were kind enough to leak the admin dashboard, as shown above. Justbrosingthanks, the creator’s username, is seemingly fed up with trying to submit a game he apparently didn’t care much for.

I just want to get rid off this sh**y game, don’t want to turn this into a never ending slavery to a project I don’t even enjoy working on. I want it to end.

The creator ends up butting heads with others pointing out over the game’s poor graphics, the low framerate trailer, etc.

Stop being salty about negative comments, your game looks bad and you decided to put it in Steam anyway so better get ready to get a lot of vitriol. The worst offense of your game is the framerate, if you can’t get at least 30fps in your damn trailer you should know that you have serious problems.

Naturally Jim Sterling gets brought up, although Justbrosing seems to think that James Romine is living in a Beverly Hills mansion rather than a house in Arizona.

^ Sterling is the reason The Slaughtering Grounds developers are now living in Beverly Hills mansion and have all the time in the world to develop better game. I am actually hoping to reach to the British far-right fatty who will call this “shait”.

 

As with every other shady independent developer on Steam, The Rebel has taken to intensely policing its forums and banning any criticism. The developer has actually gone as far as attempting to stifle criticism by having only two forums open: The first for requesting keys and the second for trading (only open to owners).

There is literally no venue for discussing the game at all, and the developer is actively banning anyone and everyone who posts otherwise.

Please only post here if your question is related to free keys and videos. Everything else will be considered off topic and the thread banned/locked.

I attempted to contact the developer to point out that Valve has penalized developers for similar conduct in the past. He responded by permanently banning me from the game’s forums. He was kind enough to offer me a free key, though.

Again and again: please abide by the rules off the forum. If you think the game sucks: well thank you for the opinion! Just please don’t spam. If you want opinion/key: info@novucomp.com

To end this, I’ll point out that the creator is friends with none other than Steam’s most notorious shovelware developer, James Romine from Digital Homicide. Make of that what you will.

Disaster Report: Umbrella Corp Is Essentially Buried


ss_7e584eb8b725016d4baec18c464da7c44aa91f63.1920x1080

If there is any sympathy for Capcom over Umbrella Corps, you’d have to look long and hard in order to find it. Umbrella Corps, the game that was met with severe skepticism and ultimately negative reviews, appears to be dead in the waters just a few weeks after launch.

According to Steam Charts, the game averages less concurrent players than your average Battlefield server. Just 20 as of this writing and an overall peak of 45 over the last day or so. Steam Spy’s figures paint an even more dismal picture. The tracking service estimates that the PC version has only sold around eight thousand copies, with only about 35% of those playing over the past two weeks.

Perhaps Umbrella Corps should take a page out of Evolve’s playbook and make a sharp turn toward free to play territory. There is no guarantee of success, but at this point there isn’t much left to risk.

Atlantica Online Transitioning To New Management


screenshot-02

Atlantians,

After nearly ten years of traveling the globe to battle the corruption of Oriharukon, we regret to inform you Nexon America, NDOORS and Daum have arrived at the difficult decision to discontinue our service of Atlantica Online. Publishing rights will be transferred to VALOFE Global Ltd, an online and mobile game developer and subsidiary of VALOFE.

We’ve enjoyed our time with the Atlantica Online community, and all of the memorable experiences we shared. We’ve done our best to provide you with a robust and enjoyable experience, but unfortunately we’ve been unable to maintain our player base and have seen the community dwindle.

For those of you who have stayed and wish to continue playing Atlantica Online, you will be able to transfer your account and characters to the VALOFE service once it begins, and we will announce a service transfer schedule and other details soon.

We’d like to thank all of our players for their support throughout the years; we could not have accomplished all we did without you, and we hope you will join us in a new adventure soon. Stay tuned for invites and opportunities to join the community of other Nexon America titles.

–The Atlantica Online Team

Our thoughts: It isn’t often that a game shuts down simultaneously in three regions without the developer shuttering being the cause. On the plus side, players will be able to transfer their characters and items, a sad rarity in cases where a game changes hands.

(Source: Atlantica Online)

Jagex Acquired By Chinese Investors


scapemas2

Jagex, the Cambridge-headquartered creator of RuneScape and Chronicle: RuneScape Legends finally announced their acquisition by Chinese investors, with a new Board of Directors being constituted immediately upon their purchase. The acquisition was first hinted at months ago after news broke that the developer was considering offers from Chinese iron mining company Shandong Hongda.

CEO Rod Cousens praised the acquisition for its offer of “visibility in China, which is now the biggest gaming market in the world.”

“Jagex will continue to be operated by the existing management team, which has overseen an impressive trading performance in recent times and has driven its iconic franchise, RuneScape to continued to growth. It will be business as usual for the Company, its players, and its employees post-acquisition.”

The news of the acquisition comes on the heels of what Jagex refers to as “best ever performance.” In addition to RuneScape and its Old School spinoff, Jagex is currently working on card game Chronicle: RuneScape Legends and an idle game based on the same series.

(Source: Jagex press release)

Overwatch Introduces Ana, Healing Sniper


Following Blizzard’s recent reveal of a sniper rifle with healing capabilities, gamers are finally being introduced to the latest playable member of Overwatch: Ana. The mother of Phariah, Ana’s biotic rifle is capable of healing friendlies and inflicting damage over time to enemies.

Her sidearm, a sleep dart, is capable of putting enemies to sleep (naturally) and interrupting several ultimate abilities. A biotic grenade heals allies while damaging enemies, and her nano boost allows allies to move faster, deal more damage, and take less damage.

Check out Ana’s origin story below:

Trion Worlds Loses Two, Not A Layoff


DefianceContinues

Trion Worlds has confirmed that the recent loss of two employees is not related to rumors of a layoff, which did not happen. Instead, Defiance/Devilian community manager Sarah “Kiwibird” Walters and a presently unknown member of Trion Worlds left of their own volition.

In response, other community managers are stepping up their involvement with players, including the following from Eric Cleaver.

“We remain strongly committed to Defiance and I’ll be stepping back out from my role in the background of Defiance a bit more. You may see some of our other Community Team members around the place too like Brasse. That is probably more appropriate in another thread, to avoid distracting from this one.”

Trion Worlds is presently hiring a human resources generalist in its Austin studio.