Author: Admin

Giveaway: Webzen Summer Package


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MMO Fallout has once again partnered with Webzen to bring you some cool stuff for your favorite games. Today’s giveaway allows you to redeem your key for an item package in ASTA, ELOA, RAPPELZ, MU ONLINE, FLYFF, and C9. Codes are limited to one per account, and instructions for redemption are below.

[keys id=17530]

Details:
– Usable until: July 31st 2016
– Coupon codes can only be used on an existing WEBZEN account.
– Coupon codes are limited to one use per account.

Redemption instructions:

  • Go to http://www.webzen.com/events/games-of-webzen/redeem
  • Log in with your account
  • Enter your coupon code (without hyphens)
  • Select the game, country, server, and character you want to receive the item(s) on
    • ** The options in each category will vary for each game.
  • Click the Redeem Coupon Code button
    • **The item(s) will be delivered to the account or character that you have selected.

The Takedown of Orion: Answering The Call of Duty


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Orion developer David James is threatening a counter-suit after a DMCA takedown notice from Activision resulted in Orion being removed from sale on Steam during one of the larger sales of the year. The takedown notice alleges that Orion stole assets from Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.

James has uploaded his own comparisons of the weapons in Orion to the weapons in Call of Duty, but the truth seems to go a bit deeper. Community members have been creating their own comparisons that show a more damning story.

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The allegations against Orion would be more surprising if this were the first time that the developer had been accused of content theft, and it isn’t. Spiral Game Studios has been the focus of numerous scandals in the course of its existence. Their previous title, Orion: Dino Beatdown was alleged to use stolen assets from several games. In his responses, James conduct readily slips into immature schoolyard banter (emphasis mine).

We need everyones help and support to rectify this immediately as this erroneous claim has already costed what is a very small team a significant amount of money and we need it remedied ASAP so we can get back to work on real content, something that Activision should take note of.

What Activision is claiming isn’t a valid or legal use of DMCA. If they were alleging that we had actually RIPPED the Black Ops 3 weapons FROM their game and used them exactly – their shipped meshes, their shipped textures – that is a DMCA case. And the fact that they made an artist feel this way when it’s ALL they do is absolute crap.

On a side note: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act criminalizes production of technology that circumvents digital rights management. Title II of the DMCA provides limited liability for content hosts if they respond to a takedown notice and remove said offending material within a certain period of time. James is incorrect in his statement that DMCA is not valid in this case.

Alternately, you can check out Orion’s original character: Bloba Fett (not his actual name). And yes, the name of the video is Every Man’s Sky, a polar opposite of that game No Man’s Sky. You may have even noticed the name of the developer, Trek Industries.

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When it comes to copyright, the law is very lenient when it comes to ‘real’ things. You can’t sue for making similar looking trees, for instance. In regards to inventions that don’t have any real world counterpart, the law is more strict. The Orion gun, shown below, appears to be cobbled together out of several Black Ops 3 weapons.

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The case appears to be open and shut, however we will have to see how Trek Industries responds and whether or not Activision decides to push this into a full lawsuit.

(Source: Steam)

NCSoft Updated Timeline


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It’s been three years since MMO Fallout last published the NCSoft Timeline, and it’s about time for an update. As it was back in 2013, the graph shows NCSoft’s timeline of support for their major MMOs, from their date of launch to their current state. Some figures may seem innaccurate as they start at the earliest launch, that being in Korea.

I plan on running more charts like this in the future.

(Source: MMO Fallout)

Funcom Celebrating 15 Years of Anarchy Online


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Funcom is excited to announce that‘Anarchy Online’, the first Sci-Fi MMORPG and one of the longest-running titles in the genre, celebrates its 15th anniversary today!

As part of the celebration, Funcom invites everyone who has ever played‘Anarchy Online’ to join in the festivities between June 23rd and July 11th (regardless of current Membership status).  New Membership offers, with brand new armor pieces, login rewards and the Desert Rider event are also part of the grand 15th anniversary celebration!

Included with the anniversary is an all new Game Update which changes the Player vs Player attack windows on Notum Tower fields, where players battle for dominance over the planet Rubi-Ka. The update also introduces a new Research Line for end-game players, with powerful skill increases, and adds new Veteran Shop rewards with bonus Veteran Points for existing members.
Read more about the celebration and game update here

“I wish to thank everyone who has been part of this extraordinary journey,” said‘Anarchy Online’ Lead Designer Henry Senger.  “Anarchy Online’s incredible community has always been the heart and soul of the game, and I also wish to thank everyone who will continue the adventure with us, so we may go on for another 15 years!”

Released in 2001, ‘Anarchy Online’ shaped the face of the MMORPG genre with its Science-Fiction setting and innovative features, including dynamic missions, item levels, and instancing.  A Beta version of a new ‘Anarchy Online’ rendering engine was released last year, and thousands upon thousands of players continue to explore the world of Rubi-ka today.

For more information about ‘Anarchy Online’ or to play for free, please visit the official website at http://www.anarchy-online.com/ .

Anarchy Online is one of the oldest available MMORPG’s on the market, one that might not appeal much to modern day gamers but one with a rather loyal player base. According to Funcom’s reports, the game remains profitable and as such will likely be going nowhere anytime soon.

(Source: Funcom Press Release)

[Overwatch] Torbjörn Is Getting Nerfed On Consoles


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It’s conceivable that, over time, Overwatch will be a rather different game on PC and consoles. In response to a thread on Reddit, Blizzard director Jeff Kaplan confirmed that Overwatch hero Torbjörn will be on the receiving end of the nerf bat next month.

In an upcoming patch, we will reduce the damage done by Torbjörn’s turret by 30% on Xbox One and PS4. PC will remain unchanged.

The patch is expected to go live mid to late July.

(Source: Reddit)

Steam Dev: Torrent My Game Instead Of Using G2A


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Action Henk would rather you pirate their games than support shady resellers like G2A, one of the game’s two programmers posted on Reddit following last week’s controversial statements over the key reseller. Consistently the ire of developers, G2A came to attention once again last week after allegations surfaced that the service sold $450 thousand in stolen keys from developer Tiny Build.

This G2a thing goes beyond Hearthstone. I’m a game developer with a game on steam and please just torrent my game instead of supporting shady resellers, I’ll even give you the download link. I understand people aren’t always able or willing to pay full price for a game, but seeing people play my game is the most important thing to me. Just torrent it instead of putting money in the wrong hands.

G2A is a grey market key reseller that allows users to sell cd keys to games that they no longer want. Theoretically, the service exists as a digital Ebay of sorts, especially relevant since Ebay forbids the sale of virtual items. In practice, the service has become a haven for criminals using stolen credit cards to buy keys in massive quantities to sell cheap. The cards are eventually reversed, leaving the developer with nothing and the thief with all of the profits.

It has been difficult to divorce G2A from the gaming community since the company has played its hand by sponsoring many of the top game streamers, and paying quite well apparently.

Developers have attempted in the past to find a way to push customers away from G2A, with larger developers spending the resources to revoke fraudulent keys. For smaller developers like Tiny Build, such a process is prohibitively expensive.

(Source: Reddit)

Destiny Putting Older Consoles Into Maintenance Mode This Year


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Gamers who haven’t made their way to the current generation of consoles will be disappointed to find out that Destiny’s next expansion, Rise of Iron, will not be available on their respective platforms. Set to launch in September, Rise of Iron will be exclusive to Playstation 4 and Xbox One. While The Taken King will still be available on older consoles, Bungie warns that future content will be limited on the 360 and PS3, including:

  • Future Game Updates and Content Releases
  • Some Destiny Events and Content
  • Purchasing Silver
  • Accessing new Eververse Item purchases across console generations
  • Some Destiny Companion features on the Mobile App and Bungie.net

Beginning in August, Bungie will be providing an account import tool to upgrade your characters to a newer system. According to the FAQ, upgrades must be within the same console family (PS3 to PS4, 360 to XOne), under the same ID, and not all content will transfer. In addition, older consoles will no longer receive major content updates.

The list of features being disabled on older consoles includes:

  • Trials of Osiris
  • Iron Banner
  • Live Events
  • Purchasing Silver
  • Cross-platform progress

(Source: Bungie, Guided Support)

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Steam Sales: Counter Strike Is Not Giftable This Year


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The Steam Summer Sale is upon us, and that means one thing: people stockpiling on cheap copies of Counter Strike: Global Offensive in order to dole them out to burner accounts to use for hacking/griefing purposes once the sale is done. Why would someone spend a ton of money just to cheat in Counter Strike? Your guess is as good as ours.

Unfortunately, prospective cheaters will need to do this the hard way as Valve has disabled gifting for all copies of the game bought during the summer sale. Valve hasn’t explicitly stated this, but their official explanation doesn’t make a whole lot of sense:

CS:GO will not be giftable during the sale. Our goal with sales is to grow the community and historically, during sales, the new users that stick around are mainly the ones that purchase copies for themselves.

Given the recent controversies surrounding key resellers, it seems more likely that the changes are really to prevent a combination of bulk buyers and cheaters.

(Source: Reddit)

Video: 15 Minutes of Escape From Tarkov


The latest video from the hardcore MMOFPS Escape from Tarkov shows 15 unedited minutes of a soldier attempting to escape a guarded chemical factory. You can cut the tension with a knife in many moments, and the video places a heavy emphasis on scavenging.

Pay no mind to the overlapping watermarks.

Overwatch “Avoid This Player” Removed Due To Abuse


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Blizzard has announced the removal of Overwatch’s “avoid this player” feature after, perhaps unsurprisingly, the function was abused to avoid playing against highly skilled players. Meant to allow players an opportunity to avoid toxic players, Jeff Kaplan explained on the forums that the function was abused to avoid professional-tier players.

One of the best Widowmaker players in the world complained to us about long queue times. We looked into it and found that hundreds of other players had avoided him (he’s a nice guy – they avoided him because they did not want to play against him, not because of misbehavior). The end result was that it took him an extremely long time to find a match.

On the other hand, players can still make use of the ‘prefer this player’ feature. Widowmaker is the sniper class of Overwatch, allowing skilled shots to take out enemies from far away. Blizzard recently nerfed Widowmaker’s abilities in order to better balance out her abilities.

(Source: Blizzard)