NCSoft Korea has shut down development of Project HON, allegedly due to a perceived lack of interest in giant mech games in the local market. Project HON is being shelved to allow NCSoft to focus on its other titles, including the upcoming launch of Lineage Eternal and further growth of Blade & Soul in foreign markets.
Project HON came up earlier this year when three employees were fired for embezzling funds.
(Source: Steparu)
As many as 100,000 bot accounts, possibly more, have been removed from World of Warcraft in a recent mass ban.
We’ve recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as “bots.” We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.
In unrelated news, Blizzard recently lost a case attempting to place an injunction on a gold seller in Diablo. As reported by the Kaesler & Kollegen law firm representing the client, the Civil Division of the Hanseatic Higher Regional Court overturned a previous injunction on a Diablo gold selling website. The judge has reportedly ordered Blizzard to cover the costs of the proceedings.
(Source: Blizzard)
The Newbie Blogger Initiative, of which I consider myself to be a loyal follower and mentor, is nearly halfway through the month of inspiration, and I have to apologize for the lack of usual tips for newbie bloggers. You see, I’ve been way too busy sailing the Mediterranean with Richard Garriot, waxing poetic while sipping wine and wondering how many secret tunnels he installed in his yacht, all while he detailed the free housing I’d be getting in Shroud of the Avatar for being so awesome at my job of writing about games.
Actually no, I’ve been busy dealing with my present day job going bankrupt and the inevitable unemployment from the job that funds this website. In fact that brings me to my first tip for newbie bloggers:
1. Write Because You Want To, And Not Because You Want Things
When I started MMO Fallout, I came off of a previous website that I ran where I talked about news and absolutely hated every aspect of it. I tried to convince myself that I was adding in snide comments to make it interesting for the reader when really I was just trying to keep myself engaged. The only thing that kept me coming back was the chance to talk about video games, and that’s when I decided to spin out and start talking about MMOs exclusively.
Treat your blog like it’s an extension of your hobby, in this case that hobby being video games. Talk about stuff that interests you and maybe have a point while you do it. Show your passion for the subject and people will take notice. Most importantly, find something that you can write about that won’t feel like a job, because when a hobby becomes work, it’s no longer a hobby. It’s just a job that you’re not getting paid for, and that’s infuriating.
But don’t write because you want free stuff, because if anyone can see through faux-passion in bloggers, it’s the marketing folks handing out beta keys and review copies. Trust me, setting up a fake Call of Duty blog because you want free copies of Call of Duty won’t get you free copies of Call of Duty, it’ll just get you ridiculed for online panhandling. I didn’t do this and there’s certainly no need for you to check Google.
2. Don’t Make It A Job, And It Won’t Be A Job
I made MMO Fallout a job, but that’s only because I went to college for this sort of thing and some of the stuff I’ve accomplished here (interviews, columns, etc) actually looks good on a resume. That being said, there are multiple times I’ve made it publicly known that I was on the verge of packing my stuff and leaving, whether it be that one guy from Japan a couple of years back who hit our servers for five days straight before ultimately corrupting my entire database (thank you backups), or perhaps the time I drew the verbal abuse and death threats from a certain game community who blamed my negativity for the death of a $100 million company.
Like I said in the previous tip, you should never come home and say to yourself “ugh, I have to update the blog again.” Don’t write because you feel obligated to, do it because you have something to say. Trying to force content to keep up with an arbitrary schedule that you set for yourself, again crosses the line from hobby to unpaid job, where the unfair boss is you.
3. Expect To Burn Bridges
Assuming your blog isn’t all about brown nosing executives, you’re going to burn a few bridges. I hesitate to use the term “blacklist” because that would probably give MMO Fallout more credit than it deserves, but I will say that a couple of developers will not talk to me and their silence conveniently came after I said something negative about their game/company.
With a few exceptions, most game companies are actually pretty good about receiving criticism providing it is fair and has a point. And I do stress the difference between fact, opinion, and hyperbole. You might get some jeering from the peanut gallery by calling Blizzard a bunch of scam artists who’ve ruined the industry and punch puppies in the face for fun, and at best that’s all you’ll get for an audience: Jerks. At worst, you’ll be on the receiving end of a libel lawsuit.
And I know this because I’ve been threatened with more lawsuits than I can count, all of which I’ve been protected from because I deal in the truth and the truth can never be libelous. Most developers are good with criticism, there are others that are just as bad as their biggest fans. You’ll find this out when, after ninety nine positive articles about a game, your negative piece spurs an email from a company account asking why you’re on a crusade of hate.
4. Feel Free To Advertise
The internet is a massive void of white noise, so you can expect that if you don’t do any proactive advertising, your views are going to remain a consistent 0-5 daily. You don’t even have to go all out. Add a link or image to your forum signatures, create a Twitter account and link there, comment and link to other blogs and they’ll do the same for you. You’re part of a community of other bloggers now, whether you like it or not.
Socialize with your readers, socialize with other bloggers, socialize with society. People will like you a whole lot more if you engage with them on a personal level, and you’ll have a lot more fun given the chance to talk even more about something you enjoy with other people who also enjoy it.
I’m running out of words, so I’ll leave it on this: This is a hobby. If you’re not having fun or realize that it isn’t for you, there isn’t anything requiring you to keep going. Think of your blog as a forum where you’re the one posting lengthy OP’s, if you prefer you can always engage in conversation by chatting in someone else’s threads.
Lego Minifigures Online will be relaunching as a buy to play game, after a reveal by Funcom that the free to play aspect had a “detrimental effect on gameplay and kids’ enjoyment of the game.” The news comes alongside the announcement that Lego will see a launch on PC, iOS, Android, Mac, and Linux.
During an initial run as a free-to-play game on the PC, Funcom has been gathering valuable player feedback and have been able to review in detail how various components of the game’s content, gameplay and business model have played out.
Anyone who has previously purchased something in Lego Minifigures Online will be upgraded to the full version once it goes buy to play, with refunds offered where requested. Players who haven’t spent anything will need to buy the game to continue playing.
(Source: Lego Minifigures)
Perfect World Entertainment has revealed that more than 1.6 million people have played Neverwinter on the Xbox One. Since its launch over a month ago, more than 1.6 million players have created 2.3 million avatars of which 92 thousand have reached the level cap. You can see the important figures in a handy infographic released alongside the announcement.
In order to celebrate further, we’ve granted the first 60 players to reach level 60 and the nine players to reach level 60 in the Beta a unique Volcanic Galeb Duhr companion to commend their status as a Neverwinter Champion. Check your Xbox messages for one from NW Community, which will congratulate you on your success.
Players can retrieve their special companions by talking to rewards claim agent in Protector’s Enclave.
(Source: Arc Games)
Wildstar will be undergoing a 17 hour maintenance today (5/13), during which time game authorization, account management, forums, and customer support will be unavailable. The game will still be available, however authorization will be offline.
Thank you for your patience during this downtime and we’re very sorry for the inconvenience. We will work very hard to bring the game up as soon as possible. There may be even a little something extra to follow!
What extra something? Stay tuned to find out. Maintenance begins in one hour from this publishing (3am EST).
(Source: Wildstar)
With NCSoft’s latest quarterly report coming up, speculation is rising once again on the possibility of Wildstar either going free to play or buy to play. The Wildstar subreddit, which we should point out is run by fans and not NCSoft, is getting ahead of the game by banning any discussion of f2p/b2p until hard evidence or an official announcement can be procured.
Unless a Carbine Employee, or Moderator here announces any business model changes to WildStar, there is no longer a reason to continue trying to post such discussions, as they are creating a lot of unrest in the community.
NCSoft’s next quarterly release should be coming out this week, hopefully alongside some news on Wildstar’s future. Wildstar’s earnings in the last quarter of 2014 were about $5 million, a sharp 65% drop quarter over quarter.
(Source: Reddit)
RuneScape is eleven days into its May roadtrip, and the hardcore among you are no doubt already finished and reaping the benefits. As has become a tradition, the month of May means the RuneScape Road Trip. Players are given a booklet with a set of 20 tasks that can be completed once per day, with the option to gather chits from employee events to skip an extra task once per day. Since today is the eleventh, it is possible that people are already done with the event.
Long term events have always been a point of contention among MMO players, between those on the casual side that may be unable to log in more than a couple days a week, and the content locusts who will quickly gobble up a month’s worth of content in a couple of days, including their four alt accounts. Jagex generally makes attempts on longer-term content by including methods to accommodate both groups.
How do you feel about long-term events in gaming? Let us know in the comments below.
A 10% price hike on Steam games sold in Australia is all but confirmed, as reported by PC Gamer. As some outlets have been covering, the 2015 Australian budget will include a tax on intangible imported goods, the goal being to apply the GST (Goods and Services Tax) that had not been collected due to the law being written before such goods had become a major market.
When the new prices go into effect is presently unknown.
(Source: PC Gamer)
Zynga’s stock has recovered most of its value following the announcement that CEO Don Mattrick would step down with Mark Pincus taking his place. Zynga’s stock fell heavily with Pincus’ return, down to a low of $2.38 from its $2.90.
Investors are responding well to Zynga’s latest quarterly results, in which the company announced severe downsizing. As part of proposed cuts, Zynga will shut down its $100 million dollar data centers and switch over to Amazon. In addition, the company will lay off 364 employees, nearly 20% of its workforce,
We need to be more resourceful in how we manage our costs in order to fund our investments in new games, people and data and analytics. We’ve overburdened our game teams with complexity and centralized expenditure.
The cuts are expected to save $100 million annually.
For the first quarter of 2015, Zynga’s daily active users remained flat (25 million) while monthly active users fell (100 from 108 million) and monthly unique users grew (73 million from 71 million). Revenue fell further, however earnings were higher than expected.
(Source: Zynga)
MMO Fallout 
