Author: Admin

Gazillion Kicks Off April With Events


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Gazillion Entertainment is kicking off April with two events. First, Odin’s Bounty returns with bonus loot for killing bosses.

Bosses will drop Chests of Odin’s Bounty. These chests are loot boxes that you can collect and then open later for an epic lootsplosion! Chests of Odin’s Bounty have a high chance to contain Runes and Odin Marks, as well as a chance to drop the Mysterious Crimson Box, which contains rare boss-specific artifacts. Odin’s Bounty Boosts are back as well and include a jackpot chance!

Second, a list of heroes and costumes from the Marvel Knights collection will be on sale for 50% off. In addition, to celebrate the debut of the Netflix Daredevil series, Daredevil will enjoy bonuses for the next week.

(Source: Odin’s Bounty, Sale)

Zynga’s Stock Continues Shedding After Pincus Returns


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Zynga’s stock continued shedding value today, just a day after the developer revealed that CEO Don Mattrick would step down and be replaced by founder and ex-CEO Mark Pincus. Zynga’s stock ended the day at $2.90, at which they lost about 10% in after-hours trading. Starting the day at $2.6, the stock fell another twenty two cents to end the day at $2.38, an 18% overall drop over the past day.

Mattrick’s departure comes after Zynga posted a $226 million loss for 2014, coinciding with the company closing shop in China. Despite the previous year’s performance, investors are not excited to see Pincus return to power. 2012 under Pincus proved to be disastrous as the company closed offices, laid off employees, shut down over a dozen games, posted a $200 million loss, lost much of its stock value, and saw blowback from its decision to purchase OMGPop to the tune of $180 million before shutting the studio down one year later.

Zynga’s value has so far not moved in after-hours trading.

Layoffs Hit NCSoft Customer Support


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NCSoft today confirmed to Polygon that it is moving its customer support operations to a third party, during which approximately 16 jobs will be made redundant. The layoffs affect internal customer support staff at the NCWest offices in Austin, Texas, and are the final phase of restructuring that began last October.

According to Polygon’s source, the layoffs “amounted to the office’s entire customer support team.” NCSoft has denied that the changes will have any impact on former, current, or future customers.

(Source: Polygon)

ESA Opposes Restoring Online Functionality For Shuttered Services


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Allowing people to continue playing games that they legally own, but cannot access due to shuttered services, will destroy the videogame industry and undermine the copyright law. At least this is how the Entertainment Software Association, a trade association representing some of the largest game producers, would like you to think. The ESA, along with the RIAA and MPAA, have written to the Copyright Office in opposition to proposed exemptions to section 1201 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

The exemption, being pushed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, would offer legal protection for the purposes of preserving abandoned games. With many games relying on servers being maintained for DRM or online-only games, gamers are increasingly finding themselves being unable to return to old titles.

(Source: EFF.org)

Zynga Stocks Drop 10% After Hours After Mark Pincus Returns


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In a letter posted to employees earlier today, Zynga founder and chairman of the board of directors Mark Pincus announced that CEO Don Mattrick would be stepping down from his post, with Pincus taking his place effective immediately. Mattrick steps down after less than two years as CEO, during which he managed to grow Zynga’s mobile revenue from 27% to 60% of Zynga’s bookings.

I am returning to the company that I love in order to accelerate innovation in the most popular categories like Action Strategy and strengthen our focus on our core areas like Invest and Express. I look forward to partnering with our leaders to intensify our focus on social experiences for the millions of consumers who play our games.

Mattrick’s firing has been written on the wall ever since he referred to 2014 as a “year of progress.” 2014 saw Zynga post a $226 million loss compared to a $37 million loss in 2013. Due to underperforming titles in the country, Zynga also made the decision to close operations in China.

Investors have not responded well to the announcement of Mark Pincus returning to the reigns, however, as Zynga’s stock has dropped more than 10% in after hours trading. Zynga hopes to turn its problems around in 2015 with the launch of several new products.

(Source: Zynga)

MMO Hall of Fame Inducts Two New Games


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The MMO Hall of Fame has announced the inductees for the 2015 ceremony. Out of a grand total of 173 candidates, two titles managed to sneak past the 60% requirement to make it into the hall of fame, and those games are Lineage II and Anarchy Online.

Doug Kale, curator of the hall of fame, noted the growing competition as new games are added each year.

“There was an enormous amount of competition, but after tallying all the numbers only two games reached the required 60% of the votes to enter the Hall of Fame,”

MMO Hall of Fame inductees are chosen based on contributions to the genre as well as their dedicated fans, with a voting committee made up of members of the MMO industry and gaming press.

Some of the highest voted games include Second Life, Maple Story, Toontown, and Pirates of the Burning Sea.

(Source: MMO Hall of Fame)

RuneScape Players Vote Larger, Less Frequent Updates


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The poll will be finished by the time most of you see it, but players have once again spoken on RuneScape’s updates. In a recent in-game poll, players were asked whether they want the weekly update schedule to stay the same, or for less frequent, more significant updates with weekly patch notes and tweaks. With 54% of the vote (as of this writing), the majority of poll responders voiced their support for less frequent updates.

When this change to development schedules will take effect will have to be seen. Power to the Players allows the community to vote on updates with Jagex taking the majority opinion’s decision and implementing it.

(Source: RuneScape)

Wil Wheaton Guest-DMs Reign of Elemental Evil


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Dungeons & Dragons Online Update 25 drops today, bringing with it the Temple of Elemental Evil. The update features voice acting by actor/writer Wil Wheaton, best known for his portrayal of Wesley Crusher in the 1987 television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Among his more recent work, Wheaton voiced the dialogue for Abraham Lincoln in the 3DS game Codename S.T.E.A.M.

Temple of Elemental Evil introduces DDO’s largest dungeon ever, reintroducing randomized traps, roving bosses, and special encounters famous from the original D&D module. The update is free for VIPs and available to players at level 7 and 28.

(Source: Official Website)

Jason Appleton Departs Greed Monger, Signs Over Game


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Electric Crow Games founder Jason Appleton has announced that he is departing development of MMO Greed Monger and signing the game over to James Proctor. In a message to Kickstarter backers, Appleton applauded Proctor’s work effort while blaming his own pride for the controversy surrounding the game and its team.

Id rather see the backers get their due and the game launch than me be able to say “I told you I could do it!”. This is beyond pride at this point. Its not about making money. It’s about the game.  I’m not selling Greed Monger to them. I’m giving it to them to finish.

All things Greed Monger will now be handled by MMO Interactive with Joel Hager taking over PR. In a post on the game’s Facebook page, Proctor thanked the community for their support and patience.

The support that the GM community and KS backers have shown thus far is such a blessing. We are more committed than ever to deliver a top-notch product. Some more exciting news to come… Stay tuned.

Greed Monger’s drama began just before the weekend when lead dev James Proctor publicly announced his departure from Electric Crow Games. In his announcement, Proctor revealed that while he intended to resign from his position as early as two years ago, that Appleton had threatened legal action against him should he leave. Appleton responded with his own allegations towards Proctor.

Developer Interdiction Studios was in initial talks to take over Greed Monger, but decided not to go forward.

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(Source: Kickstarter)

Reminder: Chrome Users Losing RuneScape Support


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Chrome users will need to change browsers or download the official client if they wish to continue playing RuneScape after this month. As part of April’s updates, Google has announced that they are dropping support for the Netscape Plugin API, and Java support is going down with it. As a result, games likes RuneScape will cease functioning on the browser.

Players will need to download the official client or play on Internet Explorer or Firefox. Mozilla is expected to drop NPAPI support as well.

Google has been slowly deprecating NPAPI support over the past couple of years, owing to the platform’s 90’s era architecture being responsible for crashes, hangups, and security vulnerabilities. Google already blocks Java by default, and Apple instituted a policy of disabling outdated plugins to protect users.

(Source: RuneScape)