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Activision Blizzard Sued By Shareholders Over Buyout

I couldn’t resist using that picture, I am sorry. As you may recall, not too long ago Bobby Kotick’s investment group announced that they would be buying most of Activision Blizzard’s stock back from Vivendi to the tune of eight billion dollars. One shareholder, Todd Miller, has filed a lawsuit against the company and parties associated with the deal. Miller is claiming insider trading, noting that the stocks were sold at a 10% discount, saving more than half a billion in sales.

Miller is suing to have the deal overturned in court, and wants Activision to have controls put into place to ensure that further backroom deals do not take place. You can read all about it at Courthouse News at the link below.

(Source: Courthouse News)

ESRB Changing Rating Labels

Polygon.com is reporting that the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is in the process of making some small changes to how ratings will appear on games. The changes are nothing drastic, with a simple change in color scheme from white on black to black on white (pictured above). You can also see that the “content rated by” message has been removed and that the rating letters have been made larger.

The goal is to make the logo more visible in digital environments, particularly on the smaller screens of tablets and mobile phones. The ESRB doesn’t expect the transition on game boxes or store advertising to be a fast one, and are simply asking publishers to use the new symbols from this point onward.

(Source: Polygon)

MMOments: Realizing OldScape's Place

The launch of RuneScape 3 has thrown RuneScape’s lore across the room and back again. Much like when Cataclysm launched with World of Warcraft, many of the existing quests had to be either rewritten or removed entirely because they dealt with a land or scenario that no longer existed. RuneScape 3 ushered in a literal new age, where the gods are free to return to the world, and several quest series no longer make sense in the current context of the game. Take Rune Mysteries, for instance: The original quest has a landmark role in the world lore as the player rediscovers the runecrafting altars and opens up a renewable source of runes for the entire world. When Jagex rewrote the quest, the events of the original Rune Mysteries became historical, accomplished by previous players and now part of the past.

So then I got to thinking about the convenient timing of the Old School RuneScape servers. Since the events of Old School RuneScape are mostly considered historical in RuneScape 3, perhaps this is a way to preserve that part of RuneScape’s history and allow players to participate and see the events for themselves, players who either joined after the release of RuneScape 3 or never managed to complete those quests. It is an interesting theory, even if it is probably wrong.

MMOments: Realizing OldScape’s Place

DC Universe Can't Wait To Ditch The PS3

The PlayStation 4 is coming out soon and no one could be happier than the DC Universe Online team at Sony Online Entertainment. Don’t get them wrong, the current generation of Sony’s console hardware is nice enough, but with what is effectively a 220mb system the team is dealing with rather tight constraints. The unfortunate situation is that most of the players on DC Universe are playing via the console, so they are stuck with the limitations for the time being. In an interview with Shacknews, Executive Producer Larry Liberty explained that they can see the PS3 version being retired once a large portion moves over to the new hardware.

“I do expect that eventually, PS4 to come out, and probably be more successful than PS3 was as a platform. It wouldn’t surprise me if we do get a pretty quick migration, but we’ll keep servicing PS3 for a while.”

It will happen at some point, the question is simply when.

(Source: Shacknews)

DC Universe Can’t Wait To Ditch The PS3

“I do expect that eventually, PS4 to come out, and probably be more successful than PS3 was as a platform. It wouldn’t surprise me if we do get a pretty quick migration, but we’ll keep servicing PS3 for a while.”

It will happen at some point, the question is simply when.

(Source: Shacknews)

Allods Online Subscription Server Heading West

Those of you who follow Allods Online still will know that the MMO released a subscription server in the game’s native Russian service. For the cost of a standard MMO subscription, players were able to access the entirety of the game with zero influence from the cash shop. With no cash shop presence, the items previously sold for real money have either been removed completely or added in as drops by monsters or rewards from quests. One other caveat is that while players are able to transfer their subscription server characters over to the free to play servers, they cannot be transferred in the other direction.

Well it appears that the experiment was a rousing success, as gPotato has announced that the same server type will be hitting the west once the next expansion is released. In a Letter from the Producer, Piopico notes that the first priority on the table is the release of the next expansion for Allods Online. Following that release, the team will look at adding in a subscription server. The addition will require a lot of back end work, ensuring that both server types can be accessed from the same client and that the infrastructure will be able to handle the new billing system.

Would you pay $15 a month for an opportunity to play Allods Online with no cash shop?

(Source: Allods Online)

Elder Scrolls Online Gameplay Commentary

Am I the only one who thinks that characters in the Elder Scrolls game always look like they’re wearing wigs and fake beards? Computer and Video Games’ own Andy Kelly and Dan Wheeler break down the visuals, environments, and more of The Elder Scrolls Online in this twenty three minute video. It is a little on the dry side, but the commentary is rather informative and you do get an opportunity to see some first person action and some still shots.

Everquest Next Is Voxel-Based And Dynamic

The big reveal is here! Sony Online Entertainment has finally unveiled Everquest Next in all of its juicy glory. So what are the fine points that have been revealed so far? Let’s run it down:

Everquest Next will be voxel-based, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the graphics. Everything in the world can be destroyed, although not necessarily by players.
Players choose a race and class, and as they progress they gain abilities from their own and other classes.
There are no levels.
Some skills and classes will only be available if you are chummy with certain factions.
Lower levels (which can be dug into) are procedurally generated.
Creatures can lie dormant in wait for players to spring them and begin new world-changing events.
Quests aren’t really quests in the traditional sense. More like tasks. For instance you may enter a battle between two sides and choose which to aid.
World-wide quests, called Rallying Calls, last several months, develop based on player action, and are permanent.
Storybricks is present in full force. NPCs and factions will remember your player character, either positively or negatively based on your actions.
NPCs are intelligent and will respond to their environments, going as far as moving their settlements to a safer place.
And much more to come.

Not So Massive: Netflix Removes Star Trek 3

Those nerds, am I right folks? Those of you browsing Netflix for your fix of Search For Spock have likely noticed that the film has gone missing from the website’s instant streaming database. Netflix has confirmed that the film was removed, however not for the reason you might expect. It wasn’t due to contract expiration or any legal issues, but because of incorrectly translated subtitles. According to Netflix, the version that was available on the instant streaming service does not properly translate Klingon and Vulcan into English, and therefore must be taken down and fixed.

Instead of looking at one of the previous versions of Search for Spock, apparently Netflix will be hand-translating the subtitles themselves, proving the company’s passion for over-complicating everything. On the other hand, they believe that the project can be done in about a week, after which the movie will appear once again. Kudos to them for trying, even if they are out of their Vulcan minds.

(Source: Radio Times)

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