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CCP Expanding DUST 514 With Uprising

CCP’s shooter DUST 514 is currently in open beta, although the game is technically operating in a live environment and has been officially attached to the main Eve Online universe. CCP continues to expand the ability of players on both games to interact with the world on a massive scale. Along with the regular course of updates, CCP has announced Uprising, an upcoming expansion to DUST that focuses on several core features of the console shooter. Uprising brings with it a graphical upgrade, as well as new weapons and equipment. Player corporations can take over territory and planetary districts, all of them existing in the Eve Online universe.

“We reached a momentous milestone in January when DUST 514 and EVE Online became one and formed the largest single-shard MMO universe in the world,” said Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP. “Now our teams will continue to lay down more tracks between EVE Online and DUST 514 which will then be galvanized by our players every step of the way, inspiring us to go ever further.Uprising brings new features to drive meaningful human interaction, beautiful new visuals to astound, and increased ease of use, an important step in the journey.”

There are plenty more updates coming to DUST as it continues its open beta period.

(Source: CCP Press Release)

The Old Republic Closing Asia Pacific Servers

In their attempt to respond to ongoing community concerns, Bioware asked players on the Asia Pacific servers what they wanted to do about low population issues. Rather than merge the three APAC servers down to one, given that each represents a different playset (PvP, PvE, RP-PvE), the decision has been made to merge each server into an appropriate North America server. On the Old Republic forums, Bioware Community Manager Eric Musco posted the following:

Mastar Dar’Nala (PvP) will transfer to The Bastion (PvP)
Gav Daragon (RP-PvE) will transfer to Begeren Colony (RP-PvE)
Dalborra (PvE) will transfer to The Harbinger (PvE)

There is no current date on when the servers will be merged.

(Source: The Old Republic)

MMOrning Shots: Wildstar Housing

NCSoft released a decent number of screenshots and concept art for Wildstar today, and I’ve taken the liberty of posting one of the more interesting (in my opinion at least) of the player housing screenshots. Set for release in 2013, Wildstar comes to us from Carbine Studios and will be published by NCSoft.

You can check out Wildstar’s February State of the Game to learn more about the upcoming MMO.

MMOrning Shots is a (somewhat) daily line of screenshots from various MMOs. Most are taken by our in-house editors, but if you would like your screenshot featured, send it over to contact[at]mmofallout[dot]com with the subject “MMorning Shots.”

Phantasy Star Online 2 Delayed In North America

Saying that Phantasy Star Online 2 has been delayed is a bit of a stretch, particularly considering that Sonic Team has never actually specified a release date. Regardless, PSO2 will not be making the early 2013 launch that Sega asked for for Christmas.

“Originally slated for an early 2013 launch, Sega can officially confirm that PS02 has been delayed,” a Sega spokesperson told Polygon. “We don’t have any specifics but will update everyone as soon as there are more details to share.”

Phantasy Star Online is set to hit Windows machines in North America and Europe at some point in 2013, with versions for the Android, iOS, and Playstation Vita coming sometime after. By contrast, the game has already launched in Japan as of last July on Windows and has already launched its Vita version just last February. Not that many PSO fans would have noticed, having already downloaded the Japanese client and applied one of the many English translation patches created by the community.

(Source: Polygon)

Eve Online: Odyssey Coming June 4th

When it comes to MMOs, you don’t get much more massive than Eve Online. Launched ten years ago, CCP has grown its hardcore sci-fi title with over five hundred thousand subscribers battling for control over nearly eight thousand solar systems. As part of its service, Eve Online has consistently been the target of numerous free expansion packs, each bringing with it major changes to the game’s structure. Coming June 4th, CCP will be releasing the nineteenth free expansion to Eve Online, titled Odyssey, bringing with it a whole host of updates.

Players will enjoy a brand new scanning system, rewarding exploration all over the universe. Resource distribution and ship balancing will also be tweaked with Odyssey, along with graphical updates and the introduction of new ships and starbase improvements, not to mention a revamped and more user-friendly interface.

“Odyssey is an expression of our love for space and exploration,” said Andie Nordgren, Senior Producer, EVE Online. “It brings changes that will wake the wanderlust and taste for adventure in both new and veteran pilots.”

More information will be revealed at the sold-out Eve Fanfest.

(Source: CCP press release)

MMOrning Shots: Bullet Run Retrospective

It’s been a couple of weeks since Bullet Run shut down, so what time better to criticize everything that was done wrong? While it wasn’t a terrible game, Bullet Run is another piece of evidence that you can’t just throw out a free to play shooter and expect it to bring in the same kind of dough as Team Fortress 2 or Call of Duty. It also doesn’t help that the game was heavily accused of having a pay to win system, but for the casual player the game fell short on a big factor: no content.

There is also the factor of the free to play shooter genre, amazingly, being even more saturated than the free to play MMO genre. Most gamers have settled into either a specific game (Planetside 2) or move along with their brand (Call of Duty/Battlefield), so to put out a very basic arcade shooter is inviting a market flop. The market leans even harder against a newcoming shooter when said game launches, again, with a total lack of content but a fully featured cash shop. It’s a bit like a stadium opening up with no bleachers, but with fully stocked (and priced) food stands.

That isn’t to say that Bullet Run would have been a runaway success if it had launched with more content, but additional game modes certainly wouldn’t have hurt in convincing players to stick with it in the long term and throw some cash Sony’s way.

Gamigo Shutting Down Grimlands Development

Gamigo’s upcoming MMO shooter Grimlands has announced that it is setting development. In a news post on the game’s website today, Gamigo has revealed that Grimlands is the unfortunate victim of a shift in company focus, with less priority placed on high-risk and in-house developed projects, and putting more focus on publishing games. The announcement in its entirety:

The intensified focus on publishing and distribution and reduction of high-risk development projects has been pushed further forward. With this in mind the decision has been made not to proceed with the development of the MMORPG, Grimlands. The game still requires substantial additional funds to be brought to completion. Even other games in the “development pipeline” are to be critically assessed anew according to opportunities and risks.

With luck, Grimlands might be picked up by another developer and brought to completion.

Jagex Unveils RuneScape 3

We’ve known about a next generation RuneScape for quite a while now. What we know so far is that RuneScape 3 will be a continuation of RuneScape 2, where the current game will cease to exist and players (and their characters) will be fully transferred to the new system. RuneScape 3 will also bring with it better graphics, powered by HTML5 and a fully orchestrated soundtrack.

We will have more details about RuneScape 3 as Jagex hands them out.

(spoiler alert)

With the recent release of The World Wakes, Jagex released a quest to set up where the future of RuneScape will head. Guthix is dead and his edicts banishing the gods from Gielinor have been destroyed. Followers of all of the gods are making preparations for the return of their deity, and undoubtedly Jagex’s MMO is about to plunge into a planet-shattering war.

Star Trek Online Introducing Romulan Faction

Cryptic Studios has revealed the next free expansion to Star Trek Online: Legacy of Romulus. Players take control of one of the last remaining Romulans following the destruction of Romulus and Remus. The Tal Shiar are cracking down on dissent and it is up to you to rally a revolt against an oppressive regime. The expansion comes with a brand new storyline tailored specifically for the Romulan faction, giving control over the Romulan Warbird. The expansion releases May 21st, and will be available for free for all players with monetization. There are also changes coming to the game’s interface and trait system.

(Source: Star Trek Online)

KingsIsle Reducing Free To Play Accessibility In Pirate101

If the title has you scratching your head, you aren’t alone. Generally whenever we hear about an MMO changing the manner in which its free players enjoy the game, it is to open up more content or to allow accessibility into more features. Very rarely do we see the pay wall be pushed backward rather than forward. That being said, KingsIsle Entertainment has published the most recent patch notes to the test server, which will reduce the amount of content players can access before they are asked to fork over.

New players will encounter Premium Areas earlier than previously. However, both of the following new Premium Areas will be given to all accounts that have existing characters created before these updates are released to the live game:

Prologue: Part 1—the first Premium Area will be encountered during the Quest “A Good Ship?” after talking to Dockmaster Dan.
Prologue: Part 2—the second Premium Area will be encountered during the Quest “To Jonah Town” just before players dock to Jonah Town.

You can find the test realm patch notes at the link below.

(Source: Pirate101)

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