Author: Admin

End of Nations Hasn’t Been Cancelled, Trion Taking Over


Finally some good news. End of Nations has not had the greatest of times in recent months. Just a few days ago, we learned about major layoffs at the developer Petroglyph Games, coming just shortly after a prior announcement that the game’s open beta would be delayed until further notice to address some major issues facing the MMORTS. With delays and layoffs, it seemed like the persistent strategy game might never hit store shelves. The good news is that Trion is taking over End of Nations development from Petroglyph. In a post on the official forums, Myll Erik laid out the details:

As End of Nations was reaching the pre-launch phase in its lifecycle, we officially brought the game development in house to Trion Worlds and will complete the development internally. Our team has been hard at work implementing many changes based on your feedback from the beta events. Keep checking back for more updates as we are looking forward to showing off some of the cool new things the team has been working on.

Trion is hard at work addressing player concerns, from difficulty curve to a revamped user interface as well as optimizations across the board. Petroglyph is well known for their real time strategy games, including Star Wars: Empire At War.

(Source: Trion Forums)

Gamersfirst Drops Sword2, Transitions To T3Fun


Back in May, we discussed how Gamersfirst would be removing its line of third party titles, and focusing on in-house MMOs including Fallen Earth and All Points Bulletin. At the time, War Rock and Knight Online made the transition to various new publishers. In a recent release, the company announced that Sword2 will be moving from Gamersfirst’s controls over to T3Fun, subsidiary of Hanbitsoft. You may remember T3Fun from the revival of Hellgate: Global that occurred a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Here is where it gets interesting. Anyone with a Sword 2 account who plans on keeping it will be required to initiate a transfer. You can follow the link to the forum post down below for more details on how to do this.

Your consent is required to transfer your S2 game data (including your User ID, Password, registered email address, billing data and game data) to T3Fun. Without your explicit permission, we will not be able to transfer your account and you will not be able to continue playing the game.

GamersFirst still has a number of titles under its belt, including APB: Reloaded, Fallen Earth, War Inc, Super Monday Night Combat, and a number of other MMOs and shooters.

(Source: Sword2 Forums)

Storybricks Creator Teams Up With Outside Partners


Remember Storybricks? We covered the game back when it was first announced, including a small interview, and a quick look. Namaste Entertainment has a pretty radical idea: AI in MMOs has not been progressing alongside the evolution in sound and graphics. So the game set forward to build an engine that could allow characters to have their own life. The goal is to create an AI that doesn’t just run on a preset treadmill, or stand in place until the player talks to them or attacks them. The AI has its own goals, moods, and have the ability to interact with one another and perform actions on a higher level.

On one hand, the Kingdom of Default game has been shelved. On the other hand, the game and technology has brought in interest from outside studios wishing to make use of the technology.

“We have several projects underway, on several platforms and with diverse types of gameplay, all exploiting our unique AI possibilities. Several studios have shown interest in what our technology can offer and we are looking forward to working with them to create amazing games. Working with partners now means that all our projects are now under NDA, so we cannot be as open as we have been in the past. But we can assure you: these projects are pretty awesome.”

We wish the Namaste team the best of luck in their future endeavors, and we hope to see the Storybricks technology in some fashion in the future.

“Kingdom of Default was a first test of our technology, a browser game for users to write their own stories and interact with complex artificial intelligences. But we realize the alpha had a lot of problems: it was not enough of a game for traditional MMO audiences, too complex for casual players and too much of a game for educational uses (apparently the ‘zombie’ feature was a big no-no for some schools).”

(Source: Storybricks)

Does Marvel Heroes Set The Stage For Marvel Villains?


I’ve grown attached to Marvel Heroes ever since I previewed the game at New York Comic Con. The game is far more enjoyable if you think of it less as a newer attempt at City of Heroes and more as a spiritual successor to the Diablo games. Still, despite all the time I’ve spent going through dungeons and beating people up, drinking a whole lot of alcohol, and turning into a giant green monster…I can’t help but think that Marvel Heroes should take a nod from its genre and maybe we will one day see the release of Marvel Villains. Let’s face it, now that City of Heroes is gone, our already short list of super hero MMOs that let us play the villain has become much shorter.

Actually, DC Universe is the only one that comes to mind. Champions Online does not allow you to roll a villain. So let’s see it, Marvel! And while I’m making demands, how about a Marvel Zombies expansions as well? Then who knows where!

End of Nations Lays Off Staffers


End of Nations just can’t catch a break. At the end of November, we found out that the End of Nations beta would not be going forward until “further notice.” The reason behind the move was stated to be due to important issues that needed to be addressed before the game would be ready for wider consumption. While Petroglyph has stood by the statement that the game is not being cancelled, the fact that the company began refunding purchases made by players would seem to imply that while the game may not be scheduled for termination, that Petroglyph is not entirely sure if the game will ever make open beta.

Eurogamer picked up on good word that 30 people have been laid off at Petroglyph, confirmed somewhat via a Twitter post from writer and game designer Adam Stevens:

 “Well, it appears this winter break will be extended indefinitely. Lay-offs at Petroglyph. Looking like I’ll be Leaving Las Vegas.”

Our thoughts go out to the affected employees, and we wish you all fast employment.

(Source: Eurogamer)

NCSoft Announces Layoffs Hitting Seattle Branch


Layoffs right before Christmas? That is cold, NCSoft. After an anonymous source tipped off PC Gamer, the news has come forward that the Seattle offices of NCSoft are undergoing realignment, meaning several positions are no longer in existence. NCSoft’s Public Relations Manager Lincoln Davis said to PC Gamer:

“NCsoft is realigning internal publishing resources to better suit the needs of our game development studios. As a result of the realignment, several employees and contract positions were affected. This was a very tough decision to make and wish the best for all NCsoft employees in their next ventures.”

Reportedly there has been no impact on development at ArenaNet (Guild Wars) or Carbine Studios (Wildstar), or for that matter just how many were laid off.

(Source: PC Gamer)

The Secret World Marks The End of Days, December 21st


I know what you are thinking, and you are wrong. The end of the world is upon us, and what better game to celebrate in than the one that brings truth to all of the wibbly wobbly, timey wimey…stuff. The Secret World has posted an upcoming Alternate Reality Game event, beginning in just a few days and leading up to December 21st. As posted on the main website:

“This might be your one chance to save yourself from this inevitable cosmic event, and we encourage you to pre-register to take part in the ARG. Pre-registration is free and available on this page. The ARG will start in a few days and this is one train you do not want to miss.”

The website asks for your email address, with an optional form for your phone number and Twitter. No details on how these forms of communication will be utilized, but it will be a nice change to have the heavy breathing coming from the other end of the phone to be from an automated message than my plumber. For those of you who would rather not participate, follow me on Twitter @mmofallout. I will try to keep you updated on what happens.

Is anyone else just happy that “End of Days” didn’t turn out to mean that the game was shutting down? I know I am.

(Source: The Secret World)

Why Aren't You Playing: RaiderZ Part 1


If I had a nickel for every time someone told me “hey Omali, check out this new MMO from Korea, it is totally different,” I would put those nickels in a sock and use it to beat those people unconscious. And yet, half because I know it won’t go anywhere and half because I enjoy torturing myself, I inevitably download the game and play it, hate it only as much as I hate myself, and uninstall the godforsaken pay-to-win uninspired grindfest. This time, however, I was invited to the beta under the pretense of “it’s just like TERA, but free!” Which is great, because juggling subscriptions was really the reason I left TERA.

In fact, don’t mind if I accidentally refer to RaiderZ as TERA at any point in this article.

1. Combat

RaiderZ is polite enough to introduce its new players to the variables of combat relatively early in their playing experience. In short, what this means is that in order to stay alive or function with any sort of efficiency in RaizerZ, you’re going to have to know when to hold em, know when to fold em. Combat is very similar to titles like TERA in that you’ll be tasked with dodging, blocking, and choosing the right moment when to strike. Dodging isn’t an end-all beat-all, and won’t protect you 100% from taking damage, but it is a very important tool in mitigating and holding off as much damage as possible. Creatures will shove, throw, ram, and eat their foes, meaning if you want to have a chance at survival, you’re going to need to pay attention.

Because of this, combat in RaiderZ is what I like to call: Engaging. Sure, you can go all out DPS, focus on just smashing your target as much and as quickly as possible, but you will likely die a lot or at least be forced to either guzzle down enough potions to heal a small army, or sit out of combat waiting for your health to regenerate. Or, at the cost of slightly longer battles in the short run, you can make intelligent use of your dodge, block, and special attacks to mitigate, block, and interrupt attacks.

I also like the idea that you can literally beat things off of certain mobs, and either consume them on the spot or use them as a weapon. Certain enemies like crabs will randomly drop crab meat, for instance, which can be picked up and eaten to boost health regeneration for a small amount of time. Other creatures will drop their weapon or body parts that can be picked up and used as a temporary weapon of your own. There is also an inherent satisfaction in breaking off the body part of something you just beat to death, and using it to slaughter its nearby tribe members.

2. Quests, Resources, And Grind

Outside of its combat, there isn’t much innovation to RaiderZ. The leveling process is the standard grind of moving from hub to hub, taking on quests and occasionally fighting “party” size monsters. Again, what makes RaiderZ enjoyable and engaging is the combat, even though as you progress through the game, you begin to realize that it may just be the one degree of separation that keeps this title from being thrown in the pit with the other thousand generic MMOs that come out of Korea every year. There is a story aspect that plays out through instanced areas, and is a decent part of the game.

Since RaiderZ is a monster hunting game, this is also where you will obtain most of your gear. As you wage your genocide against the hodgers, bandits, and bears (oh my), you will come across various crafting materials to use in forging new equipment. There isn’t much thinking in crafting your equipment, either. You simply go to a vendor in one of the cities or villages, they show you a recipe that displays exactly what creature drops each item, and you go and beat the crap out of said creature until it drops what you want. Unfortunately one issue I’ve come across is that in the time it takes to knock the correct resources out of a mob in quantities high enough to make a set of armor, I’ve already outleveled the stuff I was going to craft and have to load up on a new mob.

PvP in RaiderZ is really on the back burner, although there is an open PvP zone you are forced to go through if you want to progress to the end-game.

3. Gold Farmers, Chat Spam Galore

I saved this for last, because I know for someone like myself this can really kill a game. RaiderZ is filled to bursting with gold farmers, both in-game and spamming chat. The starting areas, as well as the first main city you hit (Ingen) are so full of gold farmers that chat is impossible, due to the overwhelming level of spam. The problem with gold spam might not be so great if RaiderZ had some automated system built in to stop it, but until that happens, players either have to ignore it or individually block each player.

In fact, the chat system in RaiderZ is mediocre, bordering on pathetic. Not only does Perfect World not offer a simple way to click on someone’s name to add them to your block/friend list, the game makes the Kindergarten level mistake of using a font that has the same symbol for the uppercase i as it does for the lower case l. So even if you want to block the number of gold farmers or private server ad bots, many of them use names consisting of random combinations of both letters, making them difficult if not impossible to ignore.

Next Time: Cash Shop, Perfect World, And More…

Why Aren’t You Playing: RaiderZ Part 1


If I had a nickel for every time someone told me “hey Omali, check out this new MMO from Korea, it is totally different,” I would put those nickels in a sock and use it to beat those people unconscious. And yet, half because I know it won’t go anywhere and half because I enjoy torturing myself, I inevitably download the game and play it, hate it only as much as I hate myself, and uninstall the godforsaken pay-to-win uninspired grindfest. This time, however, I was invited to the beta under the pretense of “it’s just like TERA, but free!” Which is great, because juggling subscriptions was really the reason I left TERA.

In fact, don’t mind if I accidentally refer to RaiderZ as TERA at any point in this article.

1. Combat

RaiderZ is polite enough to introduce its new players to the variables of combat relatively early in their playing experience. In short, what this means is that in order to stay alive or function with any sort of efficiency in RaizerZ, you’re going to have to know when to hold em, know when to fold em. Combat is very similar to titles like TERA in that you’ll be tasked with dodging, blocking, and choosing the right moment when to strike. Dodging isn’t an end-all beat-all, and won’t protect you 100% from taking damage, but it is a very important tool in mitigating and holding off as much damage as possible. Creatures will shove, throw, ram, and eat their foes, meaning if you want to have a chance at survival, you’re going to need to pay attention.

Because of this, combat in RaiderZ is what I like to call: Engaging. Sure, you can go all out DPS, focus on just smashing your target as much and as quickly as possible, but you will likely die a lot or at least be forced to either guzzle down enough potions to heal a small army, or sit out of combat waiting for your health to regenerate. Or, at the cost of slightly longer battles in the short run, you can make intelligent use of your dodge, block, and special attacks to mitigate, block, and interrupt attacks.

I also like the idea that you can literally beat things off of certain mobs, and either consume them on the spot or use them as a weapon. Certain enemies like crabs will randomly drop crab meat, for instance, which can be picked up and eaten to boost health regeneration for a small amount of time. Other creatures will drop their weapon or body parts that can be picked up and used as a temporary weapon of your own. There is also an inherent satisfaction in breaking off the body part of something you just beat to death, and using it to slaughter its nearby tribe members.

2. Quests, Resources, And Grind

Outside of its combat, there isn’t much innovation to RaiderZ. The leveling process is the standard grind of moving from hub to hub, taking on quests and occasionally fighting “party” size monsters. Again, what makes RaiderZ enjoyable and engaging is the combat, even though as you progress through the game, you begin to realize that it may just be the one degree of separation that keeps this title from being thrown in the pit with the other thousand generic MMOs that come out of Korea every year. There is a story aspect that plays out through instanced areas, and is a decent part of the game.

Since RaiderZ is a monster hunting game, this is also where you will obtain most of your gear. As you wage your genocide against the hodgers, bandits, and bears (oh my), you will come across various crafting materials to use in forging new equipment. There isn’t much thinking in crafting your equipment, either. You simply go to a vendor in one of the cities or villages, they show you a recipe that displays exactly what creature drops each item, and you go and beat the crap out of said creature until it drops what you want. Unfortunately one issue I’ve come across is that in the time it takes to knock the correct resources out of a mob in quantities high enough to make a set of armor, I’ve already outleveled the stuff I was going to craft and have to load up on a new mob.

PvP in RaiderZ is really on the back burner, although there is an open PvP zone you are forced to go through if you want to progress to the end-game.

3. Gold Farmers, Chat Spam Galore

I saved this for last, because I know for someone like myself this can really kill a game. RaiderZ is filled to bursting with gold farmers, both in-game and spamming chat. The starting areas, as well as the first main city you hit (Ingen) are so full of gold farmers that chat is impossible, due to the overwhelming level of spam. The problem with gold spam might not be so great if RaiderZ had some automated system built in to stop it, but until that happens, players either have to ignore it or individually block each player.

In fact, the chat system in RaiderZ is mediocre, bordering on pathetic. Not only does Perfect World not offer a simple way to click on someone’s name to add them to your block/friend list, the game makes the Kindergarten level mistake of using a font that has the same symbol for the uppercase i as it does for the lower case l. So even if you want to block the number of gold farmers or private server ad bots, many of them use names consisting of random combinations of both letters, making them difficult if not impossible to ignore.

Next Time: Cash Shop, Perfect World, And More…