Author: Admin

APB Reloaded: Thank You, Cheaters!


Reading K2 Networks (GamersFirst) talk about cheaters reminds me of the black knight scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Even though King Arthur continues to hack the black knight apart, limb from limb, he continues his volley of verbal assaults at Arthur’s ability with a sword, to the point where, in defeat, the knight offers a draw.

In an alternate reality, I might be complacent with Gamersfirst’s handling of cheaters, but given their work in titles like Knight Online (which is full to the brim with cheaters, bots, and gold farmers), my hope for APB’s future is on uneven grounds. Of course, if you go by Gamersfirst’s words, back when Realtime Worlds was still running All Points Bulletin, the company had the information to ban the high number of cheaters, but simply chose not to enforce the rules. The implication being that the new host will be enforcing the rules.

With the latest K2 Networks blog, the APB team has offered a thank you to the cheaters for providing them with useful information.

For the past 3 weeks we have been watching and observing user behavior in Closed Beta. We’d like to extend a “thanks” to the 60 odd players that have been toying around with various hack tools (about 0.4% of the players). Thanks to your hard cheating work, we are now much better equipped to deal with you going forward. How? I guess you will find out.

I wish GamersFirst the best of luck with APB, and I will be there when the game comes out. Unlike their other titles, however, APB isn’t going to survive if it is filled with cheaters. The first failed launch should have been enough of an indicator.

Dungeon Fighter Online Does Not Constitute 360 MMO


Part of my job here at MMO Fallout includes predicting the future, and occasionally I am wrong. This is not one of those times. Now, those of you who follow this website know that I have historically suggested that MMO players who want to play on the console choose the Playstation 3 over the Xbox 360, foremost as there will never be an MMO on the 360 (apart from Final Fantasy XI). Thanks in part to Microsoft’s stringent policies clashing with the inherent requirement that the game be available for regular content and patch fixes, even Square Enix has admitted that the only reason Final Fantasy XI made it onto Xbox Live was due to the system being in its infancy.

So although I offer my congratulations to Nexon for managing to get Dungeon Fighter Online on Xbox Live Arcade, I have to play devil’s advocate and point out one important fact: Dungeon Fighter Online is not an MMO. Structurally, there isn’t much difference between Dungeon Fighter and, say, Castle Crashers. The game is still run via P2P networking.

What this does bode well for is lobby-based, not really true-MMO titles, coming out on the Xbox360, which was never really a problem to begin with. As far as the traditional MMO, well you’re still better off with a Playstation 3, given the system already leads its competitor by multiple MMOs.

gPotato: This Is How You Charity


A little late to the game, but we don’t play favorites when it comes to charity work (unless your company is using Child’s Play as some shameless plug to get money to send a fraction of said donation to charity). Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen an outpour of support from MMO developers toward Japan. The Final Fantasy servers are just coming up, with more game content on the way, and a number of other companies have offered their support, through donations or through the cutting of billing to Japanese players.

gPotato is running a charity where purchases to specific items, seen here, in specific games will result in 100% of those proceeds going to charity. Allods Online and Aika Online are not included in that list, with at least one of the two not participating because the concept of donating involves investing money with no expectation of making a return or profit.

But this isn’t about the developers who refuse to participate in charity. If you play any of gPotato’s games, this is an easy way to make a donation.

GamersFirst In Scotland, Cryptic Deja Vu.


Who wants All Points Bulletin: Reloaded? Scotland wants APB: Reloaded. So much so, that Scottish Development International offered a cash incentive for K2 Networks to open up an office in Scotland, as well as a two hundred thousand in “regional selective assistance” from the Scottish Enterprise development agency, in order to set up shop. Well, K2 has bitten the line, and opened up a new office with the intent to hire 22 people, with future expansion.

This is where the story gets weird. Gamasutra notes that the General Manager of the new office is Michael Bonafice, previous IT Director at Realtime Worlds. In addition, the location itself isn’t too far from the old Realtime Worlds offices. The CEO of Reloaded Productions, the subsidiary of K2 Networks, and the team that are working on the APB: Reloaded relaunch, said:

“After visiting Scotland, meeting some extraordinary game development professionals and also seeing the Scottish Government’s enthusiastic support for creative and technical ventures, we decided to invest in a Scottish team focused on the core game engineering and key creative design tasks.”

APB: Reloaded is already showing major interest, especially in the ongoing beta test. If K2 are wary about the relaunch’s potential, they aren’t showing it. Then again, Realtime Worlds opened a new office right before their launch, too.

Hallelujah! Square Enix Restoring Services March 25th


Amidst the disaster in Japan, what with the body count rising and the ongoing threat of even greater problems stemming from the nuclear power plants, it’s easy for us westerners (and more likely easterners) to forget that Square Enix fully suspended services for Final Fantasy XI and XIV last week Sunday. In a new lodestone, the team settled in to offer us an update on the situation.

As the original shut down was to conserve energy, the team at Square has been working on conserving their own energy usage, in order to bring the servers back online. This includes, as the lodestone states, shutting off air conditioning and reducing the lighting (they could also reduce lighting costs by switching to compact fluorescent, but I won’t go into that as I can already smell the angry mob forming outside my house). So when are the servers coming back on?

With these energy saving measures in place, we will be able to bring our servers back online and restore service to FINAL FANTASY XIV, FINAL FANTASY XI, and PlayOnline on Mar. 25, 2011 4:00 (PDT).

It is important to note that Square’s promise of not billing players through April (especially on Final Fantasy XIV, wink wink) is still in effect, as the company reminds its Japanese players that the services may have to be shut off again if the energy situation worsens.

More on Final Fantasy as it appears.

Rift: Aion Clone? Major Security Hole Patched.


The coin-lock system in Rift is, as I mentioned, a substandard method of stopping account theft because it doesn’t impact what Trion has referred to as the cause of 80% of all hacked accounts: Keyloggers. With what Trion has referred to as a nonstop attack on the account databases and servers, it was only a matter of time before one of the parasites made it through, as shown just this past week when a player managed to log into another player’s account with their details.

If this were, say, Runes of Magic, the person who found the vulnerability might put thousands of accounts as hostage until the company fulfills a list of demands that could only come from a frothing-mouthed disenfranchised fanboy, but rather than setting himself up for a bunkmate, Mr. ManWitDaPlan alerted Trion to the exploit, and the team has managed to fix it.

The vulnerability existed deep in the server code, dealing with the error checking of the login validations. If this is Greek to you, just feel safe that it’s been fixed.

An important lesson to be taken from this is a reminder that bugs will always occur, and sometimes they have a much larger implication than others. In this case, I have to hand it to Trion for their fast response and willingness to work with the guy who discovered the exploit. As Trion put it:

We do block them as they are detected, but the fact that they are using distributed botnets (compromised computers from across the globe) means that this will remain something that we will continue keeping an eye on, forever.

So score one for Rift, and for Trion’s ability to recover from a setback.

Alganon: Making Our Players Look Good.


I’ve always maintained that Alganon, graphically, is not a WoW-clone. Yes, the initial interface may have been nearly copy and paste, but the way the creatures and inhabitants were presented was in a style all of its own. One major issue I have always had with the graphics however, is not that the player models look bad, but rather that the combat animations were about two inches above abysmal. Somewhere between a jittery spastic, and a four year old who has had too much caffeine. The animations didn’t match the damage output, and most of the moves did not offer much more than a quick jerk, if the character decided to display any movement at all.

The 2.5.100.2444 patch for Alganon launched yesterday, bringing with it better models for player characters, with higher quality textures and more polygons (and more internets, presumably), and I have to admit: Either my eyesight has gone bad or the animations look at lot smoother. Animations now play out their full motion, rather than a jerky swing, and swinging my mallet actually looks like swinging my mallet.

Now that the graphical upgrade is out of the way, hopefully Quest Online will continue working on other glaring issues with Alganon, such as the heavy lag on servers despite low population. The team has done a great job of putting in content in the form of new quests, PvP mechanics, and more, and hopefully this slow upward trend from the “launch” over a year ago will continue.

More on Alganon as it appears. The photos included were from my own Alganon character, as I’m sure many of you are aware of my status as biting the hand that feeds me (and occasionally pissing off its President).

Hello Kitty Online: Save The Children


I love Hello Kitty Online. Not in the sense that I love the game itself, but the knowledge that any time some major disaster occurs, the team at Sanrio Digital will be there with an in-game event to generate donations. To top it off, the team has always managed to present the charity drives in a way that costs the player nothing, yet still manages to donate a notable amount.

In the wake of the earthquake in Japan, the Hello Kitty Online team has put together the HKO Japan Earthquake Aid event, which follows a pattern similar to the previous charity drives. Players are tasked with obtaining a certain set of items, and bringing them to a specific NPC, which will accumulate donations that will be sent to the Save the Children foundation.

The list of items are as follows:

  • 50 Cherry Tree Wood
  • 100 White Bread
  • 50 Green Tea Leaf
  • 50 Veggie Tempura

The items must be given to a GM outside Sanrio Harbor during set times, and the event will only last until March 21st.

Nexon: $1.2 Million and All Proceeds


I’ve said it already, and I will continue saying it: The outpour of support from MMO developers and the community toward Japan has been absolutely overwhelming. Already we have seen support from Square Enix, Sony Online Entertainment, CCP, Hi-Rez, and NCsoft, and the list just keeps on growing.

Nexon today announced a two-tiered plan to send aid to Japan, via select relief agencies including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. On the first tier, the company has donated $1.2 million USD in initial corporate contributions. But that’s not all. Players can have a direct effect on the second tier of contributions via the game’s cash shop:

In addition to Nexon’s donation, from March 14 through March 20, Nexon America will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of many of our in-game items to the Red Cross for the Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami disaster relief efforts.

The following games are included in the charity movement:

 

NCSoft: No, This Is How You Charity


Money is a powerful tool that can buy many things. In the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, we’ve seen an outpour of support from MMO developers and their players. Square Enix has shut down Japanese Final Fantasy servers, while Sony Online Entertainment has announced the suspension of billing for Japanese players. Global Agenda has pledged 100% of sales for the next ten days to the Red Cross, while CCP is offering players the option to convert their PLEX into cash to donate.

NCsoft is next on the list, with a substantial donation to the relief effort, particularly the restoration projects. In a recent announcement on the Aion forums, NCsoft announced:

NCsoft sends its most heart-felt condolences to the victims and people of Japan. As such, NCsoft will donate 500 million Yen (approx 4.5 million Euros/3.9 million GBP/6.3 million USD) to restoration of damages in the region. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Japan.

More on the charity drive as it appears.