Author: Admin

Global Agenda: 100% Sales Donated To Japan


Pitting companies in competition with each other over who can donate the most money to charity is a cruel, rude, and disgusting way to advocate for more donations by offering publicity as a reward. But hey, where there’s smoke there is fire, right? With news of CCP reigniting the PLEX for Good campaign to aid the Red Cross in their mission to help the Japanese, Hi-Rez has joined in to offer their own contribution:

Anyone who purchases Global Agenda between now and the 28th will be able to get their hands on the game for $10, but also knowing that 100% of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross. Yes, a 66% discount and a charitable contribution to show for it. If I didn’t already own Global Agenda, I’m sure I would have bought it during this sale.

Again, the sale lasts until the 28th. The $10 sale lasts until Sunday. More on Global Agenda as it appears.

City of Heroes: One World, One World List


City of Heroes is the original-man’s super hero MMO. Since the game’s release in 2004, City of Heroes has seen the addition of two expansion packs and nineteen “issues,” with numerous content updates in between. But that’s enough pushing the game up with information we all know, on to the juicy meat center of this article:

In a recent move, NCsoft announced that they are combining the North American and European services, to create one conglomerate of players under one service. The announcement can be found here, and details what effects this will have on players. NCsoft states that this move will allow better interaction with players on both continents, as well as improving gameplay for many (as both services will use the same live and beta builds), as well as decreasing the need for players who have both European and North American accounts.

This will offer all players 15 servers to choose from, eleven located in North America and four in Europe.

Redeem $15 Station Points, Get $10 Free


Who could say no to free money? I can, but then again, I’m not willing to buy five packages of cereal at three dollars apiece in order to save two dollars with the coupon that printed out for me at Target. That’s just me, I won’t judge the people who change their whole diet on the grounds of what comes in the coupon booklet each month. That being said, I do enjoy a real deal when it comes my way.

If you subscribe to any Station games via credit card, the time card just got a little more appetizing. Purchase a fifteen dollar Station cash card, and redeem it by the 21st, you will receive ten dollars extra. On the other side, you can use the fifteen dollar card towards a subscription, so a player could extend their subscription and still receive the 1,000 station points.

Station Cash cards are not available in all areas and countries, and this does not apply to online purchases.

Eve Online: PLEX For Japan


Since the 8.9 magnitude earthquake the hit Japan this month, the outpour of support has been intense not only from gamers, but from the not-so-soulless entities that operate them. Already, we’ve seen responses from Square Enix (who are shutting down servers to consolidate energy), and Sony Online Entertainment, both companies of which will not be billing Japanes players through April.

CCP is the next company to join the list, with the PLEX for Good initiative. Players are encouraged to donate PLEX, which will be converted into cash, and donated to the Red Cross. Players have until April 1st to make their donation.

To make your PLEX donation:

  • Contract your PLEX to the “CCP PLEX for Good” character, and please make sure the character is in the “C C P” corporation and that the name is spelled correctly to avoid scams.
  • Contracts will be accepted within 24 hours of submission, though usually sooner than that.

And I should point out for emphasis:

CCP regards any scamming attempts surrounding this effort to be morally reprehensible and they will be met with swiftest action.

Jagex: Stellar Dawn? No, Transformers!


Jagex is an inspiration of hope in the MMO genre. Born out of a side project by Andrew Gower, Runescape has since gone on to become the most popular free to play MMO gracing our internets, crafting a membership system that not only gave an enormous amount of content for a low price, but also creating a free to play portion that not only continues to evolve, but offers a safe haven for men of questionable age to become the sexy seventeen year old girl looking for a relationship of questionable legality with a studly rich boyfriend, that they’ve always dreamed of being. In the past few years, Jagex became publisher for War of Legends, an Evony-style game, became their own mini-game developer (FunOrb), bought the Iphone game Undercroft, and

Now, for those of you keeping track, Jagex has been in development of Stellar Dawn, originally Mechscape, originally announced in 2008 for a 2009 release, followed by a 2010 release, with our latest news being a 2011 release. Considering these delays, I noted the absurdity that Jagex was working on a third MMO, an untitled fantasy title that is not Runescape 2. Granted, the FunOrb team hasn’t put out a new game since September 2010, so Jagex does have some resources that could be thrown onto a fourth mmo, right?

Yes, I said fourth MMO, if you hadn’t discerned such from the title. MCV is reporting that Jagex has entered into a deal with Hasbro to make Transformers into an MMO for release when? 2012, according to the report. Mark Gerhard was quoted saying:

“There is a huge appetite for an online Transformers game and we will utilise every bit of our development and publishing expertise to deliver a dynamic and action-packed game that Transformers fans will find irresistible.”

More on the Transformer MMO’s delay to 2014 when it comes…and assuming MMO Fallout is still online then.

Sony and Square Enix: Not Billing Japan This Month


With the recent earthquake in Japan, the power companies have asked that people and companies conserve as much power as possible, for fear of an electricity shortage. In response to the warning, Square Enix has decided to temporarily shutter services for Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV in Japan for at least a week, and will not be billing players for the cycle through April. More information is expected on how long the servers will be down, although players in Japan likely have more important out-of-game issues to deal with at the moment.

Source for Square Enix

Meanwhile, Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they are suspending billing for Japanese players. The company does not host servers in Japan. In addition, Sony had linked up players to the Google relief effort where they can donate.

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Our hearts go out to those affected by the earthquake, and we here at MMO Fallout wish a speedy recovery for Japan.

Alganon Server Mergers [Update: 3/13]


[Update 3/13]: The original thread was deleted, that initially confirmed a merge. Luckily, I have screenshots. Check them out after the break.

[Update 3/13]: Derek Smart has weighed in on the issue, and dropped the MMO Fallout bomb, and announced that there is “no server merge is in the works.”

“I have seen several reports in the forum and at least two media reports claiming that we are in the process of doing server merges.

That information is FALSE.”

Good to hear, although contradicting two separate GM’s (Padreic and Klazgon) confirming that the mergers were “on the schedule” and “will be coming soon,” and that the mergers were a “priority item,” and to expect more information “rolling out very soon that will give more details on the matter.”

The population is growing steadily and the game is growing at a steady clip. Thus is makes no sense to merge servers when in fact we will just end up opening other servers at some point in the future anyway. Especially given the advent of the third generation of Alganon.

So mark this one down to a miscommunication that resulted in false information being posted by staff, and that Padreic (who may or may not be locked in the Quest Online dungeon fighting Ograns to save his own soul) simply posted information before it was confirmed.

So, the final word is that there are currently NO immediate plans to do a server merge.

His bold and caps, not mine.

Continue reading “Alganon Server Mergers [Update: 3/13]”

Neverwinter Will Compete With D&D Online Directly


This article requires a bit of backstory, so if you are already in tune with the Atari Vs Turbine saga, feel free to skip ahead. To start, we must set the stage for the players in this ongoing drama. Wizards of the Coast owns the Dungeons and Dragons IP, and in turn license the video game creation to Atari, who in turn licensed the MMO rights to Turbine. Turbine creates Dungeons and Dragons Online, and pays royalties to Atari, who pay royalties to Wizards of the Coast. Atari owns Cryptic Studios, who were rumored to be creating a Neverwinter Nights MMO, in direct competition with Turbine.

Now this is where the story becomes shady. Turbine sued Atari, claiming that the company had plans to sabotage Dungeons and Dragons Online, in order to nullify the contract with Turbine, take over control of the MMO, and shut it down in preparation for release of a Neverwinter Nights MMO. Given Cryptic being Atari’s chief MMO studio, it was only a given that Bill Roper’s team would be leading the project in some secret underground base, likely in the middle of an active volcano. Although the lawsuit was settled and the terms kept secret, there was a distinct timing between the settlement and Cryptic announcing Neverwinter Online, specifically noting that the game was not an MMO. I theorized at the time that Atari agreed not to make any D&D MMOs as a result of the settlement.

[Backstory over]

I’m a little concerned over how quickly the public took this news and said “phew, at least Atari won’t be trying to destroy D&D Online,” and this raises the question: Is the fighting really over? Or is Atari still adamant in their attempts to shut down Turbine’s MMO, and set up a new title in an environment where they can benefit from more income? Consider this, if you will:

Dungeons and Dragons Online is an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via VIP and cash shop revenue.

Neverwinter Online will be an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via cash shop revenue and likely a VIP program. In addition, Neverwinter Online will also feature user-created dungeons and other yet-announced bits and pieces.

So when Cryptic stated that Neverwinter Online will not be an MMO, it’s important to remember that Dungeons and Dragons Online isn’t a true MMO either. The likelihood that the two titles will directly compete is high, simply because the mechanics in both games (at least as they are currently presented) are so similar.

Despite my past differences with Cryptic, I honestly believe that Neverwinter Online could be a great success because the fundamentals play to Cryptic’s strengths. Unlike Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both of which attempted to take a massive world and cram it into a tiny container, Neverwinter Online is in all train of thought built to be a small-scale cooperative game. Of course, given Cryptic’s choice of D&D rulesets to follow, they won’t be gathering in all of the Dungeons and Dragons fans, but if they stay true to the formula and bring the social experience to an online format, Neverwinter Online could be a real contender.

So I call bogus to the idea that Neverwinter won’t directly compete with Dungeons and Dragons Online, and feel that with the right developers behind the wheel, Neverwinter could wind up scooping a good amount of Turbine’s revenue.

Did Somebody Say Official Forums? FFXI & FFXIV


Given Square Enix’s history of standard features either being implemented in an unnecessarily complicated manner, or simply not present at all, I can’t say I was surprised that Final Fantasy XIV launched without an official forum. Official forums in the ages of Final Fantasy XI (2002) were not common, although many of the MMOs from around FFXI’s days now carry discussion boards. That being said, when Square announced plans to focus more on talking to the community, and listening to the community, the introduction of official message boards became an inevitability.

I may be a day late on this, but the forums are open! Players of Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV can log in with their Square ID, choose a forum username, and start posting. The forums feature sections for Japanese, English, French, and German languages. I’ve been playing around on the boards for a while, and perhaps the best area houses a list of everything that is currently in development for Final Fantasy XIV. Of course, the threads themselves don’t offer a space for discussion, rather players are expected to create discussion threads on other sections of the forums and tag them with the unique [dev post #] from the original thread. Baby steps, Square.

Either way, the forums might be a continuation of what I’ve referred to as Square’s Great Apology, but they are a welcome addition to both MMOs. At least now players will have somewhere to post that isn’t as troll-infested, ala the MMORPG.com FFXIV-sub-forums.