Good news all around for fans of the upcoming DC: Universe Online! Now that we have a concrete date for release on November 2nd (subject to change), those of you looking to purchase the PS3 version will be equally happy to learn that you will not be required to pay for Playstation Plus.
More importantly: Those of you who played the original Star Wars Galaxies will be aware of the Jedi system, where the Jedi class was locked until players completed a non-specific set of random tasks given to them. The amount of time invested and skill required to attain the Jedi class made it so only a minority of players actually managed to unlock a Jedi, and play it in the duration before it became available as a starting class.
In DC:U, it appears as if the Green Lantern Corp will be getting the same treatment. Director Chris Cao has stated that the Green Lantern Corp will be something “very special” and that they do not want thousands of green lanterns running around.
Ultimately, I give the Green Lantern concept two years before it becomes available to everyone, ala the Jedi class.
Back before Mortal Online launched, I believe it was Henrik who said Star Vault could easily find a publisher, but they would be forced to alter a lot of the game’s content in order to please them, and allow the game to ship. Since then, I’ve been thinking about the relationship many developers have with their publishers, and I can only describe it one way: Battered person syndrome. How many times have you heard of major parts removed from a game, not because the developer decided upon it, but because the publisher demanded it? Electronic Arts (most memorably with Spore) is guilty of it, as are most other big name publishers. In fact, with many MMOs it feels as if the publisher does all the talking, while the developer sits in the back and hopes it’s not doing anything that will result in a beating after the press conference. This is, of course, no different than your local television station choosing not to air certain stories because an advertiser doesn’t like them, or the firing of a Gamespot employee because of his Kane and Lynch review, but the standard seems to be that the publisher wears the pants in the relationship.
So why is it that whenever I think of gPotato (or Gala-Net), I think of Jerry Lewis? A bumbling, fumbling figure who is always apologizing but never really taking control of what goes on around him. You can’t help but feel this way every time a major issue comes up in the game, be it the cash shop prices, the fear of death mechanic, and now the curse mechanic, among others, where Gala-Net comes back and says “Sorry, we can’t do anything. All we can do is forward your suggestions to Astrum Nival, and hope they implement updates.” This has become the token response and offers up plenty of reason as to why I declared Allods Online as potentially the biggest PR disaster of 2010.
Is Astrum Nival really in such a position where they can dictate the terms to their publisher, in a direct opposite to what is generally an “industry standard,” as disturbing as that terminology sounds? Does the potential for Gala-Net to say “either you start listening to us or you’ll have no publisher,” instill such little fear, that AN could turn around and say “that’s okay, we have X other publishers lined up to put our game out, under our terms.” Or is Astrum Nival really just the Duke Nukem of developers, where when poor old gPotato sends their fifth courier of the week with humble requests, they are met with a short and concise “blow it out your ass,” followed by a round of buckshot to the chest, with gPotato only receiving a response a week later when the messenger’s disembodied head appears in the mail, accompanied by a single-word letter: “no.”
I have always noted here on MMO Fallout that, as far as cash shop grinders go, Gala-Net publishes some of the better quality titles. Not that my word holds much sway, but Allods Online and Aika Online were the only two cash shop grinders to make much of an appearance here on MMO Fallout, and really many other MMO news websites. The difference between Aika and Allods, however, is that when Aika Online had its own cash shop issues (region issues) they managed to fix it in a way that satisfied almost everyone involved.
Watching gPotato deal with Astrum Nival is akin to a friend in a bad relationship who refuses to acknowledge the stagnant environment, despite their consistent somber appearance, and the little fact that they break out sobbing whenever the conversation turns to the estranged partner. So you continue to watch as the explanations become more desperate; doing it for the kid, there’s still hope, doesn’t want all the time to be wasted, it will resolve itself, think about the good times, etc.
But speaking of the child, where is Allods Online in all of this feud? Not neglected, but I have a feeling he wouldn’t be very appreciative of the treatment he is receiving. He certainly would be a lot more popular in school if his parent (Astrum Nival) would stop embarrassing him and losing him friends by showing pictures of the time he wet the bed (last week), and had to wear mom’s underwear for the day because all of his was in the wash. And where will we find Astrum Nival and Gala-Net when they enter his bedroom to find a note on the table, and an empty bottle of sleeping pills on the desk? They will find that it’s too late to settle their differences, have the two teams actually listen to what the other has to say, and perhaps treat each other like they took a small interest in what the other was saying.
And at the end of the day, when Astrum Nival is standing over its only creation, wondering how those years of development could have gone down the drain, the president of Gala-Net will look on with a massive grin on his face, as he announces, “I’m sorry to hear about your loss, but I have good news. Aika Online just launched its next expansion, and we have two upcoming MMOs we’ll be publishing in addition to our current list of seven. Hey listen, if you have a new MMO coming up, you know where to contact us, but I can’t promise much: Very busy with publishing offers.”
Perhaps I’m just personalizing this on a level too far.
I reported yesterday that the character transfer system, which was to follow the server mergers in Aion, was delayed due to an unseen issue that did not arise until literally the day of. In the post, NCsoft promised that they would provide 24 hour notice before the transfers went into motion again, and that players should be prepared for notice at any given time. There was no indication on how long the fix would take, and luckily it was barely a day, as the following post on Aion’s website states:
We have managed to correct the problem that was causing the transfers to fail and are ready to bring the servers down again to transfer all those that had queued prior to yesterday’s maintenance. If you queued prior to the 14th July your transfer will go through, there is no need to queue again, please make sure that your character meets the transfer requirements before the maintenance.
The servers will be taken down at 4am CEST for approximately three hours, after which the queue for character transfers will be reopened. Normal restrictions on transfers are still in effect, and players are required to read the restrictions if they would like to minimize item loss in the transition.
Has it really been [#] years? If not, please disregard this message and contact your local HR representative for further instructions. If so, please enjoy the following details of your accomplishment:
Mark Gerhard, current CEO of Jagex, isn’t a bad guy by any means. Hell, he was featured here on MMO Fallout specifically this past March for his help in toppling the court case of Evony Vs a blogger. Runescape players may be at a divide on his positive or negative impact on the game, but it seems as though his presence has brought Runescape far more into the news than in previous years.
It isn’t exactly private knowledge that Sony once had plans to invest in Jagex back in 2005, that were scrapped for a simple reason, as noted by Gerhard;
“John Smedley said, ‘I can do this myself.'”
You will of course be aware that Sony Online Entertainment moved to create their own rendition of a browser based MMO, Free Realms, that launched last year and quickly shot up in registered users. Mark Gerhard, in a recent interview with Eurogamer (the full interview is yet to be posted at the time of this writing), is not impressed.
“The thing that saved us was that Free Realms was perfectly designed by committee. It was 100 per cent micro-transactions, 100 per cent subscriptions, 100 per cent male, 100 per cent female. As a result, it was neither fish nor fowl; it didn’t resonate with anyone, didn’t have any identity. It was, I guess, largely insipid, gorgeous graphics and everything else, but it didn’t have have the joie de vivre.”
Harsh words, and unfortunately for John Smedley and Free Realms, Gerhard has the Guinness Book record to back it up. Hopefully there will be more information when the full interview goes live.
Fallen Earth is great in the sense that you don’t necessarily have to resubscribe just to get a good idea on how the game has progressed. Rather than plunk down fifteen bucks on a month-long subscription you might regret, this particular MMO is known to throw out fourteen day passes every few months to inactive accounts, allowing them unrestricted access to the game, and hopefully to get them back to forking over some moolah.
If you are an ex-Fallen Earth player, including trial accounts, head on over to this website to activate your account for fourteen days, no restrictions. You only have until August 4th to reactivate your accounts before this offer expires. You might even see me reactivated at the upcoming Texan Invasion event on the 25th (My character’s name is Jomali…I think.). The offer is not for new accounts, although a fourteen day trial already exists for new players.
I’ve included the URL in its base form, as people unfamiliar with MMO Fallout may take me with less trust than your average MMO website. http://www.fallenearth.com/retry.html
In the process of merging a large number of their servers, Aion has run into a number of snags, the latest of which brings a temporary delay to the character transfer program. In a post on the Aion website, NC announced that the transfer service was put on hold due to unforeseen issues.
Because my other Aion image isn't working...
In the process of merging a large number of their servers, Aion has run into a number of snags, the latest of which brings a temporary delay to the character transfer program. In a post on the Aion website, NC announced that the transfer service was put on hold due to unforeseen issues.
Character Transfer Services have been disabled while we troubleshoot technical issues that arose this morning. You will not be able to initiate a character transfer during this time. If you have already initiated a transfer for a character prior to the maintenance window, you will not have to repeat the process. Your character transfer will already be queued when we re-enable transfer services.
NCSoft has promised to give players 24 hour notice, but cannot give any more detailed information as to how long the transfer services will be down. More on the Aion transfer service as it appears, hopefully I’ll be able to get you some news soon on this event which has turned into nothing but a pain in the backside for all parties involved.
With Age of Conan entering the Korean markets came the announcement that the title would follow the normal Korean model: Free to play with cash shop, leading some to speculate as to whether or not Funcom would transition the model over to the Western hemisphere. Over on the Funcom forums, Producer Craig Morrison chimed in to tell players that the free to play model is not planned to come over to the west, but that Funcom is not saying no forever (I’ve heard this phrase too many times this month).
“That isn’t a ‘yes, it will happen’ or a ‘No, it will never happen’ it’s a ‘We will always keep our options open and be open minded to business models that will most benefit the project.’…being close minded one way or another is rarely a good thing.”
He is correct. The Korean market is vastly different from the American and European markets, and subscription based games die fast. Even World of Warcraft runs in China on a pay-per-hour system.
“That is why we have different versions of the game. They are different markets, work in different ways, with different traditions and expectations and we will always endeavour to try and ensure the right decisions are made for the game in each specific territory, and for those decisions to be different as appropriate.”
So, for the time being, there will be no free to play Age of Conan in the west. More on Age of Conan as it appears.
I know what you’re asking: Omali! Dungeons and Dragons Online is already free to play! To which I answer: Not in Europe. No, for the past ten months or so North American players have been enjoying the freshly free to play Dungeons and Dragons Online, while our compatriots over the ocean have not. When Turbine’s title went into cash-shop-freemium mode this past September, the dungeon crawler saw an enormous revival both in players and revenue. Since then, Turbine has added yet another server, and has seen increases in revenue in the triple digits.
This fall, not to be out of line with a few other developers, Turbine is taking back Dungeons and Dragons Online in Europe, from the current publisher Codemasters (this is not the first time Codemasters has lost their rights to an MMO), where the title will be reworked and re-released under the Eberron Unlimited title. I don’t think many people should be surprised at this, given the recent introduction of Warner Bros. into the workplace, as well as Europe’s transition being in the cards for some time now.
Turbine is promising that the transition will go as smoothly as possible, hopefully even more smoothly since the transition has already happened once. Dungeons and Dragons Online is currently the third most played MMO in the US, according to NPD Group.
More on Dungeons and Dragons Online as it appears.
MMO Fallout 