Author: Admin

Bethesda Vs Interplay: In Plain English


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I know there are some avid Fallout Wiki readers who already know about this, but the rest of you might want to listen up. While the MMO community has had a good laugh over the past few months calling Fallen Earth the “Fallout MMO,” what many of them are not aware of is that there is indeed an MMO in development based on the Fallout Universe. When Bethesda bought out the Fallout franchise in 2007, they sub-licensed the rights to a Fallout MMO back to Interplay, on the agreement that Interplay would be in full development by April 2009.

April 2008: Interplay announces that Fallout Project V13 has entered production.
April 2009: Interplay announces that it will be working with Masthead Studios, who are currently working on Earthrise.
June 2009: Rumors surface that, due to the lack of productivity on Project V13, Interplay may have lost the Fallout MMO License.
September 2009: Bethesda is now suing Interplay for breach of agreement.

In plain English: Interplay sold the entire Fallout franchise to Bethesda with the agreement that Interplay would have the rights to develop a Fallout MMO. The terms of the contract stated that they had to gain funding and begin full development by April 2009, otherwise Interplay would lose the license and Bethesda would be free to make their own Fallout MMO. Despite some news over two years, Interplay was unable to procure either funding or proof of development, and as April has come and gone, Bethesda is playing the part of angry apartment owner, with Interplay being several years late on rent.

Interplay has had a rough time, going almost 60 million dollars in debt before doing massive restructuring and selling off much of their IP to get that money back. It would appear that a Fallout MMO will only happen under one of two circumstances. Either Interplay will hit be in full production, and the court will decide that they have fulfilled their side of the agreement, or Bethesda will win, gain the final puzzle piece of the Fallout IP and start work on their own MMO.

Which would you rather see? A Bethesda or an Interplay version of Fallout: The MMO?

Champions Online Q&A Feed


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Champions Online Live Q&A Transcript. More after the break.

Continue reading “Champions Online Q&A Feed”

Free Retcons for Everybody!


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I’ve talked a lot about the launch day patch for Champions Online, how it changed the game in a very dramatic fashion, making previously viable combat sets now obsolete and unusable. Originally, Cryptic allowed users who created their account during the head start to have a free respec, resetting their powers and allowing them to start fresh.

A patch today launched that will give all Champions Online users a free respec who created their characters before the 10th. Right now, the free respec was bugged, and therefore left out of the patch. Players can still obtain this free respec, until the UI bug is fixed, by typing /character_usefreerespec

http://www.champions-online.com/node/526341 The full list of patch notes.

Headstarts, Expansions, and Free to Play


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It’s a busy day today for MMOs. First off, those who preordered Fallen Earth will find that the headstart servers are now open for them to start roaming and utilizing those preorder bonuses before all the lazy people come in. Fallen Earth has been on my radar for quite some time now, not just because I was invited to the closed beta, but because it taught us a lot about false pretense. I’ll admit I was suckered into the idea that Fallen Earth would be an MMO take of Fallout 3, until I actually played the game and found that the two are different as day and night. Fallen Earth is a fully realized MMO set in a massive persistent world, with a unique system of crafting, leveling, and fighting. Those of you who did not preorder can dive into the live servers when the game fully launches on September 22nd, barring any future delays.

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Secondly, an oldie comes back for a rejuvination. Today, Dungeons and Dragons Online goes fully free to play, alongside the newest expansion: Eberron Unlimited. The level cap has been raised to 20, and free players have access to most content, with a number of classes, items, and other features paid for through the game’s VIP system. Grab your 20 sided dice, get your party ready, and go deep into this title today! No doubt MMO Fallout will be focusing more on Dungeons and Dragons Online, what with the ongoing lawsuit between Developer Turbine and Publisher Atari.

Stygian Abyss Ships! And Ultima Online 2?


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Despite being two years older than Everquest, Ultima Online can only boast half the number of expansion packs. That being said, EA reminds us of the continued investment they hold in the title with today’s release of Stygian Abyss, introducing a new race, new classes, new abilities, and an entirely new facet.

In an interview with Calvin Crowner, he had this to say about the possibility of a new Ultima Online:

Well, I can’t say just yet, but Mythic is always looking at our existing intellectual properties and discussing the best course of action for the franchises.

What do you think? Ultima Online 2 has been tried, and never made it through production. Should Mythic go through with a plan for Ultima 2, they will have to take a good hard look at who they’re going to market the game towards.

WoW: 10 More Years


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In a recent interview with Joystiq, J. Allen Brack (Lead Producer over at Blizzard) had this to say on the game’s longevity:

I have said, internally, and I think externally as well, that I fully expect WoW to be around for at least 10 more years.

Good news for anyone getting worried (IE: Borderline paranoia) about World of Warcraft shutting down. 10 more years? Hopefully by then World of Warcraft will have transferred over to a neural system beamed directly into our cerebral cortex so we can monitor real life with one eye while leveling to the 100 level cap, raiding, gaining tier 25 armor in the other.

I’ll see you all in 2019 to see where WoW is.

Did Champions Online Pull A Trammel?


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There’s a very specific reason I don’t do previews of MMOs while they are in open beta: Because the final product may be very different than what players are testing out for the developers. As a rule, I remind people to never preorder on the assumption that, when the game launches, it will be the same as it is now. The open beta is a perfect opportunity for testers to show exactly what needs to be changed, and changed it will be. Abilities get tweaked, some features get buffed, and yes some features get nerfed. MMOs are never a final product, and big changes should always be expected.

Continue reading “Did Champions Online Pull A Trammel?”

Fallen Earth: Delayed Again


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It seems like Fallen Earth LLC just can’t catch a break when it comes to server stability. What was originally supposed to be a September 9th release was pushed back last month to September 15th. Now, we have news that the title has been delayed again, to September 22nd, to deal with varying launch difficulties.

“Our main focus is to make sure that Fallen Earth is easily accessible to as many fans as possible,” said Jessica Orr, product manager for Fallen Earth. “We are working on initiatives that are near fruition and we simply need more time.”

Luckily for those of you who preordered, this means you will receive an extra six days on to your head start; The newest delay has not affected the head start.

Some Thoughts: After two delays, Fallen Earth LLC can expect an uproar if this launch goes badly (IE: Server crashes, obvious bugs, etc). It’s good to see a company that is willing to push back a product, and potentially lose customers, to ensure that their product will be ready on time, but some will see the developers as possibly pushing development too close to the line, making optimizations and fixing issues that should have been fixed long before the game went gold.

Interested in seeing how Fallen Earth will perform when it launches this September 22nd.

Codemasters Loses Archlord Rights


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Just as I’m talking about the battle over the future of Dungeons and Dragons online, here comes news from another sector of the internet: Codemasters has lost their rights to operate the MMO Archlord in the United States and Europe. Instead, the servers will shut down on October 1st, only to be reopened a couple days later by the new host, Webzen.

As far as MMOs go, Archlord in the west was the MMO that never was, isn’t, and never will be. The game by itself received unfavorable reviews, with Gamespot summing it up in two words: Dull and repetitive. The title was smashed for its countless hours of dull grind, with little reward, in a world that often seemed to be populated only by yourself. It isn’t any surprise that it took only ten months after release for Archlord to ditch the subscription rate, and go completely free to play, ala Guild Wars. Nowadays Archlord is described as “empty and full of bots.”

What caught my attention was, in every location I found discussion on Archlord, the discussion regularly turned to one factor: Corruption from Codemasters. Shady bans and a response along the lines you would expect from your local Wal Mart or Mcdonalds. Players being conveniently banned after spending large sums of cash on the in-game currency (Archlord kept its microtransaction service), and more. According to some of my sources, this activity is almost a mirror image of RF Online, another MMO published by Codemasters in the west.

This may not be the end for Codemasters driving MMOs into the ground. According to several of my sources, Turbine is looking to bring their MMOs home, meaning Codemasters may lose its European publishing rights to Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons and Dragons Online.

If you have any dealings with Codemasters on LOTRO, DDO, RF Online, or the soon to be murdered and then resurrected Archlord, please drop us a comment.

Lord Of The Rings Online: Still Kicking


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Turbine has a modest list of titles, three to be exact (Asheron’s Call, Dungeons and Dragons, and Lord of the Rings), but I have no doubt that Turbine has a vested interest in all of their products (as long as you don’t bring up Asheron’s Call 2). Even Asheron’s Call, that hits a decade old this year, still receives updates regularly.

So I’m glad to see Turbine is bringing about the epic conclusion to Volume 2 in Lord of the Rings Online, with the upcoming expansion: Siege of Mirkwood. Turbine isn’t just looking for the normal increased level cap, new areas, new items, and balances, oh no. Siege of Mirkwood is expected to bring in a new skirmish mechanic, that allows players to run customizable soldiers through randomized instances, leveling them up as they go along.

Those of you who know Turbine will know that they do PvE, and they do it well. Whether Lord of the Rings or Dungeons and Dragons, any player who delves deep into the story will be asking themselves, “What PvP?”

Siege of Mirkwood is launching as a paid expansion this fall. If you’re interested in diving into the existing game, LOTRO costs ten dollars USD a month, only two thirds the cost of most mainstream MMOs