Editorials – Page 130

Aion Is Still Adding Classes

Holy cow, NCSoft, have you considered taking a vacation? Most MMOs are content with adding a new class in once every few years, assuming they do so at all, but Aion clearly isn’t most MMOs. Aion 4.0 brought with it two new classes, the gunslinger and songweaver, the first new classes introduced in four years. The upcoming 4.5 launch for Aion will introduce yet another class, the aethertech. Not debuting on the Korean test servers until July 29th, the Aethertech uses his fists to form a number of different weapons, and is a giant hulking mech.

What’s next for NCSoft and Aion? I’m thinking a Sharknado class.

(Source: Aion)

MMOrning Shots: Champions Tronline

Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Perfect World Entertainment, and shows a piece of the new story arc hitting Champions Online, FATAL ERROR. Players are tasked with saving the world’s supercomputer from being hacked, I can only assume by a subsection of comic-book rendered neckbeards living in their mother’s basement. Episode 1: Intranet Deployment, has launched on the live servers allowing players to dive in and grab some exclusive gear and even a vanity action figure, as well as Questionite ore.

Intranet Deployment acts as a daily instance/mission. You can check out the announcement page at the link below.

(Goto: Champions Online)

Planetside 2 Cancels Pay to Win Implants

If criticism had a physical manifestation, John Smedley would be coming home with a broken nose and a black eye after today’s ordeal. Planetside 2 was gearing up for Game Update 13, which was set to implement a form of the implant system that original Planetside players should be familiar with. Implants are consumable items that last just a few hours and are single-use. They are powerful in nature and allow for protection against grenades, increases range, regenerate health, reduce damage, and makes the wearer undetectable. Sounds great, right up until the point where SOE took a hard left in their truck, slammed through the guard rail, and landed in an orphanage.

The problem? The implants, at least from what players knew, seemed somewhere between overpowered and unbalanced. Factor in that they would be purchased with certs/station cash and not infantry resources gained through playing the game, and you have a nice setup to turn Planetside 2 into a game where only those willing to pony up some cash have a snowball’s chance in hell of living long enough to accomplish anything. The community responded to the announced update with a resounding “absolutely not,” and John Smedley later announced via Twitter that implants would be removed from GU13 and sent back to the drawing board.

We look forward to seeing how Sony will reintegrate implants, assuming the update doesn’t die in the workshop.

(Source: Twitter)

Jagex Expanding Into Latin America

Good news, Latin American Scapers! Jagex has announced today that the UK developer has plans to expand RuneScape into Latin America by launching the upcoming RuneScape 3 in Spanish. By partnering with Axeso5, RuneScape 3 will be launched in Argentina, Peru, Mexico, Chile, Columbia, Venezuela, and a number of other countries with fully localized support and community events headed up by Axeso5. Chief Marketing Officer David Solari had the following to say about the announcement:

“The gaming market is an area of ongoing growth across Latin America and we are now in a position where we feel RuneScape 3 is the perfect offering for this market, due to its accessibility and rich game experience. RuneScape has captivated players around the world for the past 12 years and we look forward to welcoming Latin America players into our global family.”

RuneScape 3 launches on July 22nd.

(Source: Jagex Press Release)

Massive Action Game Shuts Down 1/28/14

In all honesty, the incoming demise of Massive Action Game has been written on the walls ever since it descended to the sub-bargain bin of Gamestop where the representative gives you the choice between a free copy of the game or being shot in the chest with a pistol. In fact, you can currently pick the game up used for less than the price of a dollar menu item. Oh, and there is the minor detail that players have been unable to purchase DLC for several months, with Global PSN customer support telling them that MAG is a discontinued product and no longer for sale via the PlayStation Store. So it comes as no surprise that Sony unceremoniously announced via Twitter that the MAG servers will be brought down forever this coming January.

Advisory: Online multiplayer services for MAG, SOCOM Confrontation, and SOCOM 4 will be ending on 01/28/14

Given its 100% reliance on multiplayer, MAG as a game will be completely unplayable come next year, assuming you hadn’t already relegated the disc to coaster status by this point.

(Source: Twitter)

RuneScape 3 Launching In Java Only, Initially

RuneScape 3 launches on July 22nd, bringing with it a brand new interface system, audio system and music, upgraded camera, seasonal highscores, and the Battle for Lumbridge update. The HTML5, however, will remain in beta for several more months to continue working out kinks and to get the system ready for a wider audience. It will still be possible to play the live game through the HTML client until that time, however it will be considered in beta and issues may lead to potential crashes and item loss if not careful

The HTML5 beta is best played in Google Chrome and you’ll need to play on a reasonably new, high-spec computer. If you’re experiencing low frame-rate and unreliable performance, update your graphics drivers. We can’t overstate the importance of this – HTML5 is at the cutting edge of web technology, and graphics card manufacturers have only recently begun optimising their drivers for it.

Jagex recommends that players stick with the Java version of the game for now, as well as testing the HTML5 client to offer feedback in improvements and bugs. Alternatively you can check out our gameplay video of the New Interface beta from earlier today (7/16).

(Source: RuneScape)

Kartuga Is Dead: InnoGames Shutting It Down

In the line of quality, the MMO Kartuga ranks on InnoGame’s list somewhere between “good enough to monetize” but below “good enough to finish development.” Sure, Kartuga was already asking for money, but that doesn’t mean that its publishers have any plans to see it through to completion. You should know this by now, stalwart MMO gamers. Kartuga joins the growing list of MMOs being shut down mid-beta due to a sudden realization that the game isn’t up to par, or due to changes in direction. In this case, InnoGames has decided to focus on cross-platform games and did not consider Kartuga worth the investment to continue developing.

The game offers stunning graphics and intriguing PvP with great potential, but we came to the conclusion that Kartuga does not live up to the high standards of quality we strive for. Moreover, the game does not fit into our strategy of cross-platform games. We believe that the time and work that would be needed in order to improve the game would have delayed our attempts to create truly great cross-platform-games, and whether or not all issues could be fixed in a timely manner is uncertain.

InnoGames will not be offering any form of compensation or refund for players who feel their money may have been wasted on this endeavor, however unspent gems can be exchanged for other InnoGames products until August 14th.

(Source: InnoGames)

See RuneScape's NPC History

RuneScape has been up and running for well over a decade, long enough for the NPCs in the game to undergo several graphical upgrades and revisions to their looks as the game progressed from a project by one guy in his basement to one of the largest MMOs in the world. Some of you may remember the old days when many of the creatures in RuneScape were essentially palette swipes of each other, the same dragons and demons copied and pasted with new colors and different names. As the company has grown and more resources were allotted, creatures have become more diversified.

If you’re interested in seeing what the old days looked like, or perhaps you just want a trip down memory lane, the unofficial RuneScape Wiki has a massive page with the old and the new.

(Source: RuneScape Wiki)

See RuneScape’s NPC History

If you’re interested in seeing what the old days looked like, or perhaps you just want a trip down memory lane, the unofficial RuneScape Wiki has a massive page with the old and the new.

(Source: RuneScape Wiki)

MMO Fallout Mentioned In LEGO Book

Some of you may remember back a billion years ago when I interviewed Stephen Calender about Lego Universe, back when MMO Fallout was an even tinier blip on the radar of the internet. Generally I assume that our old articles are lost to the deep recesses of history, not to mention the back pages of Google’s search ranking, only to be brought up when I feel like talking about them. Count me wrong, because not only did someone dig up the old interview, but they felt it pertinent enough to mention in a real life book. With pages!

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry is about how LEGO brought itself up from the brink of irrelevance to become one of the most successful toy companies ever. It also has a small mention to our interview with Stephen Calender, about the flaws in Lego Universe and the difficulty in getting rid of all of the bugs in a game.

Check it out at the link below.

(Source: Amazon)

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