One day I hope to go to E3, maybe when MMO Fallout becomes more popular than the single person reading this article (that would be you). As with every week, I open up with a question: If you wrote a blog like this, at what point do you throw up your hands and say “this isn’t a matter of a company making bad decisions, we’re getting into fraud territory here.” If you’re still wondering, I’m referring to the recent mishap of Star Vault double and triple billing some customers, which lead to me giving serious thought to removing Mortal Online from the list, and warning any potential buyers. My reason was that the whole event brought me back to Mourning, especially seeing Star Vault’s apparent arrogance in the response. Not even an “I’m sorry,” a functionally irrelevant message, but one that could ease an angry soon-to-be-ex-customer.

So I did not remove Mortal Online, although much like with Mythic Entertainment, I’m keeping the articles on the table.

1. I Love You, Hellgate!

I love Hellgate, I’ve given no doubt about that in the past. The game brings me back to the days of Diablo, yet manages to incorporate swords, magic, and guns into a game that is very fun to play. Since us in the west lost Hellgate, the game has also seen the release of Hellgate Tokyo, and a major trove of content updates and upgrades. Luckily, the closed beta wasn’t really closed. Players had the chance of clicking on a button on Hellgate’s website with a 50-50 chance, yet I did not see a single person who was denied access through that button.

The beta was short, too. Cut the first day out because of server outages, and the beta lasted only the weekend. I couldn’t go back to the single player (I own the game from when it was live, and I already had the game installed), not enough Russian players not speaking English just to annoy the players and community managers. The website has “open beta test coming soon” plastered on the top of the forums, so the only remaining factor is how soon is soon. I’ve got a fever, and the only cure is more Hellgate.

2. Defiance Invokes Thoughts Of Tabula Rasa and The Matrix Online

Trion and Syfy are teaming up to create the MMO third person shooter Defiance, that will run side by side with the television show. I am a little concerned that Defiance will wind up in the same hole as another MMO-television tie-in that went horribly. My worry is that the game will be delayed long enough that the whole connectivity is lost, and players will see about as much interaction between the two as Star Wars Galaxies has on the original trilogy.

Still, I do like the idea of a third person shooter MMO, as an estranged player of Tabula Rasa from launch to shutdown, and Trion has already shown their abilities with Rift, so the future looks bright for Defiance.

3. DUST 514 Just Keeps Getting More Interesting

CCP’s upcoming shooter has always fascinated me, and not just because it is the first game that promises to seamlessly connect a PC MMO and a console first person shooter. Not exactly cross-console gaming, but as close as it gets for such a genre crossover. What also intrigues me is how the communities will connect, the hope of fostering a console game where players are expected to be just like the PC counterparts, or as Dr. Cox on scrubs would describe them, “bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.” This is present even in a previous trailer where the ships above, locked in battle, decide to renege on a contract and instead obliterate the entire playfield from above. This will lead to console mercenaries having to decide between a possible huge sum, and the possibility that the Eve players will betray them (if that is indeed a possibility). Hopefully DUST will foster an environment where betrayal is present, but at the same time does not sweep over the game, otherwise the population will drop like a stone. Wolves need sheep to survive, and without sheep they will cannibalize one another until there is no one left.

I want to say I’m surprised by DUST being a Playstation 3 exclusive, but I’m not. Considering the environment DUST is set in (close connection with PC game outside of Microsoft’s control, regular updates to match the growing battlefield and changing territorial ownership, connection to third party servers, etc), I had no doubt from day one that DUST and Microsoft wouldn’t get along. So although I have no confirmation of my hunch, I find it likely that this is another incompatible game with Microsoft’s very strict policies over Live.

4. Let’s Talk About Our Final Fantasy

I know this annoys the Square Enix trolls, so I try to get in as much talk about Final Fantasy XIV as possible. Last time, I mentioned by admiration for Square Enix’s willingness to say “we’re not willing to let a failed launch set the stage for the game.” In the upcoming updates, Square Enix plans to make major changes to the combat system, starting with the introduction of auto-attack. With this update brings the removal of the stamina gauge, whereas effects dependent on the stamina gauge will be changed to reflect this update.

Among the other major changes is the removal of physical levels, altering of job names, and more introduction of notorious monsters, quests, and more. Then the game can work on smaller issues, like the holiday events being the same exact thing: (go to area once every 8 hours, collect items).

5. I Can’t Wait To Play For Free…I Mean Beta Test…

I was surprised when Bioware announced that there will be no open beta for The Old Republic. For a game looking to hit the public spotlight as much as Bioware is, not having a glorified broken free trial before launch seems almost suicidal. Hopefully this means Bioware has their servers figured out and don’t need a stress test for launch (please, contain your chortling). For what it’s worth, open betas are essentially demos of a not yet finished product. While a very small number of the population are there to test the game and give feedback, they are overshadowed by players looking to get a head start in finding bugs to exploit once the game goes live, and free loaders who just want a chance to play a AAA MMO without having to pay the subscription + box fee.

I have to laugh when people complain about betas being nothing more than glorified demos, as they’re generally the ones who will then get in-game and complain that certain features are broken.