Category: Editorials

Mindless, But Wealthy, Drones: Battleground Europe Edition


If only...

For those of you who haven’t heard of Battleground Europe, it is widely regarded as the first MMOFPS in history, released in 2001 and is still running to this day. As someone who played Battleground Europe back when it was still just WWII Online, I have to say the quality of the title was unmatched, both in the implementation and the sheer force that the allies and axis threw upon one another in massive fields, towns, and cities, experiencing everything from raids to enormous bombing runs.

And as any MMO goes, Battleground Europe peaked, and began its dip into the game that exists today: A game that is even more barren and lifeless than its successor in the field, Planetside. I guess you could say the main difference between Planetside and Battleground Europe at the moment is that Planetside at least was successful enough to spawn a sequel.

But this article isn’t about making fun of Cornered Rat Software, or their near-comatose game. Unbeknownst to me, and 99% of the gaming community, the guys at CRS have been upping the funding lately, with the Builder’s Program (private investment) and through the increase in the base subscription price to $17.99 a month. Sure you can subscribe for three months and bring that price down, but we’re talking about the base entrance price for a monthly fee.

There is nothing to be worried about, like the game tanking, however. If the posts on the related threads are anything to go off of, Cornered Rats has quite a number of players willing to pay for subscriptions, often on multiple accounts, as a “donation,” despite not even playing the game. That must be nice for the folks at CRS, having people who expect literally nothing out of you, and are willing to pay you for just that. I also witnessed posters claiming that they hated the change in subscription, but would continue paying the price just to stop any snowballing of people leaving.

Whether or not World War II Online is a good shooter is irrelevant to the fact that not only will free trial players be walking into a dearth of population, but then they’ll be enticed with a cost higher than any triple-a MMO on the market. And the drones on the Battleground Europe forums can throw inflation and costs of development as much as they want. $15 is less funding than $17.99, but $0 and a disgruntled customer who isn’t coming back is far, far worse.

If you’re going to ask for higher prices, you’d better have something to offer that meets that increase. Games far more successful and independent companies far smaller than Cornered Rats have gone more years without raising their subscription price, or putting payment plans into effect with termination fees. So please, don’t try to play this off as a special case. It isn’t, and you aren’t.

Dungeons and Dragons Online Returning To Europe


Just replace September with March.

It’s been a surprisingly long time since I’ve had an opportunity to write about Dungeons and Dragons Online (since last June, actually). Those of you who play or follow Dungeons and Dragons Online may remember Turbine’s announcement last year that they would be taking back Dungeons and Dragons from Codemasters. Codemasters, who was operating the MMO in Europe, was still operating under the subscription system. Due to contractual issues, Turbine ended up canning the game’s operation in Europe altogether, and players were instead transferred over to US based servers.

Luckily, however, Turbine is bringing the game back to Europe, with support for German and French language. The current estimate is “2011,” for release. MMO Fallout will bring you more information as it appears. Players who transferred over to the North American service can likely expect their accounts to be transferable to the European service when it does launch.

Star Trek Online: No More Standard Edition


He's dead, Jim.

At least one of you read the Where To Buy page in the past few days and noticed just one issue with Star Trek Online:

Purchase On:

  • Standard Edition
    • Amazon (unavailable)
    • Direct2Drive (unavailable)
    • Gamersgate (unavailable)
    • Impulsedriven (unavailable)
    • Steam (unavailable)
  • Digital Deluxe

I quickly sent an email to Cryptic as to why the standard edition of the game has been removed from every digital distribution source, and received the following in response:

“Since we lowered the prices on the digital deluxe and are happy to offer the DDE value to any customer, removing the standard seemed reasonable, as there’s no compelling reason to confuse customers with two digital SKUs that are pretty much priced the same. I guess another way of thinking about it is that the DDE now becomes the standard, only it grants more perks – we’re giving anyone who buys STO digitally that value..”

So the Digital Deluxe edition is becoming standard, and the standard edition is being retired. At $14.95, the deluxe edition is the price of a month’s subscription anyway. Thank you to Ivan Sulic from Cryptic for the quick response.

Everquest Reactivation Campaign


Fippy Darkpaw

Damn you, Sony! With the impending release of the Everquest progression server, people like myself are no doubt trying their hardest not to resubscribe just to try the game out one more time, a feat that (at least I am finding) is proving hard to keep up. And much like the insensitive alcoholic who shows up at your one year of sobriety celebration with a case of beer, willingly shoveling your addiction right underneath your nose, Sony is ensuring that those of us on the fence will be knocked right off with a brick to the septum.

If you log into your Station accounts, some of you may find that your Everquest accounts have been reactivated until the 21st of February, just long enough to get a good week in with the progression server. Not all accounts appear to be affected by this, and I am unable to pinpoint exactly what the prerequisites are for the reactivation. If your account shows as “pending,” then you will be able to log in until the 21st.

So thank you, Sony. While you’re at it, can you spot me twenty bucks for Cool Ranch Doritos and a couple gallons of Sweet Tea? I’m going to need them.

Oorak Two-Horned


Some people don’t like the nudity aspect of Mortal Online, while others don’t mind it. While the Risar (Orcs) continue taking over the land of Nave, you would think players would be focusing on fighting back rather than admiring Oorak’s alien muscle structure, one particular part of his muscle structure.

Of course, this is just a matter of penis…I mean, opinion. And to think, he told me it was another arm.

Undead Labs: Class3 on 360, Your MMO Not So Much…


Class 3

Undead Labs is on the MMO Fallout list of “Developers We’d Like To See Succeed,” and not just because they are promising us a zombie MMO, although that reason covers the basic essentials. Thanks to a publishing deal with Microsoft, Undead Labs is taking the Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment route by first creating a zombie game on Xbox Live Arcade, that will set up the story and structure that their zombie MMO will be built around. While Class 3 will start out as an open world third person action title, Undead Labs will be inching the IP closer to MMO territory.

Although Class 3 will be an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive title, I want to make it very plain and clear that Xbox users should not put a lot of faith in Undead Labs’ MMO similarly appearing on the system. Microsoft may be publishing this title, but the company has a long history of snuffing out MMOs from much bigger companies. Age of Conan, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Final Fantasy XIV are just a few of the titles that were slated for release on the 360, but pushed back into oblivion or outright canned as a result of Microsoft’s interference.

The issues with an MMO on the 360 are quite simple, once you understand Microsoft’s system for their online games. Releasing regular patches is difficult, as Microsoft has to certify every update. The MMOs take up a lot of bandwidth that would go through Xbox Live’s servers, and most of the companies expect Microsoft to open their MMOs up to silver members, because who wants to pay for internet + Xbox Live + subscription fees just to play an MMO? The Xbox360 version of Final Fantasy XI is playable on a silver account, and even Square has admitted in the past that FFXI only made it onto the console because Live was in its infancy at the time, and that the company does not expect similar results for FFXIV.

So if Undead Labs does get around to making their MMO (rather than finding Live Arcade games a more feasible form of income, which it likely is), expect it to pop up on the PC and possibly the PS3. If their MMO does appear on the 360, it won’t be an MMO in the traditional sense of a persistent world. Microsoft would never allow it, although as publisher they may at least ensure that the title does not release on the PS3.

I stand by what I said last August.

As much as I hate to play the pessimist, those who are waiting out on a 360 version of Final Fantasy XIV might as well wait in line behind those still hoping for a console edition of Champions Online, Age of Conan, and Star Trek Online, who are standing right over there with the folk waiting for Duke Nukem Forever and the rapture.

…Ignore the Duke Nukem tidbit. Good thing I’m such an optimist, right?

If this pre-release hype doesn’t have you foaming at the mouth, you are likely a long-time MMO player and have heard this drivel a thousand times over. I have a theory that the bigger the company’s mouth is prior to release, the more disappointing the game is.

Oh. More on Undead Labs’ MMO as it appears.

Hellgate Isn’t Coming Back, Is It…


It's coming back...

You’ll remember that Hellgate: London, after the game’s launch and subsequent crash back to earth, was picked up in full by its Korean publisher Hanbitsoft. You may also remember that the game still runs to this day in Asia, under the aforementioned Hanbitsoft. In case this isn’t bringing up one single question, you may also remember that at one point Hanbitsoft announced that Hellgate: London would be returning to North America and Europe. Oh and that “plans are set to go in motion later this year…”

It was over one year ago that Hanbitsoft announced Hellgate: London was returning to the west, as a free to play title. One year of virtually no information or announcements from Hanbitsoft as to the status of this resurrection. Sure, people who purchased Hellgate can still play the single player, but who wants to play solo, a game that would be much more fun with someone to actually chat to?

Maybe I’m just being too optimistic when I say I’m still holding out for Hellgate Online to return, and I’m sure there are those with me who are inactively waiting it out. That being said, I can’t get this feeling out of my mind that Hanbitsoft has either forgotten about the game or has quietly shelved their resurrection idea in the west. I’d ask, but I need a Hanbitsoft account, and that requires a Korean SSID.

Hellgate Isn't Coming Back, Is It…


It's coming back...

You’ll remember that Hellgate: London, after the game’s launch and subsequent crash back to earth, was picked up in full by its Korean publisher Hanbitsoft. You may also remember that the game still runs to this day in Asia, under the aforementioned Hanbitsoft. In case this isn’t bringing up one single question, you may also remember that at one point Hanbitsoft announced that Hellgate: London would be returning to North America and Europe. Oh and that “plans are set to go in motion later this year…”

It was over one year ago that Hanbitsoft announced Hellgate: London was returning to the west, as a free to play title. One year of virtually no information or announcements from Hanbitsoft as to the status of this resurrection. Sure, people who purchased Hellgate can still play the single player, but who wants to play solo, a game that would be much more fun with someone to actually chat to?

Maybe I’m just being too optimistic when I say I’m still holding out for Hellgate Online to return, and I’m sure there are those with me who are inactively waiting it out. That being said, I can’t get this feeling out of my mind that Hanbitsoft has either forgotten about the game or has quietly shelved their resurrection idea in the west. I’d ask, but I need a Hanbitsoft account, and that requires a Korean SSID.

Final Fantasy XI No Longer Murdering Newbies


Xp Gains and More!

Alright, so murder isn’t quite the right word. More like Square Enix is no longer greeting new players by smashing their teeth in with a baseball bat, and force feeding them the aforementioned teeth. Final Fantasy XI launched in 2002, and after almost nine years of development and several expansion packs to boast, one of the biggest issues that the game faces is how absolutely overwhelmed new players are when they enter the world of  Vana’diel.

In the latest Final Fantasy XI news announcement, Square is implementing changes to the game’s battle system. In an effort to alleviate the long strain of grinding and lessen the load for players who prefer to go solo. In an upcoming patch, monsters will give experience that are of “decent challenge” rank will now give experience, and enemies of “even match” or higher will find their experience almost doubled. Upon defeat, players will also find that they rank up faster than before.

This won’t break up or remove incentive from groups, however. Rather, players will be enticed to group up to gain even better skill speed. The new system, however, allows more viability for those who either cannot find a group, or do not wish to group.

Depending on who you ask, Final Fantasy XI has enjoyed a bit of a jump in population since Final Fantasy XIV’s launch. You can find Final Fantasy XI for a decent price these days, about $10 for the ultimate collection on Steam or Direct2Drive.

Progressing Through Everquest On Fippy Darkpaw


Fippy Darkpaw

Everquest doesn’t have what you would call “sexy” graphics, so to speak, although throughout the past twelve years the game has always had a certain kind of charm to it that keeps us going back every year or so. When you take a game as old as Everquest, undoubtedly there are players who missed the first two, four, six, eight, or even ten years of development, leaving them with numerous questions. What were corpse runs like? A dangerous world.

Fippy Darkpaw is something of a running joke in Everquest, literally. He spawns outside of North Qeynos, where he shouted his threat of death, and charged headlong into a group of guards much, much higher level than him. Later on in the game, players can take part in a raid at level 85 that involves killing Fippy Darkpaw, who is much higher level and more dangerous than his Qeynos counterpart.

Why bring up Fippy? Because that is the name of the Everquest Timed Progression Server that will be launching this month. Fippy Darkpaw, the new server, will be going up February 15th, and refreshes everything in Everquest back to how it was at launch. No expansions, no updates, nothing. After certain achievements are performed, Sony will open up voting in-game for the next expansion. If the majority vote yes, the next expansion will launch with its appropriate content. If they vote no, the server will remain on that expansion for another week or so, and the voting will commence again.

In the past, progression servers on Everquest have been quite successful. If you don’t own Everquest, or are missing out on some expansions, you can check out the Where To Buy page (located at the top) and find it on sale on Steam or Direct2Drive. See you in the server on the 15th!