Black Desert (PS4) Patches In Awakened Skills For Tamer/Striker


Are you ready to get awoke?

Pearl Abyss today announced the release of awakened skills for the Tamer and Striker class on Playstation 4’s Black Desert.

Striker Awakened Skills

  • Echo Spirit – Summon the Striker’s spiritual alter-ego to bring down the apocalypse onto enemies.
  • Infernal Destruction – Bring down enemies with a leg-sweep followed by a powerful punch.
  • Skull Crusher – Spin in the air and and use the momentum to knock enemies down with a downward kick.
  • Rampaging Predator – Relentlessly chase down enemies and unleash a flurry of attacks.

Tamer Awakened Skills

  • Allround Spinner – Spins the Celestial Bo Staff around, striking enemies from all directions.
  • Legendary Beast Dance – Channel the spirits of the four legendary beasts through your Celestial Bow Staff to perform different attacks on your enemies.
  • Flow: Cloud Ride – Using the Celestial Bo Staff, Tamer launches herself forwards dealing damage and knocking enemies down.

Today’s update also introduces fairy companions to assist players as well as two new world bosses.

Black Desert is currently on sale as part of the Double Discount sale on PSN.

Industry Veteran Brad Mcquaid Has Passed Away


The industry has come together to give its final farewell to Brad Mcquaid who passed away in his home this week. He was 51 years old.

Mcquaid’s passing was made public by his coworkers at Visionary Realms on Twitter today.

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Brad Mcquaid has had a long history in the gaming industry dating back to the late 80’s. His impact on the MMORPG field can be seen with his work in Everquest and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes. Mcquaid left Sony Online Entertainment and went on to become Chief Creative Officer at Visionary Realms working on the MMO Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen.

Mcquaid is the second veteran developer from Sony Online Entertainment to pass away this week as just a couple days ago Matt McDonald also passed away.

Stadia Is Here: Launch Day Price Lineup


Google Stadia is officially here and that means its time to break out those wallets.

MMO Fallout has painstakingly jotted down the full list of prices for launch day titles on Stadia including those that are on sale for pro members (note: All founders are pro members for the next three months). Check out the list below and rev up those “I can’t believe they’re selling that for that much” comments.

  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Stadia Season Pass: $39.99 (Pro: $20)
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – Stadia Ultimate Edition: $119.99 (Pro: $60)
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey – $59.99 (Pro: $30)
  • Attack on Titan 2: Final Battle – $59.99
  • Destiny 2: The Collection – Free
  • Farming Simulator 19 – $39.99
  • Farming Simulator 19 Platinum Edition – $49.99
  • Final Fantasy XV: $39.99 (Pro: $30)
  • Football Manager 2020 – $49.99
  • GRID – $59.99
  • GRID Ultimate Edition – $84.99
  • GYLT – $29.99
  • Just Dance 2020 – $49.99
  • Kine – $19.99
  • Metro Exodus: $39.99 (Pro: $29.99)
  • Metro Exodus – Gold Edition: $64.99 (Pro: $29.25)
  • Metro Exodus – The Two Colonels: $7.99 (Pro: $5.59)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 – $59.99 (Pro: $41.99)
  • Mortal Kombat 11 Premium Edition – $89.99 (Pro: $62.99)
  • NBA 2K20 – $59.99 (Pro: $30)
  • NBA 2K20 Digital Deluxe – $79.99 (Pro: $40)
  • NBA 2K20 Legend Edition – $99.99 (Pro: $50)
  • Rage 2 – $59.99
  • Rage 2: Digital Deluxe – $79.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Special Edition – $79.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Ultimate Edition – $99.99
  • Red Dead Redemption 2 Launch Edition – $59.99
  • Rise of the Tomb Raider 20 Year Celebration – $29.99
  • Samurai Shodown – Free
  • Shadow of the Tomb Raider Definitive Edition – $59.99
  • Thumper – $19.99
  • Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition – $19.99 (Pro: $10)1
  • Trials Rising – $24.99
  • Trials Rising Digital Gold Edition – $39.99
  • Wolfenstein: Youngblood – $29.99

Mobility: Maplestory M and Re:Zero Crossover Event Goes Live


Maplestory M’s first crossover event is now available and brings in characters from the Re:Zero universe. Starting today, players will be able to complete a series of events to acquire special Re:Zero themed items.

In addition, exclusive items will be available in the cash shop during the course of the event.

RuneScape: Yak Tracks, Premier Club, Double Experience


RuneScape; it’s a game where you scape runes. There’s a bunch of stuff coming to RuneScape in the next week or so and MMO Fallout is here to detail them on another website.

First up is an update on activity pets. At the end of October Jagex launched a poll asking people for their opinions on which activity pets (pets obtained through activities) they would like to see added into the game. The verdict? People would rather not see them at all.

“While these opinions aren’t necessarily shared by everyone, we were still surprised about the number of negative posts.”

While not cancelled entirely, the number of activity pets has been reduced from six to three plus a Runescore (achievement score) pet.

Second up on the docket is the Yak Track. Yak Track is another rendition of the season pass formula and appears to be exclusive to the Premier Club membership. The Yak Track launched on November 25 and will task players with completing a variety of tasks in return for cosmetic rewards.

“We’re really confident that we’ve packed a huge amount of value into Yak Track. In fact, if you’re a Premier Club member and you make your way along the whole track, you’ll receive a whopping 33 cosmetics including four pets, three outfits, six animation overrides and 15 weapons!”

And speaking of Premier Club, it’s back! The top tier of the Premier Club runs for $89.99 this year and includes a year’s membership, 150,000 loyalty points, 1 additional key daily, 3 Premier Club tokens, 50% discount on Runemetrics, the premier artifact, and more. For more information, check out the official website.

And finally, another double experience weekend kicks off this week. Instead of cramming you into a two or three day window, Jagex is giving players 36 hours of double experience spread out to your leisure over the course of ten days.

Double XP Weekend: Extended is designed to be a lot more relaxing than before. This time you’re all going to be able to maximise every one of the precious Double XP hours but without the worry of cramming it all into a single weekend. Instead, Double XP Weekend: Extended will offer 36 hours of Double XP goodness but spread over the course of 10 days! That’s seven extra days!”

Simply log in after November 22 and you can use your 36 hours at your convenience, as long as it’s within ten days.

Google Stadia Starts Shipping Today, And Early Coverage


Google Stadia is here, by which I mean the first units are starting to ship out. Will MMO Fallout have an early review? No, those are for people who probably asked for them. Me I prefer to sit in the bleachers with the crowd and heckle from a distance.

Are you ready to pay extra and monthly for early access to a system that might not be here in a couple of years? Early reviews are out for the Stadia and the impressions are pretty much in line with everyone’s level headed skepticism about Stadia. It’s not great. On the plus side, Google announced that the launch lineup would basically double last night.

  • The Verge’s Sean Hollister says “I’d happily keep playing if I wasn’t already spoiled.”
  • Polygon’s Chris Plante says “It lacks far too many of the basic features we’ve come to take for granted in our consoles and streaming services.”
  • Alex Hern over at The Guardian says “Only once did I experience anything that looked like lag (when sending a picture message to my partner); every other time, it was perfect.”
  • Wired’s Jess Grey notes “If Google has its way, PC and console gaming are about to become more accessible to millions of users, and that’s an incredible feat no matter how you slice it. But as always, there’s a catch.”
  • VentureBeat’s Jeff Grub says “For me, this is a win for Google. The technology works. Or, at least, it can work, and it does so consistently for me. So I can see myself playing games like this in the future.”
  • CNET’s Scott Stein says “It’s weird that the Stadia interface — clean and clear-cut like the gaming equivalent of a Netflix or Apple TV — shows titles you already own, but you have to go to the Stadia phone app to buy more.”

A couple of reviews have posted prices for Stadia games and boy are they not cheap.

MMO Fallout will have coverage of the Stadia launch probably tomorrow because I pre-ordered the founder’s edition back on day one and my unit just shipped this morning. Why? I’ll give you an explanation once I’ve justified it to myself.

Netmarble Posts $72.9 Million In Quarterly Profit


Netmarble; you know them from Lineage II Revolution and Marvel Future Fight among other things.

This week Netmarble posted their third quarter financial documents and the results are pretty good. Company sales amounted to $533.5 million resulting in $72.6 million in operating profit and $72.9 million in net profit over the quarter spanning July to September. Quarterly sales increased 17% over last year while net profit increased 53.7% compared to the same time in 2018.

“Netmarble had significant increases in both sales and operating profit in Q3, reflecting both domestic and overseas performances of new games launched in Q2”, said Young-sig Kwon, CEO of Netmarble. He added, “At G-Star 2019, we unveiled the highly anticipated new game titles ‘Seven Knights Revolution’ and ‘Ni no Kuni: CROSS WORLDS’ for the first time and introduced ‘A3: STILL ALIVE’ and ‘Magic: ManaStrike”

Netmarble’s big revenue machines are Marvel Contest of Champions and Lineage II Revolution each pulling 14% of the company’s total sales. Upcoming titles include Magic: ManaStrike, A3: STILL ALIVE, Seven Knights Revolution, and Ni no Kuni: CROSS WORLDS.

Source: Press Release

Obsidian Entertainment Unveils Grounded


Honey I Shrunk The Kids hits the video game market (not really) as Obsidian Entertainment unveiled its next title: Grounded.

Grounded is a survival first person shooter where you play as one of a group of kids who have inexplicably been shrunk to the size of an ant. You and up to three other players are going to need to build items out of ordinary materials and live off the land if you are going to have any hope of surviving. No word yet on giant oatmeal cream pies.

“Grounded offers our unique take on survival games, creating an unforgettable experience,” said Adam Brennecke, Game Director at Obsidian Entertainment. “It’s a perfect setting to flex our creative muscles. We want to create a versatile sandbox where players can create their own memorable experiences.”

Grounded will come out in Spring 2020 and will be the first early access game to be made available to Game Pass owners. Obsidian Entertainment is currently riding high from the recent release of the fantastic The Outer Worlds.

Source: Press Release

Old School RuneScape Launches Twisted League


Get those peppercorns out, because it’s time to grind.

Jagex today has released the latest game mode for Old School RuneScape in the form of the Twisted League. Twisted League is a temporary game mode that throws players on an ironman character and locks them to the land of Kourend and Kebos (main world not accessible). Ironman of course means no trading, no picking up others drops, and no auction house. To assist players in this temporary league, base experience is increased by 5x and shops will carry more items and restock at an accelerated rate.

So what is the point of the League? As you complete tasks you gain points that can be used to unlock powerful buffs from a relic such as infinite run energy. Cosmetic items can be unlocked in the main game based on your performance in the league, and future leagues will have exclusive worlds that can be visited based on your performance in prior leagues. Otherwise, it’s all about the prestige.

For more information on Twisted League, check out the official website.

[Video] Pearl Abyss Drops Four Trailers For Four Games


Pearl Abyss today dropped four trailers for four upcoming titles.

The first trailer is for Plan 8 which is billed as an exosuit MMO shooter.

Next up is DokeV, a rather crazy looking creature-collecting MMORPG.

Third is Crimson Desert which by contrast looks to be a very dark and gritty MMORPG

And last but not least is Shadow Arena, which is actually a standalone version of the cancelled Black Desert Online battle royale mode.