Today’s video comes to us from Neowiz and shows off some of the features coming with the upcoming console spinoff Bless Unleashed.
There is an upcoming beta test for Bless Unleashed coming on Thursday July 11 at 10 a.m. pst running until Monday July 15. The beta will be available for preload on July 10.
Jagex has thrown out a poll after only two days after Old School RuneScape players overwhelmingly rejected the company’s proposal for partnership-integrated items.
The poll went up on July 3 and contained over 20 questions asking players if they would approve of various items from emotes to skin colors and teleport animations being added in as partnership perks (such as RuneScape’s Twitch Prime items) with the items being released afterward to the general public, and the community answered with an overwhelming no. Old School RuneScape polls the vast majority of its content updates to the community. Each poll runs for one week and requires at least 75% approval in order to be added into the game.
For this poll, Jagex decided to cancel it after two days as virtually all of the questions had at least 70% disapproval.
Source: RuneScape
G2A; it’s a website whose very mention here at MMO Fallout will cause some developers to stop communicating with me.
You may be familiar with G2A thanks to its reputation as the place that sells video games dirt cheap, but also as a place that developers/publishers hate because the whole key reselling world is kind of unregulated and open to problems related to fraud. There have been a lot of accusations leveled against G2A in the past for facilitating and profiting off of credit fraud, people buying game keys from devs using stolen credit cards and then selling those keys for pure profit. As you’d expect for any company looking to protect its reputation, G2A has repeatedly denied all claims of malfeasance.
According to G2A, the overwhelming majority of their keys are sold by wholesalers, businesses who get their keys in large quantities from the publisher and sell at a good deal. In a blog post put up this week, the company announced that they are putting up an offer for developers: If you think your stolen keys are being sold on our store, get in touch. G2A will pay for independent auditing and if any stolen keys were sold on G2A, they will pay ten times the money they lost on chargebacks.
Let’s lay all cards on the table. We will pay developers 10 times the money they lost on chargebacks after their illegally obtained keys were sold on G2A. The idea is simple: developers just need to prove such a thing actually happened on their stores.
To assure honesty and transparency, we will ask a reputable and independent auditing company to make an unbiased examination of both sides – the developer’s store and G2A Marketplace. The cost of the first three audits is on us, every next one will be split 50/50.
The auditing company will check if any game keys sold on G2A were obtained using stolen credit cards on a developer’s store compliant with card scheme rules from Visa and Master Card/payment provider rules. If so, G2A guarantees it’ll pay all the money the developer lost on chargebacks… multiplied by 10.
I won’t go any further into the piece since I’ve no doubt been blocked on Twitter by about a dozen more indie game devs just by acknowledging that the blog post exists. You can read it at the link below and make up your own mind.
For the sake of preempting a few comments, I am reporting on this on my own volition and this piece was not sent to me by anyone.
Source: G2A
The next big update to RuneScape is on its way, in fact it is being released this coming Monday! In preparation for the update, Jagex has launched a dedicated website for Land Out Of Time where players can find more information on the coming update. Land Out Of Time is the latest expansion of RuneScape’s ongoing storyline. Players will sail to Anachronia, an island out of time. Build a base camp, hunt dangerous creatures including dinosaurs, and take part in an island-wide agility course.
Embark on a voyage of discovery to a long-forgotten land. Hunt down hulking beasts, traverse a treacherous landscape, slay dangerous new creatures and unearth ancient secrets previously lost to time.
Players are currently hard at work in-game building the ship that will take them to the island when the update goes live next week. Formerly referred to in-game as Kudos Island, Anachronia was first teased in RuneScape way back in 2007 with NPCs at the Varrok digsite beginning construction on a ship to take them to the island. It only took twelve years.
Way back in April Jagex announced an aggressive recruitment project that would see the company expanding by 25% over the course of the year. Today, Jagex has expanded on its recruitment by announcing multiple senior level hires starting with Melissa Bachman-Wood who is coming on as vice president of studio. Bachman-Wood brings over 20 years of industry experience to Jagex having started her career at Maxis, moving on to Electronic Arts to manage The Sims, and holding senior roles in Backbone Entertainment (360 ports of Genesis titles), KIXEYE (War Commander), and Jam City (Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery).
Melissa Bachman-Wood stated in the announcement:
“I’m thrilled to join the Jagex team and delighted for the chance to enable our teams to deliver even more great games to our players. I’m eager to help lead Studio strategy and execution to enable Jagex to excel in its ambition to be the home of living games, building out our world-class studio teams and processes.”
Jagex also took the time to announce the hiring of Malachy O’Neill (Nintendo Europe, EA, Zynga) to director of quality assurance, as well as James Burns (Playstation, Activision) as technical director of a currently unannounced action online role playing game, the return of Mark Faulkner as director of publishing platform, and the promotion of Ben Albon to IT director.
Source: Jagex Press Release
It’s been a tumultuous month for Ys Net and Epic Games. There have been several updates following the announcement that Shenmue III would be going Epic Store exclusive, and that gamers who had backed the title on PC for the promise of Steam keys would not be receiving them. From the get-go, Ys Net and Deep Silver confirmed in no uncertain terms that refunds would not be granted to customers who felt that they had been lied to and no longer wanted to back the game.
Flash forward several weeks and it looks like either the Shenmue III team has buckled to public pressure or Epic Games has swooped in to do some damage control of its own. Tim Sweeney announced via Twitter that Epic will be funding the cost of all Kickstarter refunds in order to not affect the game’s funding. He also promised that should Epic acquire publishing to a game after they had already promised rewards on other stores, that they would work with those stores to ensure backers get what they originally paid for.
Epic is funding the cost of all Kickstarter refunds resulting from Shenmue III’s move to the Epic Games store, so that refunds won’t reduce Ys Net’s development funding. When future games go Epic-exclusive after offering crowdfunding rewards on other PC stores, we’ll either coordinate with colleagues at the other stores to ensure key availability in advance, or guarantee refunds at announcement time.
Source: Twitter
Another Sony Online Entertainment hacker is going to prison after entering a plea deal with prosecutors. Austin Thompson of Utah pleaded guilty to his part in a denial of service attack on Sony Online Entertainment’s servers as well as other victims between 2013 and 2014. Thompson, for those who recall, headed the hacker group Derp Trolling, and took down a number of services for hours at a time, boasting about his deeds on Twitter for the world to see.
Thompson faced a maximum of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine under 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5)(A), Damage to a Protected Computer.
“Thompson typically used the Twitter account @DerpTrolling to announce that an attack was imminent and then posted “scalps” (screenshots or other photos showing that victims’ servers had been taken down) after the attack. The attacks took down game servers and related computers around the world, often for hours at a time. According to the plea agreement, Thompson’s actions caused at least $95,000 in damages.”
The $95,000 fine will be paid to Daybreak Game Company, formerly Sony Online Entertainment.
Source: Justice.gov
You may or may not know this, but EA has a bit of an image problem. They are consistently denied awards by their industry peers, they are booed at award ceremonies, and consumers won’t stop bringing up their past.
Gamesindustry.biz has an article talking about the EA Originals program, where the massive publisher has been taking independent developers under its wing and fostering a supporting environment that doesn’t quite match up with the company that built up a reputation for its proverbial graveyard of acquisitions. EA Originals is different; the developers are happy, they are allowed to put out experimental titles and reap all of the profits. All EA takes from sales are enough to cover its costs of marketing and publishing the game.
And yet the company just can’t shed its perception of being a pantomime villain.
“25 years at EA and I still struggle with the external perception that we’re just a bunch of bad guys,” says Matt Bilbey, EVP of strategic growth at EA. “We love making and playing games. Unfortunately, when we make mistakes on games, the world knows about it because it’s of a size and scale.”
You can read the entire article here if you’d like, although it seems less like a come to Jesus moment for the developer and more GI.biz running a sponsored piece for EA to pat itself on the back and talk about how great its subscription service is. Maybe if Matt Bilbey paid the minimum attention to the company and what people are saying, he would understand why EA has gained the reputation that it has. Otherwise this reads like another shining example of just how out of touch EA is with its own customers.
Pearl Abyss today announced that pre-order editions of Black Desert are now available for Playstation 4 ahead of the official launch date of August 22. Packages will be 10% off for Playstation Plus members, and include various extra goodies including early access. Playstation 4 Pro users can also enjoy 4K support, an expansive game world with stunning graphics.
For more information, check out the official website or watch the trailer down below.l
Source: Playstation Store
Final Fantasy XIV players have plenty to be happy about, as Square Enix has officially launched the latest expansion; Shadowbringers. Shadowbringers introduces two new player races, new jobs, and a level cap increase to 80. Along with the new player jobs/races, players will be able to challenge dungeons with a party of trusted non-playable characters, as well as tackle previously completed quests under a new game+ system.
If you are interested in getting into Final Fantasy XIV, there is a trial available with no purchase necessary. A Tales of Adventure pack is available to speed a character through the Stormblood story content for those who do not wish to grind through the story a second or third time.
Source: Square Enix Press Release
MMO Fallout 
