Category: News

Nexon Announces SINoALICE Global Release


Nexon this week announced that they will be bringing SINoALICE to global markets on iOS and Android. SINoALICE is being codeveloped by Square Enix and Pokelabo, and is a grim retelling of popular fairy tales including Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Three Little Pigs, and more.

Gamers will likely recognize game director Yoko Taro, moon-faced developer who brought his talents to Nier: Automata. Players will be tasked with braving dangerous lands, fighting tough enemies, and solving mind-bending puzzles when this game releases on mobile devices in the coming future.

More information regarding SINoALICE is on its way, for now you can check out the official website.

Jagex Details Premier Club 2019


It is November and that means time for a new annual premier club sale. RuneScape’s premier club generally goes on sale from mid-late November and stays available until early February.

Perks for this year’s premier club include:

  • 1 additional Treasure Hunter key per day
  • 150,000 bonus loyalty points
  • 3 premier club reward tokens (issued throughout the year)
  • Premier artefact
  • Premier club vault
  • Valkyrie outfit
  • VIP world/forum access & exclusive Q&A
  • Forum/Chat badge
  • Monthly prize draw

Premier club can be purchased with five bonds (Bronze, 3 month), 10 bonds (Silver, 6 months), or 20 bonds (Gold, 12 months) or for $27.99, $49.99, and $89.99 respectively. Please note that most of the rewards listed above are exclusive to gold tier subscribers. Click here for more information on rewards for each tier. Mobile subscribers are not able to sign up for premier club.

Tyler Barriss Convicted, Could Be Sentenced to 20+ Years


Los Angeles resident and soon-to-be long term prisoner Tyler Barriss has entered into a plea deal in federal court in Kansas and is facing a sentence of at least twenty years. Barriss previously pled guilty to his role in orchestrating a swatting incident which resulted in the death of a Wichita man at the hands of local police officers. In addition to this charge, Barriss also pled guilty to a hoax bomb threat in the District of Columbia and 46 counts of making false bomb threats against high schools, universities, shopping malls, and TV stations in more than a dozen states. Nobody was injured in those other cases.

In the Wichita case, authorities are still pressing charges against Casey Viner and Shane Gaskill, two co-defendants whose feud over Call of Duty led to Viner requesting the swatting hoax from Barriss with Gaskill providing the fake address.

Sentencing is set for January 30. Barriss is 25, meaning he will be close to if not over 50 by the time his sentence has been fully served.

(Source: Justice.gov)

Maplestory Starts Gathering of Heroes Event


Nexon today released the latest event for Maplestory. Dubbed Gathering of Heroes, the event adds the Maple Alliance outpost where players can get set up and prepare for the battle against the Black Mage. The goal of the Alliance is to gather “Determination” and power up the holy light in the outpost to be able to fight the Black Mage.

The event runs from November 14 to the 28, and rewards for the event include exclusive pets, items, beauty and money boxes. Also starting today, players can reach level 200 by participating in the Tera Burning Project event. For the duration of the event, you’ll be able to create and assign new characters as your Tera Burning Character and receive a Snail pet and gain two extra levels each time they level up until reaching 200. Characters level 61 and up can accept the Destiny Awaits quest to unlock new areas and new enemies.

Players level 200 and up will have access to Moonbridge and all of the hordes of monsters that come with it.

EA’s Stock Is Crashing, Down Over 40% Since July


Electronic Arts just can’t catch a break.

It’s been a rough year for Electronic Arts and it appears that the company’s investors are taking notice. In the last year that brought us the PR nightmare, consumer backlash, and subsequently underwhelming sales of Battlefront 2, the PR nightmare, consumer backlash, and subsequently underwhelming pre orders of Battlefield V, a criminal investigation in Belgium over refusal to comply with gambling laws, among other incidences, it looked like the backlash online was pretty much irrelevant as EA’s stock continued to climb.

All of this came to a head in July when EA announced that Battlefield V would be delayed, and EA’s stock began to tumble. From a peak of around $148, the stock now sits at $85.84 just five months later and continues to gradually fall. EA’s stock stood at $112 on November 14, 2017.

So what’s the deal? Oddly enough, EA isn’t facing much in the way of a financial shortfall. While the total revenue for the fiscal year 2019 is supposed to be lower, we’re talking $5.2 billion instead of $5.5 billion projected. The second quarter brought in $1.286 billion in revenue, $16 million above forecast, with a net income of $255 million, far above the prediction of $150 million.

It seems to stand that the downturn in market price has its hands in the negative sentiment surrounding EA that is finally turning into poor market performance. Their titles may still bring in millions of dollars, but EA burned Star Wars fans twice with Battlefront and the sequel subsequently underperformed. Similarly with Battlefield V, the company’s outward statement that players who didn’t like the art style of Battlefield 5 can “accept it, or don’t buy it” has simply led to players not buying it, despite EA’s recent backpedaling on the game’s cosmetic designs.

There is also the fact that more governments are beginning to take a closer look at microtransactions, a large source of income for Electronic Arts thanks to Fifa Ultimate Team.

RuneScape Preps For 2019 Premiere Club, Mining & Smithing Beta


The end of 2018 is nigh, and that can only mean one thing: The next annual Premiere Club package is going to be available from RuneScape. For the uninitiated, Premiere Club is an annual package of RuneScape membership that comes with extra goodies including an aura, exclusive outfits, pets, access to VIP worlds, chat badges, and more. This year the price is going up to $89.99, up from $79.99 in 2017 and still much lower than the $107.99 in 2015/2016. Details on the premiere club bonuses will be revealed later this week, while the membership itself likely won’t go on sale until the 15.

Meanwhile, Jagex is gearing up for another round of beta testing of the game’s mining & smithing rework. MMO Fallout previewed the last beta round way back in February, so hopefully Jagex is a bit further along in their development.

More information on this week’s updates at the link below.

(Source: RuneScape)

Com2Us Posts $106.7 Million In Sales


Com2Us this week posted its third quarter revenue for 2018 and the results are positive.

Third quarter sales amounted to $106.7 million USD with $33.8 million in profits, beating out the previous record of $26.5 million. Overseas sales accounted for 83% of revenue with North America and Europe accounting for 50% of those sales.

For the future, Com2US is looking to expand its popular Summoners War title from the mobile gaming scene and into cartoons, comics, and other merchandise. They have also opened up pre-registration for Skylanders Ring of Heroes on mobile devices.

(Source; Com2Us press release)

Maplestory 2 Brings the Turkey, New Holiday Event Available


Nexon this week announced a new update and event for Maplestory 2.

Beginning now and running through December 6, the Turkey Terror event is available to all players level 10+. In the event, players can take on a daily quest to defeat the wild turkey and complete it to earn the dashing turkey mount. There will also be a maple harvest event along the same time frame which will hand out maple leaf coins to purchase items from NPC Bobby’s shop.

In addition to the turkey themed events, Maplestory 2 has also been granted a number of quality of life improvements including a dismantle function, wardrobe function, piano roll, house size reduction, and more. Players can also join in on chaos raids in two dungeons; shadow altar and moonlight fortress.

More information on Maplestory can be found on the official website.

In Response To Gambling Laws, Square Enix Starts Pulling Titles From Belgium


Earlier this year the Belgian government gave a clear warning to game developers: Fall into line with your gambling mechanics or face potential criminal charges including fines and even jail sentences. Over the last seven months, we’ve seen the industry take the threat very seriously (for the most part). Companies like Blizzard and Valve have simply stopped allowing players within Belgium to purchase loot boxes, while Electronic Arts stood its ground and is now facing a criminal investigation.

Companies like Square Enix, meanwhile, are just pulling out of the country entirely. Square announced that at least four of its titles will no longer be accessible from Belgium as of December. Those titles include Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius, Mobius Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts Union X, and Dissidia FInal Fantasy Opera Omina. All four games will no longer be accessible in Belgium over the next month, although it isn’t clear if people will be able to circumvent the block with a VPN or if Square Enix will go as far as to disable existing accounts that have been operated from within Belgium.

(Source: GI.biz)

Daybreak Games Raises Over $40k For Rady’s Children’s Hospital


Daybreak Game Company today announced that they have raised over $40,000 USD for Rady’s Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California. The money was raised during the developer’s first participation in Extra LIfe, a charity aimed at raising money for hospitals in the Children’s Miracle Network.

Extra Life began in 2008 and has ballooned in popularity as streaming has become more common. In 2017, the charity raised more than $11 million with more than 50,000 participants.