Category: News

[Not Massive] Gamestop Hyperkin Controllers Get Stuck In Customs


Hyperkin’s Duke Xbox controller is fat and sassy. How fat is it, you ask? It’s so fat that it tried to slide through customs and got stuck. Tip your waiter, I’ll be here all week.

This week was supposed to mark the launch of the Hyperkin Duke Xbox Controller, a recreation of the original Xbox controller for people with Shaq-sized hands. If you pre-ordered your controller through Microsoft, you’re doing fine. If you got your order through Gamestop, however, you might have been surprised to show up on Monday only for the store to tell you that not only was the controller not in yet, it wasn’t even in transit to the store.

Well it turns out that Gamestop’s shipment got held up by Customs. Hyperkin’s Twitter account set a new date of May 15 for delivery.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

H1Z1 Hits PS4 Open Beta On May 22


H1Z1 is coming to Playstation 4, and you’ll get the opportunity to shoot some guns and fight to the last man standing starting next month. Daybreak Game Company announced this week that H1Z1 is being built from the ground up for the Playstation system with a simplified loot and inventory system to keep the game flowing. In addition to fluidity changes, other alterations are coming to the console version including the removal of crafting as well as changes to the gas system, among others.

“H1Z1 on PS4 is true battle royale mayhem. We have reimagined the game for PlayStation 4 and have designed it to accentuate the essentials of battle royale that make the genre so exciting to watch and play,” said H1Z1 Producer Terrence Yee. “We have added key gameplay differentiators to keep the game frantic and fun — an action shooter’s dream of fast-paced battle royale.”

Daybreak’s plan is to have the game running at 60fps on the Playstation 4 Pro. Open beta for H1Z1 starts May 22.

(Source: Press Release)

Belgium Criminalizes Certain Lootboxes, Sends Threat To Developers


The first answer to any question of “is this legal” is “where?” Belgium has joined the growing list of countries to declare that lootboxes, in some fashion, constitute an illegal form of gambling. The Belgium Gaming Commission determined this week that FIFA 18, Overwatch, and Counter Strike: Global Offensive violate its gambling laws and has demanded that developers remove them with the threat of large fines and remarkably even prison sentences if their demands are not met.

Belgium’s Gaming Commission in its notice specifically directed at the following types of monetization. Please note that the below has been translated into English.

  • Emotional profit forecast: uncertainty loot box is linked to profit forecast;
  • A player may think that the purchase of a loot box gives an advantage, which is not always the case
  • Confusion of fiction and reality: well-known real people promote the most expensive loot boxes;
  • Use your own coin system: for a real amount, players can buy in-game coins;
  • Apparently infinite methods to deposit money on player accounts;
  • Hide from the random generator or at least its opacity.

It does not appear that any explicit timetable has been set for removal of said loot boxes.

(Source: Belgium Gaming Commission)

Daybreak Clarifies Ownership…Three Years Later


Pop quiz: Who owns Daybreak Game Company? If you answered Columbus Nova, you are as wrong as every news outlet that reported on this three years ago, including MMO Fallout. You would be forgiven for this misunderstanding considering that the news was announced from Daybreak’s PR with the headline “Columbus Nova Acquires Sony Online Entertainment,” with the first sentence straight up saying that Columbus Nova had acquired the company.

Columbus Nova, an investment management firm based in New York, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and emergent gameplay.

And then there is John Smedley’s note in the announcement that they would be joining Columbus Nova’s roster of companies.

“We are excited to join Columbus Nova’s impressive roster of companies.”

Turns out that SOE was acquired not by Columbus Nova itself but by an executive at Columbus Nova, Jason Epstein, and the company had just never corrected the record.

“It was current executive chairman Jason Epstein, former senior managing partner of Columbus Nova that acquired Daybreak, not Columbus Nova itself. That distinction was never corrected in the past, so we are correcting that now.”

The reason this is relevant today of all days is because Columbus Nova has become embroiled in US sanctions on Russian oligarchs, specifically its owner Viktor Vekselberg. The distancing between the two companies has been raising a lot of eyebrows since both Daybreak and Jason Epstein himself have said on more than one occasion, and very explicitly, that Columbus Nova as an entity has purchased SOE.

(Source: MassivelyOP)

Online Text RPG Torn Coming To Android In May


You just don’t hear about large-scale text based games these days, but Torn has been rather quietly seeing massive success on desktop PCs. Launched 14 years ago, Torn bills itself as the game that Mafia Wars was built on. It lets players build a life in the city as a business owner, mob boss, or somewhere in between. You can take part in robberies, invest in the stock market, race cars, manage properties, the sky is the limit.

Continuing its success on PC, which has seen more than 2 million players worldwide and 20 thousand daily active users, Torn will be coming to Android devices on May 8. Alternately you can play right now by visiting the link down below.

MMO Fallout should be running some preview coverage of the mobile version at some point in the future.

(Source: Torn)

Rift Prime First Month A “Rousing Success”


One month has passed since Trion Worlds first launched Rift Prime, a progression server that attracted enough players to be called a “rousing success.” In a post on the official website, Trion Worlds noted that in the past month, players have completed more than five million quests and tens of thousands of dungeons. The server population has remained high since then, and players are gearing up for the launch of the first raid.

“We couldn’t be happier with how RIFT Prime is performing, and we’re definitely not resting on our laurels,” said Fry. “We’ve got a ton of content that will be releasing regularly for RIFT Prime players, so if you haven’t taken the plunge yet, now is the perfect time!”

Rift Prime is a progression server launched last month that will start with launch-day content and then slowly unlock expansion content as it progresses. For more information, check out the link below.

(Source: Trion Worlds)

RuneScape Finally Gets Around To Cleaning Up Edgeville


If you follow RuneScape like I do, then you know that things take a lot of time to progress in the world of Gielinor, with Jagex just recently finishing up quest lines that have been in progress for over a decade with others that still haven’t seen a conclusion. In the case of Edgeville, parts of the town were blown up at the conclusion of the quest Ritual of the Mahjarrat, where the Dragonkin go on a rampage, burn a couple buildings down, and kill a few people.

Ritual of the Mahjarrat released over six and a half years ago, back in September 2011, and the town has remained smoldering ever since. Now you finally have a chance to get in and scrub up, repair the buildings burnt down, and clean up the skeleton of the poor guy who got roasted seven years ago and nobody bothered cleaning up. As a reward, you can look forward to a heaping helping of experience in various skills.

(Source: RuneScape)

PSA: Crusader Kings II Free On Steam


Crusader Kings II is free on Steam, and if you pick it up right now you’ll be able to keep it forever. Just head over to the Steam store page and activate the game to your account. You don’t need to download it right away to keep it. Crusader Kings II was released in 2012 by Paradox Interactive and currently holds a 77% “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam. As of this posting, there are nearly 30,00 people playing concurrently.

Granted, you’ll still need to throw down a pretty penny to get every one of the game’s DLC packs, which are currently on sale at 50% off.

(Source: Steam)

Arenanet Talks: Guild Wars 2 Friend/Ship Campaign


Last month Arenanet held a Guild Wars 2 campaign called Friend/Ships, asking players to send in their stories of forming friendly relationships in the popular MMO. The campaign brought in tons of stories from gamers who made new friends and even some who went on to tie the knot.

This week I managed to get in touch with Elisabeth Cardy from Arenanet for a quick Q&A regarding the Friend/Ships campaign. Let’s see how it went.

Q. How did the name “Friend/Ships” for the campaign come about?

Elisabeth Cardy: When we first started brainstorming around this campaign, it was based on stories we’d heard of people who had met their significant other in game, but we really wanted to recognize that it’s not just romantic relationships that can have a deep impact on our lives. To that end, we were looking for a title that encompassed relationships of all sorts. Especially in English, the word “relationship” can have some hefty connotations of romance, so it didn’t feel right on its own. “Shipping” is a fandom term that has to do with primarily romantic relationships (“ships”), so when we were taking some early notes, we started using “Friend/Ships” as a shorthand to kind of indicate both platonic and romantic relationships, and the whole team liked it so much that when it came time to think of the final title for the campaign, we all decided that we wanted to keep this one around.

Q. What was the inspiration for this campaign? There are countless stories of people forming friendships in MMOs but developers are often hesitant to acknowledge them.

Elisabeth Cardy: We built Guild Wars 2 with the idea in mind that it should be good to see other players. We regularly see the success of that in the stories that we hear from guilds, couples, and BFFs about their in-game and out of game adventures. Hearing stories like these is incredible rewarding and heartwarming and we wanted to share some of that joy with the world!

Q. Guild Wars 2 centers a lot of its content on drop-in cooperative group play with strangers. Do you think that forms stronger bonds between players than those that are primarily competitive?

Elisabeth Cardy: Certainly the casual grouping and reinforcement that seeing other players in Guild Wars 2 is a good thing helps people meet others that they might not have normally. But, I think people can bond a lot of ways! Some of my fondest memories are of cooperative content, like running into people repeatedly at open-world boss fights, but I know plenty of folks who have stories of their own of friendships forged in the fires of a particularly fierce rivalry, or facing off together against a common enemy.

Q. What kind of response did you receive from the community compared to what was expected?

Elisabeth Cardy: We got absolutely flooded with stories from players from all over! It was a real delight to see so many people sharing their memories of people and moments that are special to them and how Guild Wars 2 has had a positive impact on their lives.

Q. Is this a one-off event or will it come around again next year?

Elisabeth Cardy: The in-game Friendship Tonic will be available to players in February in future years, and we certainly aren’t done celebrating and appreciating the Guild Wars 2 community.

Q. And finally, do you refer to friends met online as “online friends” to more local, in-person friends?

Elisabeth Cardy: Personally, I don’t tend to draw much distinction, and if I do bring it up, it’s normally as a way of giving context to how I know a person. Just like I’d say “a buddy I met in college,” as a lead-in to a story, I might say “a friend I met in Guild Wars 2.”

No Man’s Sky Hits Xbox One This Year


Hello Games has officially announced the launch of No Man’s Sky on Xbox One as well as a massive update coming to PC and PS4 this year. Dubbed No Man’s Sky Next, the update will be free, however we do not have any information on what will be included with it in terms of new content. Hello Games has called it “an important next step on a longer journey for us and the community.”

“We are calling this No Man’s Sky NEXT because it is an important next step in a journey for No Man’s Sky, for Hello Games and for our devoted community,” said Sean Murray, founder at Hello Games. “Each update for No Man’s Sky has been more successful than the last; this was especially true of our last update Atlas Rises. It emboldens the team to push ourselves further. This journey is far from over, and it’s exciting to be working again on something you know will surprise people.”

The Xbox version of No Man’s Sky will be distributed by 505 Games who you may recognize from their publisher roles for games like the Sniper Elite series, Portal Knights, and Rocket League. A firm launch date has not been set.

(Source: Press Release)