Category: News

[NM] Gravity Rush 2 Servers Shutting Down Just One Year After Launch


Sony Japan has just announced that the servers for Gravity Rush 2 will shut down on January 18, 2018, just one year after its launch on the Playstation 4. While the game itself will still be playable, the following services will be shut off:

  • Receive, send a challenge
  • Ranking browsing
  • Receive, Post Treasure Hint
  • Receive, post, review photo ghost
  • Obtaining a dusty token and obtaining its remuneration

Gravity Rush 2 was developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio in conjunction with Team Siren (aka Team Gravity) and released in January 2017 on the Playstation 4. For the remainder of the service, players will see an increase in dusty token drops to obtain desired items before the servers go down for good.

Jagex Disqualifies Deadman Winner Over Cheating


The Autumn Deadman tournament survivor has been disqualified after it was discovered that they were cheating. In a post on the official website, Jagex discussed criticism surrounding the latest Deadman final regarding certain disqualifications. What isn’t in question, however, is that the latest winner was cheating by using a bot farm to boost their account.

The last survivor of the final has been disqualified. A standard subsequent investigation into the winner of the tournament took place and the winner was responsible for the creation of a bot farm. Naturally all accounts linked to this botting activity have now been banned. This then raises the question of what to do with the prize money. At the moment we’re discussing what to do with it. A few ideas we have at the moment are another charitable donation, dispersing the money among the finalists, or carrying it over to the next season (or a combination of all of these).

In the same post, Jagex has promised to provide guides for players to avoid DDoS attacks which have become more common in Deadman mode, as well as tackling issues of cheating that naturally crop up in an event where $10,000+ of real money is on the line.

Deadman is a hardcore mode for Old School RuneScape that trades higher experience rates for open pvp and higher loot risk on death. Deadman Seasonal is a time-limited event where players race to level their accounts, with the 2,000 highest level players going on to a last man standing tournament, with the winner taking home $10,000 in prizes. The latest Deadman Seasonal tournament ended at Runefest 2017 this month.

(Source: RuneScape)

[NM] Warner Bros. Makes Forthog Free, Issues Refunds, Still Donating


Warner Bros. put out an announcement today in regards to the upcoming Forthog Orc-Slayer DLC for Shadow of War, and has decided not to sell the item as paid content.

Earlier this month, Warner Bros. announced that it would be releasing a piece of DLC content in memoriam of a deceased employee who had worked on the game. The download would introduce Forthog Orc-Slayer, an NPC who would show up to help the player when he is most needed, was a tribute to Michael Forgey who passed during development. According to Monolith’s announcement, all proceeds from the DLC sales would go to Forgey’s family.

But criticism quickly sprang up after people noticed that the donations came with an apparent caveat, as according to the official trailer, only purchases in the states would be donated and even then, select states would not be included. Monolith has apologized for the confusion and announced that the DLC will be free and instead Warner Bros. will make a donation to the family. Everyone who preordered the DLC will get a refund.

We now recognize that tying our donation to sales of the DLC was not the best way to achieve our goal of offering financial support to the family and creating a lasting memorial to Michael Forgey.  We sincerely apologize to the fans and to the Forgey family for the confusion we created.

Our thoughts: I’ll go back to what I said in the original controversy, that the disclaimer that only certain areas would be eligible was to protect Warner Bros from state/foreign laws regarding gifts/donations, and that the company would figure out a way to “Pachinko” the money to the right places by funneling the money down the right channels. It’s not a donation if you don’t call it one!

(In all likelihood, we will never be told exactly how Warner Bros is going to make not donating and not profiting work, but if MMO Fallout had to throw in its two cents, I recommend looking at how Pachinko parlors in Japan. You can bypass just about any payout law by adding more steps and calling it something different.)

(Source: Warner Bros)

Jagex Lays Out the Future Of RuneScape/Old School


RuneFest 2017 at Battersea Evolution – David Portass/iEventMedia

Runefest has come and gone, and Jagex has laid out the plans for the next year of content in both variations of their popular MMORPG.

Attendees were able to get their hands on RuneScape mobile to test the game out this weekend. While compatibility information will be rolling out within the next couple of months, Old School RuneScape is expected to hit mobile devices this winter with RuneScape 3 coming in 2018. On a more current front, RuneScape 3 will be seeing a PvE update in October called Dimension of the Damned. Adventurers will travel to another dimension where all of RuneScape has died, and battle a zombie hoard in return for unique cosmetics, achievements, and other rewards.

The entire list of RuneScape updates coming is massive, and since the game updates weekly this just covers some of the major stuff.

“Every year it gets more and more difficult to top the previous RuneFest, but I think with 2017’s convention we’ve managed to do it. We were thrilled to see so many of our hardcore players try out both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape on mobile devices for the very first time, as well as experience the tension of a Deadman Invitational live at RuneFest,” said Mark Ogilvie, Design Director, RuneScape. “Exciting new content, together with new ways to play, will delight and entice players to the world of Gielinor like never before, and in addition to our millions of active players we’ll be here ready to welcome our old friends back from being ‘AFK’.”

Over on the Old School side, players can expect to see a new 5-man raid called Theatre of Blood coming in June 2018. For questers, January 2018 will see the launch of Dragon Slayer II, a brand new Grandmaster quest. The fall Deadman tournament came to a close with one player (5PLUS50K12) walking away with the grand total of twenty thousand dollars. An additional ten grand was donated to Make a Wish by the winners of the team Deadman tournament, #TeamLUL.

The livestream of upcoming Old School updates can be found below.

 

Bluehole Interview: Epic Should License Battle Royale, Fears Leaking Secrets


Last night I put out a piece regarding Bluehole Studio and Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds regarding the implied threat of legal action from Bluehole against Epic over similarities between the latter’s Battle Royale mode in Fortnite, and the former’s aforementioned PUBG title. I recommend reading it, it’s a short piece, but the crux of the matter is that neither Bluehole or Brendan Greene own the concept of Battle Royale, nor did either create the genre, and that Bluehole doesn’t have a moral leg to stand on when its own employees were actually criminally convicted of stealing from another developer just eight years ago.

Today, PC Gamer released an interview with Bluehole VP Changhan Kim, in which Kim claims that the press release wasn’t clear and that the issue is about Epic and not the game mode itself. You can read the interview here and make your own conclusion, but many of the questions seem to be avoided or outright contradicted in the same interview. For instance, Kim states that Bluehole isn’t claiming ownership.

So, battle royale is just about last man standing, it’s a simple game mode, and we’re not claiming any kind of ownership over the game mode or genre itself, it’s not for us to even comment.

Despite claiming no ownership over the game mode, Kim makes it pretty clear by using H1Z1 and itself as an example, their belief that Epic Games had an obligation to pay a license to use the concept.

You know that Daybreak Games actually licensed this idea and worked with him to develop their game mode and [Bluehole] did license his idea as well. Not only [did we bring] him to Korea to hire him as the creative director, we licensed his idea to develop PUBG.

Kim never explicitly says that Epic should have licensed the game mode, but does state that they should have had to come to Bluehole before developing Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode.

What I think is, they should have at least came to us before making it and had a discussion with us.

He also goes on convey concerns over Epic’s ownership of the Unreal engine, that if Bluehole modifies the engine to create new features, that they could be leaked or “other things.”

We could be afraid when we make new features in the engine by modifying it internally, that is not already available and public, that feature could be leaked, or other things could happen.

Despite all of this, Bluehole admits that it has not actually been in contact with Epic regarding its concerns over Fortnite, however the stated reason for concern does change at the end of the interview to include confusion by the community as to whether or not PUBG was involved in any official capacity with the development of Fortnite Battle Royale. You can check out the entirety of the interview at the link below.

Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds is currently the most popular game on Steam, nearly doubling the number 2 spot held by Dota 2.

(Source: PC Gamer)

Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire Is Live


Arenanet today launched the second expansion to Guild Wars 2, titled Path of Fire, now available in digital and retail stores. The expansion launches just in time for Guild Wars 2’s fifth anniversary. Players must unite against the god Balthazar as his Forged legion descends upon the kingdom in a hunt for the elder gods.

“We’re thrilled to be bringing players back to the Elonian desert region, the setting for the Guild Wars: Nightfall campaign, after 250 years and dispatch them on their most daring adventure yet,” said Mike O’Brien, co-founder and president of ArenaNet. “We have packed Path of Fire full of exciting features and immersive content that gives players alternative ways to experience Guild Wars 2, including new mounts and elite specializations for each of the classes.”

Path of Fire introduces mounts to Guild Wars 2 as well as nine new elite specializations, new zones, and more.

Guild Wars 2 Releases Path of Fire Launch Trailer


Arenanet has released the launch trailer for Guild Wars 2: Path of Fire. Check it out embedded above. Are you prepared to confront a god? Path of Fire launches September 22.

Get In-Game Rewards For Picking Up Wild Terra


Wild Terra developer Juvty Worlds wants to thank its early adopters, and what says appreciation better than a boar clad in scale armor? Probably not much. Those who have bought, or will buy, Wild Terra before it goes into launch will receive a Fierce Boar mount and Scale Cloak as a thank you for their early patronage.

All players who have already bought, or will purchase the game in Early Access – will receive unique rewards! Can be obtained only with an Early Access purchase. To receive rewards, you need login to the game before it’s release.

Wild Terra releases Q4 2017. More information on the game can be found at its official website.

Battleborn Ceasing Development Support After Fall Update


As they say, all good things must come to an end, and they also say that development costs money and money doesn’t grow on trees. Gearbox Software has announced that this fall’s update to Battleborn will be the last. The fall update was announced at PAX and includes new skins, map and balance tweaks, as well as new boosts and taunts.

But never fear, those of you who actually bought this game and intend on continuing to play it. The servers for Battleborn will not be going anywhere for the foreseeable future.

Never fear! Battleborn is here to stay. Nothing is changing with Battleborn, and the servers will be up and active for the foreseeable future. We announced the Fall Update for the game at PAX including some new skins, themed around some of your favorite Borderlands characters! That update will also include some updated title art (more full bar titles!) for the more significant challenges in the game, as well as some additional Finisher Boosts and Taunts. Also, there are minor balance changes in that patch.

Creative director Randy Varnell has moved on to new projects, likely including Borderlands 3, which 90% of the Gearbox staff is currently working on. Battleborn launched in May 2016 and got lost in the midst of Overwatch’s massive overtaking of first person shooters. On Saturday night, the game peaked at 106 players on PC.

(Source: Battleborn)

Column How Reddit Once Again Bamboozled the Media


I have a distinct advantage over traditional media with MMO Fallout; I don’t run ads, I don’t have sponsors, and I have given minimal thought to opening a Patreon. As an entity, I am completely unaccountable for boosting views to their maximum potential, and as a result I enjoy the unique trait of not being beholden to being the first to publish a breaking story. I do try to keep the news relevant, but at least I have the time to do some fact checking.

Which leads me to this week’s failure to communicate: A number of news websites are running retractions and corrections after it was revealed that stories on Reddit are not entirely trustworthy. A user in the Star Citizen community claimed that he had managed to obtain a refund in excess of $45,000, in the form of three $15,000 refunds for his clan, and that the process had been a "nightmare." This got picked up by a number of websites, I won’t be calling them out because that’s not the point of this article.

So let’s go through the piece and I’ll offer my thought process that came to ignoring this news piece:

"It was a nightmare getting the refund, we are a commercial org and pooled the money to buy the completionist packages, and used a corporate card to buy them, so we had major issues with getting refunded to the same card, paypal and then providing ID. Total it took about 5 weeks to get sorted. A lot of time was spent trying to explain the situation to some woman called "Schala" and just getting the same answers copied and pasted backwards and forwards, they definitely try to delay you as much as possible in the hope you’ll forget or give up."

First let’s get out of the way that this is a first party Reddit story and therefore automatically less credible than your average "Zombie Elvis Lives in Reno" story on the Enquirer (he still performs in Vegas as a member of the Blue Man Group, as anyone knows). On policy, I don’t trust anything that is posted as a story on Reddit, even if the person has "evidence" in the form of easily doctored screenshots and gifs, and doubly so if said poster claims it’s "impossible" to fake navigating a website in a video. It is possible, and it’s very easy.

I also had trouble believing the part of the story that they were trying to delay as much as possible in the hopes that the issue would be forgotten or that he would give up. I don’t think any company thinks that a customer is just going to give up on nearly fifty grand.

Now I don’t claim to be a licensed journalist with a fancy journalism degree, but I know enough from experience and from watching all three seasons of The Newsroom to know that stories must be verified before they are printed. In the thread, another moderator independently verified the refund claims, a factor that isn’t worth the paper it isn’t printed on. You’re verifying an anonymous source with another anonymous source.

So the proper thing to do would be to contact Cloud Imperium Games for confirmation which evidently nobody did before rushing this story to print. CIG has come out since then and stated that the refund was more along the lines of $330 and that the refund was handled smoothly and without issues, also noting that most of the story regarding delays was completely fabricated.

And in case you had any remaining doubts, the user subsequently deleted his account. Case closed. I’m hesitant to attribute the story to "haters" as some in the Star Citizen community have, if anything this is a case of an attention-grabbing headline driving the news on the backs of "well we did say it was just an allegation." And judging by the number of comments on individual articles, it was a success.

Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.