Category: News

Lego Minifigures Online License Ends In October


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Funcom’s latest quarterly report is out and it looks like Lego Minifigures Online is getting ready to kick the bucket. Launched in 2015, we’ve covered numerous statements from Funcom over the ensuing quarters that the game was not performing up to internal forecasts. Last year, the company even wrote off $2.9 million due to the performance of the online game, making the unprecedented move of taking the title off of its free to play model and converting it over to a buy to play system.

Lego Minifigures Online has been relegated to a lost cause in the latest report, with Funcom stating that there is no hope that the game’s metrics will improve, that it will meet internal expectations, and therefore investment into the game has been adjusted accordingly. Furthermore, the statement specifically mentions that LMO’s license is finished in October.

The Company has during 2015 been unable to improve these numbers. As a result of this the revenues generated by LEGO® Minifigures Online did not meet the internal forecasts. The Company has therefore fully written off the underlying assets of the game. As of the time of this annual report, the Company does not find it likely that any of the game metrics will improve, and has adjusted its investment in the game accordingly. The license agreement with LEGO for the LEGO® Minifigures Online game ends October 2016.

If you’ve yet to buy into Lego Minifigures Online, it is probably in your best interest to keep it that way. While Funcom has not explicitly stated that the service is shutting down, nor have they given a date, the message is quite clear.

(Source: Funcom)

Webzen Celebrates 7 Years With A Giveaway


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MMO Fallout has partnered with Webzen to celebrate the publisher’s seventh anniversary, and what better way to celebrate than by giving out heaps of free items? Starting now, you can head to the bottom of this page and nab yourself a key. That key is good for a bundle of free items on any of the Webzen games listed below: ASTA, ELOA, RAPPELZ, MU Online, and FLYFF. Each game comes with its own package of goods.

Today’s giveaway is a little different than what you might be used to seeing here at MMO Fallout. Each key is universal and can only be applied once to an account, so for the sake of not letting keys go to waste with people ignoring this to grab doubles, the giveaway is IP locked. You can’t apply more than one key to your account, even if you play more than one game on the list, it won’t work. The keys are good until May 31st, so if you’re having some trouble deciding which game to use yours on, you have some time.

Check below for the redemption instructions as well as what goods go with which game. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the page for the key link.

Redemption instructions:

  • Go to http://webzen.com/events/anniversary/7/redeem
  • Log in with your account
  • Select the game, country, server, and character you want to receive the item(s) on.
  • ** The options in each category will vary for each game.
  • Enter the code (without hyphens)
  • Click ‘Redeem Code’
  • The item(s) will be delivered to the account or character that you have selected.

 

  • ASTA
    • Pocket of 20 Soul Stones
    • Arita’s Blessing (1 hour)
    • Urma’s Blessing (1 hour)
    • Strange Fate Stone Bundle
    • Noble Soul
    • Elixir of Dowa
    • River of Three Crossings Water
    • Soryura’s Boxed Golden Bell (7 days)
  • ELOA
    • Eva’s Survival Pack
    • Psyche Wing (7 days)
    • Pure Phillos Uniform Collection
    • Elite Potential Scroll(1000)
    • VIP Service (3 days)
    • Docile Bear Egg
  • RAPPELZ
    • Hidden Village Pass (7 days)
    • Traveller’s Tent
    • Red Lydian
    • Ancient Horseshoe
    • Stamina Saver x5
    • Animal Cracker x5
    • Impact Amplifier (1 hour) x2
    • Mirror Amplifier (1 hour) x2
  • MU ONLINE
    • 7th Anniversary Pack
    • Gold Channel (14 days)
    • Seal of Healing (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Protection (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Strengthener (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Quickness (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Health (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Mana (14 days)
    • Master Scroll of Wrath (14 days)
    • Scroll of Health (14 days)
    • Scroll of Mana (14 days)
    • Scroll of Wrath (14 days)
    • Scroll of Wizardry (14 days)
    • Scroll of Protection (14 days)
    • Scroll of Quickness (14 days)
  • FLYFF
    • Re-Skill (Event)
    • Re-Stat (Event)
    • Gray Tuxedo (M) Box (7 days)
    • Pink Dress (F) Box (7 days)
    • Kitty (7 Days Event)
    • Pink Balloon 6h x5
    • Blue Balloon 6h x5
    • Yellow Balloon 6h x5
    • (Event) Syila Bike Box (7 days)
    • Upcut Stone (Event) x10
    • Refresher Hold (Event) x10
    • Vital Drink X (Event) x10
    • Grilled Eel (Event) x10
  • C9
    • Promotional Support Box
    • Leona’s Potion x5
    • Resurrection Scroll x10
    • Extreme Training [100%] (1 hour) x5
    • Extreme Potion Package
    • Wing: Akene’s Messenger [WIS/STR] (1 day)

[keys id=17047]

[Community] Amazon’s Ridiculous and Inconsistent Prime-Gating


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Before we begin, let me just get this out of the way and say that I am an Amazon Prime customer and am very happy with my service. Now on to the article.

Amazon has caused plenty of ruffled feathers and heads scratched in confusion with a very odd and inconsistent new scheme to sell games: major markdowns for Prime members. Discounts are hardly new for Prime, members already enjoy 20% discounts on new and pre-release games as well as free two day shipping, Prime-exclusive coupons, and the Prime pantry. What you might not expect is to see games becoming exclusive to Prime members for short periods of time.

The marketing is extremely inconsistent. For instance, as you can see above, both the Playstation 4 and Xbox One copies of Grand Theft Auto V are $39.99, while only the Xbox One version is “exclusive for Prime members.” If you get over to the actual store page as a non-member, you can’t buy it at all. You can buy the PS4 version for $39.99, but on the Xbox it is reserved for Prime members only. What’s even stranger is that just a few days ago the roles were reversed, you could buy the Xbox One version but not the PS4.

As another example, right now the PC version of Fallout 4 is on sale for $39.99, exclusive for Prime members, but the Xbox One and PS4 versions are also on sale for the same price but are not exclusive.

There has been a lot of speculation on why such a policy would be put into place, and Amazon hasn’t given any specific answers outside of pointing out benefits of Amazon Prime, but right now there doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the exclusivity, nor any incentive to sign up for Amazon Prime since the sale price seems to be released to the public after a couple of days anyway.

As for the prices themselves, they’re decent enough. $39.99 for Grand Theft Auto V on Xbox One when it is still full price at most competing retailers, although Wal Mart and Best Buy both had similar deals at the time of this publishing.

Daybreak Game Company in “Growth” Mode


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Laura Naviaux Sturr, chief publishing officer over at Daybreak Game Company, sat down with Gamesindustry.biz in order to discuss the developer’s last year, certain hurdles, and how the company is looking forward. Over the past year, Sony Online Entertainment was spun off into its own company under a new name, saw massive layoffs and the closure of several titles, shuttered development on Everquest Next, and saw several high profile names jump ship including John Smedley.

Despite these layoffs, the company is growing and hiring.

“DC Universe Online continues to be strong and we’re bringing it to Xbox this spring. And EverQuest, it’s hard to believe, will turn 17 next week. Both [EQ and EQ2] will have fully fledged expansion packs this fall. And then there’s PlanetSide 2, of course, which we brought to PlayStation last year.”

One aspect of development that Daybreak has embraced over the past year is early access, starting with Everquest Landmark and moving on to zombie survival game H1Z1. H1Z1 was spun off into two separate products and two development teams, with one taking on the survival aspect and the other handling the Hunger Games-styled arena survival mode. The inaugural invitational for H1Z1 was the most viewed event at Twitchcon 2015, throwing in $173,000 in prizes.

Daybreak sees potential in VR, as a source of future premium content and potentially what could bring back subscription-based games. You can read all of Sturr’s thoughts at the link below.

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Snake MMO Is A Fun Time Waster


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Slither is an MMO browser version of Snake, with a bit of Tron thrown in for good measure. The game is completely free, has a simple premise, and can provide hours of engagement followed by the inevitable moment where you look out the window and realize that the sun has both risen and set. All you need to do is grow your worm by eating the glowing orbs found around the field. The more you grow, the easier it is to trap smaller worms and the more boost you have on hand to get out of trouble.

The great part about the game is that your size just makes the game harder, as maneuvering takes more time and space.

(Source: Slither)

Marvel Heroes Heading East To Asian Markets


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Step aside, Avengers, or actually just stay where you are. Gazillion Entertainment has announced a partnership with cloud computing company Ubitus Inc to bring Marvel Heroes to Asia this summer. Leveraging Ubitus’ market reach, the super hero MMO will be rolling out over the region beginning with Korea and heading China-bound with other countries to follow. In addition to being available on PC and Mac, gamers will also be able to enjoy Marvel Heroes on their tablets, Smart TVs, and IPTV set-top boxes.

“Marvel itself has done an excellent job of further popularizing its iconic characters in Asian territories, and now is the perfect time to bring the ultimate game set in the Marvel Universe to those regions,” said Dave Dohrmann, CEO of Gazillion. “Marvel Heroes 2016 has gotten a great reception from our fans, and by broadening the reach of this game to a global scale, we are thrilled to have our game enjoyed by millions of new players.”

More information on the Marvel Heroes launch as it appears. No word at the moment on whether the game’s mobile functionality will hit western markets.

(Source: Gazillion Press Release)

IPE Update: Judge Strikes Digital Homicide Complaint


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Small In Plain English update on the Digital Homicide v James Stanton (Jim Sterling) lawsuit that took place over the past week. On April 13th, James Romine filed a 77 page amended complaint against Stanton. If you don’t have a drink and perhaps a snack, don’t bother getting up to get one. This is simply an alteration of the previously submitted lawsuit and doesn’t contain much new information other than an increased demand for damages. Romine is now suing for $15 million in total, including $4 million in product damages, $5 million in emotional distress, and $6 million in punitive damages.

As we’ve reported in our previous coverage, plaintiff James Romine (Digital Homicide) is not represented by a lawyer, which might have come in handy since Arizona court requires you to file a motion to amend. Romaine did not do so, and as such the judge has struck down the amended complaint. As part of the ruling, Judge Tuchi also gave James Romine until the 27th in order to file a motion to amend.

As always, MMO Fallout will update you will continued coverage as it appears.

(Source: Arizona court dockets)

Square Enix Saves A Ton On Its Taxes


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Square Enix has announced that it expects to save 5.2 billion yen in total income taxes on its consolidated and non-consolidated statements of income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. In layman’s terms, the company is going to save a lot on its taxes. The actual figures will be announced when Square Enix publishes its income reports, but for those of you outside of Japan 5.2 billion yen amounts to roughly $47 million dollars USD.

Normally this kind of news wouldn’t make it onto MMO Fallout, but normally tax savings aren’t worthy of a press release and Square Enix thinks otherwise. For those of you just remembering your taxes, the deadline to file was yesterday.

(Source: Square Enix Press Release)

Snapshots: RuneScape NXT


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RuneScape is celebrating the launch of its new game client, NXT, and Jagex has sent over a few screenshots of the new engine to grab your eye. Check them out in the gallery below and, if you like what you see, head on over to runescape.com to download the new client.

World of Warcraft Drops Legion Expansion August 30th


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Blizzard Entertainment has announced the full release of World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, Legion, will arrive on August 30th. The expansion will run you $49.99 with the digital deluxe at $69.99 and the collector’s edition at $89.99. The special editions come with exclusive pets and other goodies, along with an instant level 100 boost for pre-orders, with a dvd, soundtrack, mousepad, and art book for the collector’s edition.

Legion grants access to the Demon Hunter class, artifact weapons, a new continent, class halls, and a new pvp honor system.

“Legion opens a dark and thrilling new chapter in one of the Warcraft series’ greatest conflicts, and things will never be the same for some of Azeroth’s most iconic heroes and villains,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This expansion is loaded with features and content that give players whole new ways to explore the world and customize their heroes. We’re looking forward to sending everyone into battle against the Burning Legion this August.”

Check out the trailer below.

(Source: Blizzard press release)