Category: News

Marvel Heroes Will Annualize Versions


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The shift from Marvel Heroes to Marvel Heroes 2015 took a rather mediocre game and transformed it into the critically acclaimed title it is today, but don’t expect that shiny 2015 tag to stay forever. In an interview with Game Sauce, David Brevik discusses that Marvel Heroes will see annualized versions, accompanied by major patches with a new year attached, similar to annual sports games except you’re not required to buy a new game.

It’s kind of a common practice for annualized products … so we took that, and said we’ll rebrand it as Marvel Heroes 2015 and get new reviews, and we were able to raise our Metacritic score from a 58 to an 81, which proved that all of our hard work and effort had really gone a long way, making the product much better.

You can read the entire email at the link below, it is rather content heavy.

(Source: Game Sauce)

Archlord 2 Update “Most Challenging To Date”


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Archlord 2 has just released its latest content update which Webzen claims is the most challenging to date. Players will be able to take on the Dark Stronghold, a new dungeon available only on Hell difficulty. The Dark Stronghold demands daring adventurers of at least level 55, and rewards exclusive level 60 gear. Elsewhere in Stardust Land, a new world raid boss has appeared by the name of Stein. Similar to the Dark Stronghold, Stein also drops level 60 gear.

Stein won’t be overcome by displays of sheer power; players will have to employ team-work and strategy to slay him. However, should they manage this feat, they will be rewarded with all new level 60 legendary weapons. Heroes should be careful during their raids, as both factions may attack this mighty boss simultaneously.

Other content additions include the ability to combine wings to strengthen stats, as well as new PvP gear.

(Source: Webzen)

Gaijin Embroiled In Extortion Scandal, Producer Fired


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Gaijin Entertainment, developer of the WW2 MMO War Thunder, is under intense scrutiny this week after allegations that the company’s producer engaged in extortion tactics against a popular Russian Youtuber, attempting to force him into a legally binding contract carrying heavy fines for criticizing the company.

The news of Gaijin’s extortion scheme hit several War Thunder blogs, including Status Report, detailing that producer Pavel Kulikov tried to pressure a popular Youtuber Alconafter into signing a contract that would essentially give Gaijin complete control of the account. Alconafter would be required to create four War Thunder videos weekly and would not be allowed to produce any content critical of the game. To seal the deal, violating the contract would carry at ten thousand dollar USD fine per instance.

In order to force his hand, Kulikov used Youtube’s DMCA takedown system to shut down Alconafter’s Youtube account, offering to start a new account under his name and the contract. Alconafter refused.

Gaijin CEO Anton Yudintsev stepped in and has stated that the whole ordeal was Kulikov acting on his own and did not reflect on the rest of the company. Kulikov is no longer with Gaijin, according to his Twitter and Linkedin profile.

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Translation: I offer my public apologies to all touched by this scandal. People have to communicate, and I broke this rule.

Trion Worlds Declares Light On RNG, Tough on Crime


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To say that ArcheAge has had some controversies would be a gross misstatement somewhere on the level of placing a “watch your step” sign on an active minefield, but it looks like Trion Worlds may be willing to amend their ways to get back the good faith and credit of their community. In a post addressing player concerns, community manager Seraphina “Celestrata” Brennan revealed that Trion has been taking steps to alleviate the game of certain RNG mechanics.

While RNG systems won’t be going away completely, Trion wants to alter or completely get rid of high-failure-chance upgrades.

Will RNG ever completely disappear? Most likely no, as that’s not the type of game ArcheAge is. We want a level of challenge to remain, but we don’t want that challenge to be extremely high. Going forward, we want to continue to either remove or mitigate high failure mechanics by adding linear progression systems — I.E.: There should always be another way to get something.

In addition, Brennan points to a recent increase in bot bans thanks to “a renewed interest in reporting from the community itself,” with ban rates increasing by 300%.

(Source: ArcheAge)

Defiance Q&A Addresses PC/Console Performance Issues


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Trion Worlds has published the latest Q&A for Defiance, addressing crossover content, Midsummer Mutiny, performance issues, and Warmaster instances.

On Midsummer Mutiny, Defiance’s summer event, complaints have arisen over players being clustered together during holiday events leading to performance issues on lower end machines, issues that have become more prominent since the game went free to play. Trion’s answer is that future content will put heavier reliance on instances for the boss battles, splitting up players into more manageable groups.

Trion is also aware of increasing performance issues on the PC and console versions and has a fix coming in the next patch that will hopefully fix said issues. You can read the rest of the Q&A at the link below, detailing instancing, further content, and more.

(Source: Trion Worlds)

John Smedley Steps Down As CEO


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Daybreak Game Company has confirmed that John Smedley will be stepping down as president and chief executive officer, following a lengthy period of harassment from the cyber group Lizard Squad. A spokesperson from Daybreak confirmed to Venturebeat that Smedley will be relinquishing his role, although he will not be leaving the company entirely.

“I can confirm that John Smedley will be taking some time off from the company for the near-term and transitioning to a different role to be determined. Upon finalization of his plans, further communication will be provided.”

John Smedley made headlines earlier this month after one Lizard Squad member was convicted of over fifty thousand counts of cyber crime, only to see no jail time. After Smedley called out multiple members on Twitter, the group launched a multiple day DDOS attack on Daybreak’s servers as well as offering a $5000 reward for anyone who defaced the grave of Smedley’s father.

The office of CEO will be filled by current COO Russel Shanks.

(Source: Venturebeat)

Mechwarrior Online Introduces New Server


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Mechwarrior Online has continued its global expansion with servers now available for European gamers, situated out of Strassbourg. Pirhana Games has revealed that average ping times have dropped by an average of 50% with some areas seeing more than a 75% boost to latency. Servers will be available for Oceanic players next month.

“The MechWarrior Online community has always been competitive by nature given the fundamentals of the MechWarrior gameplay, and now that we’ve added European servers a huge portion of our player base that lives in that region can experience MechWarrior Online at the highest competitive level,” said Russ Bullock, president of developer and publisher of Piranha Games.

Mechwarrior Online is currently in the final phase of feature implementation.

(Source: Official website)

Trove Introduces Patron Program


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Trove players looking to pay for a bit more will be able to sign up for Patron, the MMO’s recurring subscription program. Patron costs $14.99 per month and comes with all of the perks listed above, and can be purchased in recurring subscription form as well as single-month packages.

Multi-month packages are up in packages of three, six, and twelve months.

(Source: Trion Worlds)

Glyph Sees Third Party Game Purge


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Glyph’s days as a platform for third party titles are over, as Trion Worlds has purged the store of all non-home-brewed games. Those who purchased third party single player games through Glyph will be able to access their content from here on forward, however the items will be removed from the store barring any further purchases. Furthermore, gamers also have the option to port their licenses over to Steam.

If you purchased any single player download games from Glyph, you should have received an email with an activation code for each game you purchased. If you did not receive this email, please . Once you have your keys, you’ll need to activate them on Steam.

(Source: Trion Worlds)

Adopt A Cat In RuneScape To Support World Wildlife Fund


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RuneScape players have another opportunity to donate to charity. Jagex has partnered with the World Wildlife Fund to spread awareness of endangered animals, specifically the endangered big cats. For the next two weeks, players are invited to take part in daily quizzes with exclusive title rewards and adopt a baby jaguar of their own.

Head to Burthorpe and talk to the Conservationist to get started. The Big Cats quiz will start twice hourly – on the hour and at half-past. Answer questions correctly to earn points, which can be used to adopt companions and unlock titles.

Furthermore, the conservationist NPC will also be accepting bond donations until August 17th, with at least £2.85 per bond going directly to the WWF.

(Source: RuneScape)