News – Page 421 – MMO Fallout

Less Massive: Five Years For Swatting

Swatting is a highly dangerous activity by which a person calls the police to a residence under the pretense of a dangerous situation (shooting, hostage, someone with a gun, suicidal, etc). It is a crime that carries stiff penalties, and several people are now finding that out the hard way.

In a report released by the FBI today, the members of a party line organizing swatting calls are either in jail, or on their way.

Jason Allen Neff, 33, pleaded guilty today to federal charges in a “swatting” case, announced U.S. Attorney Sarah R. Saldaña of the Northern District of Texas. Swatting refers to falsely reporting an emergency to a police department to cause a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) response to a physical address, or making a false report to elicit an emergency response by other first responders to a specific physical address.

Neff joins his previously charged and convicted co-conspirators Guadalupe Martinez, Stuart Rosoff, Jason Trowbridge, Chad Ward, Matthew Weigman, Angela Roberson and others, all of whom were sentenced to 30 or 60 months with Weigman receiving the harshest penalty of 135 months. Neff faces five years in prison, 60 months, plus he must pay nearly $80,000 in restitution.

The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant US Attorney C.S Heath.

(Source: US Department of Justice)

Wildstar Details 2015 Updates

Carbine Studios has posted a preview of updates to come in 2015. While Wildstar was recognized last year for its soundtrack and combat system, there is no denying that the game is in need of improvement. Product director Mike Donatelli has detailed plans for the first half of 2015, promising:

We will invest in, enhance, and grow this game.

Donatelli has promised that the team will listen to player feedback to reduce grind, revamp rewards, and introduce new solo and group content. You can find the entire list of updates planned for the first half of the year at the link below.

(Source: Wildstar)

Video: Final Fantasy XIV Patch 2.5 Trailer

Patch 2.5 is set to be the last to drop before the launch of Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion, Heavensward, and it will be split into three parts to better distribute the content. If you have ten minutes to spare, take a look at the trailer below to see what is coming in the first update on January 20th.

Part one of Patch 2.5 drops on January 20th with the next part coming in February and part three in March.

Guild Wars 2 Tournaments Dish Out the Dosh

Do you have what it takes to make it big in Guild Wars 2? If so, there might just be a financial incentive in it for you. With esports becoming bigger every year, the diversity and breadth of tournaments has only gotten bigger. Arenanet has posted an update on the Guild Wars 2 website detailing just a few of these tournaments and how you can get into them.

Most of the tournaments reward players with a heaping helping of gold and gems, but the Go4GuildWars2 cup is doling out one thousand dollars every Sunday to the top players, with the best of the best going on to play for a fifty grand prize pool.

You can find the details for all of the tournaments at the link below.

(Source: Guild Wars 2)

Neverwinter Previews Upcoming Event

Cryptic Studios has detailed the next big event to hit Neverwinter. Currently embroiled in an ongoing war against the Dragon Cult, this week’s event sees Neverwinter under siege yet again by the forces of evil. The event ties into the latest campaign, Tyranny of Dragons.

With this Siege of Neverwinter event will come the chance to obtain Dragon Hoard Coins, Dragon Hoard Coffers, as well as other items used in the Tyranny of Dragons campaign. All of these items will aid you in your quest to defeat the Cult of the Dragon once and for all and help prevent them from unleashing Tiamat!

The event runs from January 15th through 22nd.

(Source: Neverwinter)

Old School RuneScape Polling Grand Exchange

Does the Old School RuneScape community want a Grand Exchange? We’re about to find out, as Jagex is gearing up to poll the feature in the next week. If it is voted in, the grand exchange will replace the current trading post where players can place offers on items but need to meet up in person in order to complete the trade. Should the grand exchange be implemented, it will also make way for the introduction of coinshare (expensive loot is turned into coins and split between party members) and lootshare (shared loot between party members).

Should the update not be passed, Jagex will poll updates to the trading post, including the ability to initiate a trade through the post, provided players are on the same world. Also set to be polled is the dragon defender, increase in bank slots, as well as numerous other updates.

Updates require 75% approval in order to be implemented.

(Source: RuneScape)

Age of Wushu Merging Servers

Snail Games yesterday performed a server merge on Age of Wushu to address the game’s low population. January 7th marked the mergers of the White Tiger and Golden Kirin servers into the Blue Dragon server. As a result of the merger, all Jianghu rankings were reset as well as school rankings, NPC relationships, and guild territory.

You can read more at the FAQ posted below.

(Source: Snail Games)

Blacklight Retribution Devs Close Doors

Blacklight Retribution dev Zombie Studios has announced that they are shutting down after twenty years of developing video games. The company revealed in a post on the main website that the owners have decided to retire and, rather than pass the studio on to new hands, are allowing the company to retire with them.

Luckily this doesn’t mean the death of Zombie Studios properties, which will live on in the form of Builder Box, who will take over the operation of Blacklight Retribution.

(Source: Destructoid)

Xsyon Now On Steam Early Access

Notorious Games has officially launched their sandbox MMO Xsyon on Steam Early Access. Now available for $29.99, and includes one month of subscription time.

During the Prelude, Xsyon is continuously evolving and expanding. This phase of the game was intended as a time for the game to adapt to its community. The development team has been working closely with the player base to determine the future of Xsyon and wishes to continue to do so with the Steam crowd.”

Players with existing Xsyon accounts can request a Steam copy for no additional charge.

(Source: Notorious Games Press Release)

Petition To Revive Wizardry Gets Attention

A player petition to bring back Wizardry Online may have hit its mark. Ever since Sony Online Entertainment cut its ties and shut down the Wizardry servers mid-2014, players have been trying to convince other publishers to give the game a second chance.

Several months later, one such company has responded. Over at the Suba Games board, a community manager for the publisher responded that they have heard player demands, and have contacted developer Gamepot.

Afternoon everyone, it’s always great to see people passionate enough to pool together and try to have their voices heard. In this case i want to let you know you all have been heard and Suba is interested in reviving this game. They have actually made contact with the developer but have yet to conclude an outcome with them yet.

Nothing is set in stone, but the news is certainly a positive for the game’s fans.

(Source: Suba Games)

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