News – Page 425 – MMO Fallout

Raptr’s Top Games For November

Raptr has released their top games for November 2014. Thanks to the launch of Warlords of Draenor, World of Warcraft saw an increase of 71% over October. In contrast, many of the top played games were not as lucky, with most of them seeing double digit drops in playtime. ArcheAge, in the midst of multiple controversies, saw a 40% drop in playtime while Final Fantasy XIV jumped nearly 21% over the same period.

You can find the entire list at the link below. Naturally the list only applies to people with Raptr accounts.

(Source: Raptr)

Raptr's Top Games For November

You can find the entire list at the link below. Naturally the list only applies to people with Raptr accounts.

(Source: Raptr)

Transformers Universe Shutting Down January 2015

Jagex has announced that the servers for MOBA Transformers Universe will shut down on January 31st, 2015. The decision was made mutually between the UK developer and Hasbro, and comes on the hilt of both companies realigning their focus for the year ahead.

The shutdown period will begin from today. As part of the winding down we will be refunding all those that have purchased a Founders Pack, as well as anyone that has purchased relic bundles and starter packs. These refunds should be all processed in the next 30 days. In addition we will be closing the ability for new players to make accounts, those of you that already have accounts will continue to be able to use them until the closure date.

Players who do not receive refunds after January 16th should email customer support.

(Source: Transformers Universe)

Archlord Launches Latest Expansion

Archlord 2 players have plenty to be happy about, as Webzen has launched the second expansion to the game: Eternal Strife. The expansion comes alongside the release of a new server, a Christmas event, and a slew of server bonuses. As described in the release:

Eternal Strife introduces two new races, joining the ranks of the game’s factions. The Dragonscion join the Humans to support the Azuni’s cause, whereas the Moonelves rally under the banners of the Crunn. Specialized in magic, these new races offer unique starting zones, new archetypes and weapons, thus extending the range of choices for the Archlord 2 players.

Check it out on the official website.

(Source: Webzen press release)

Path of Exile PVP Manifesto

The latest Path of Exile patch introduced two new game modes, but the focus of the update was on player vs player combat. In a development manifesto released on forums today, Grinding Gear Games has detailed recent changes to the combat system introduced in patch 1.3.0.

With 1.3.0, damage scaling has changed. It has been split into two algorithms — one for physical damage and chaos damage, and one for elemental. In low-level play, damage is reduced by about 20% for physical skills, but is increased for elemental damage to compensate for assumed resistances. In high-level play, the damage reduction is much sharper.

You can read the entire manifesto at the link below, but unless you’re an avid player of Path of Exile you probably won’t understand many of the changes.

(Source: Path of Exile)

10% Discount Was Never Advertised, Says Trion Worlds

The ongoing saga of ArcheAge, Trion Worlds, and the fabled 10% discount has reached another bend, as Trion Worlds is now flat out denying that the discount was ever a part of the game’s advertising. A user on the ArcheAge forums submitted a complaint to the San Francisco Bay Area Better Business Bureau, to have his complaint addressed by Trion Worlds. Trion Worlds first pulled out the EULA and pointed to the “we can change whatever we want” clause, before denying that the 10% discount was ever officially promoted.

Trion sincerely regrets any inconvenience experienced by the customer. The 10% Marketplace discount was not officially promoted as a benefit as it was never advertised in the ArcheAge purchase flow.

For the record, here is a screenshot of the 10% discount being advertised on Trion World’s own website. Update 12/16/14: This page has since been deleted. See its archive here.

(Source: BBB)

Areal Is Back: Stalker Apocalypse Funding Part 2

S.T.A.L.K.E.R is back! Well, actually STALKER is back, and that is an important distinction to make. Earlier this year we saw a Kickstarter pop up for a spiritual sequel to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R franchise called Areal, by a company made up of former developers of said franchise. It didn’t take long for internet sleuths to figure out that the trailer for the game was shot in Unity, using nearly 100% stock assets from the Unity store, and that several screenshots and pieces of concept art were taken directly from Shadows of Chernobyl.

The whole controversy just got strange from then on. Rather than address the claims, West Games began blaming their criticism on everything from western bias, the information war between Ukraine and Russia, and Forbes being sold to the Chinese. They attacked news websites covering the game, and even attempted to dox trolls. Then someone at West Games thought it would be a good idea to post a letter of congratulations and support from Vladimir Putin, and not as a joke. The campaign was suspended by Kickstarter for suspicious activities, and West Games has since disappeared off the radar.

Now the game is back as STALKER Apocalypse on World Wide Funder, a crowdfunding website that seemingly popped up out of nowhere and is currently home to a library of funding efforts, all but a small handful of which are currently sitting at 0% funding. The funding website was just registered in September of this year, and incidentally has been registered anonymously through domainsbyproxy.com.

While the funding campaign goes to great lengths to differentiate between STALKER and S.T.A.L.K.E.R, likely for legal reasons, there are repeated uses of STALKER with objects that conveniently look like periods to make the logo look like an acronym.

(Source: WWF)

Steam Holiday Auction Exploited, Temporarily Suspended

The Steam Holiday Auction is a temporary event encouraging players to recycle their unused items for gems, which can then be used to bid on games and other Steam goodies. As it turns out, players almost immediately figured out a way to farm gems at no cost to themselves, vastly deflating the value of the gems and causing hyperinflation on the price of even the cheapest games. As a result, Valve has shut down the auction for the time being.

Sorry, but there have been some issues with Gems and the Steam Holiday Auction has been temporarily closed. The elves are working franctically to get the issues sorted out, and the auction will start again as soon as they’re done.

More information will follow as it becomes available.

(Source: Steam)

Take-Two CEO: If You Don't Like It, Don't Buy It

Take-Two CEO and Chairman Karl Slatoff has something to say to the people who want Grand Theft Auto V removed from store shelves: If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. Speaking at the BMO Capital Markets 2014 Technology & Digital Media Conference, Slatoff responded to the news that Target and Kmart have pulled the shooter from stores in Australia, stating that while the decision has not impacted consumer habits, the company is “deeply disappointed.”

“We have 34 million people who bought Grand Theft Auto, and if these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto. And that really just flies in the face of everything that free society is based on. It’s the freedom of expression, and to try to squelch that is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”

Target and Kmart of Australia pulled the game after an online petition of over 40,000 signatures called for its removal over heavily criticised claims that the game incentivizes players to commit sexual violence against women. Target has come under fire by critics for perceived hypocrisy, as the company has stated that it will continue selling media including Game of Thrones and Fifty Shades of Grey, both of which contain explicit sexual violence.

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Take-Two CEO: If You Don’t Like It, Don’t Buy It

“We have 34 million people who bought Grand Theft Auto, and if these folks had their way, none of those people would be able to buy Grand Theft Auto. And that really just flies in the face of everything that free society is based on. It’s the freedom of expression, and to try to squelch that is a dangerous and slippery slope to go down.”

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

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