Category: News

RuneScape Shutting Down Spanish Service


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Spanish speaking RuneScape players will log in today to discover some disappointing news about their game: Jagex is sunsetting the Spanish servers. In a post on the Spanish RuneScape website, Mod Pips announced that the Spanish server will no longer be supported as of today, and will shut down on November 3rd. The reason provided is that the service never grasped the level of income needed to justify the expense of translation.

In other words, we find it more expensive to produce and provide support in this version that the gain we get from it, so that as a business, we can not justify their maintenance.

Members coming from Axeso5 will receive an additional 30 days of game time and are encouraged to come over to the English, German, French, or Brazilian Portugese servers (characters can freely log between them). While future Jagex products may be translated into Spanish, with considerations to market prospects, there are no more plans to translate RuneScape any further.

(Source: RuneScape)

Darkfall's Spooky Scary Halloween Event


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Halloween is upon us, and that means spooky events filled with ghosts, goblins, witches, zombies, and even some old string. Beginning October 30th and running for five days, Aventurine wants you to celebrate Halloween in the traditional way: Beating the crap out of monsters. Over the holiday event, certain creatures will spawn with candies for the taking, as well as limited holiday feats that can be completed for their own rewards. Beginning today, you can find Darkfall subscriptions on sale for 50% off.

The sale only runs until the 29th, so don’t be too spooked.

(Source: Aventurine press release)

First TERA Expansion Announced


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Hopefully today’s MMOrning Shot didn’t spoil anything for you. En Masse Entertainment announced the first expansion to TERA, dubbed Fate of Arun. The expansion will task players with exploring the mysterious northern continent of Arun, taking on a new evil power and perhaps saving the native Khirians in the process. The expansion also raises the level cap to 65 and introduces new gear, zones, skills, and dungeons for high level players.

“It’s been an incredible two years since TERA first launched in North America,” said En Masse Entertainment Producer Patrick “Treeshark” Sun. “Fate of Arun will be, without a doubt, the biggest addition to the world of TERA new and returning players have ever seen – and we’re excited to reveal more details in the upcoming weeks.”

(Source: En Masse Entertainent Press Release)

NCWest Layoffs Inbound Across All Departments


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NCSoft has confirmed a round of layoffs at its western operations, affecting all of its studios outside of ArenaNet. The layoffs come as a result of “restructuring of key operations within NC West,” as the developer pushes towards mobile and tablet gaming, as well as emerging technologies. Polygon has cited an unnamed source stating that over sixty members of the Carbine Studios team were laid off.

The statement by NCSoft:

Today we announced a restructuring of key operations within NC West. As a result of this restructuring, we are implementing staff reductions across our Western operations with the exclusion of ArenaNet. While decisions like this are always hard, they are necessary as we begin the implementation of a new strategy designed to strengthen our footing as a leader in global entertainment.

Moving forward, we will continue to focus on our core development capabilities and the intellectual properties (WildStar, Aion, Lineage, and Guild Wars franchises) that have made NCSOFT what it is today. However, we are looking to move into new business segments like mobile and tablet games as well as explore emerging technologies.

Again, the decision to reduce staff was not an easy one, and we sincerely wish everyone well in their next endeavors.

(Source: Polygon)

Valve Pulls Game After Developer Tweets Threat


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Social media has brought many great things to the gaming community, chief among which being a much closer and more personal connection with the people who make our games. Unfortunately, it has also had the effect of giving faces to the otherwise faceless, a voice to those who for the sake of the company’s public image, perhaps shouldn’t be given an open microphone.

Paranautical Activity has been removed from Steam and Valve has terminated its contract with the developer after Mike Maulbeck posted a profanity-laced rant on Twitter. In his tweets, Maulbeck called Valve “incompetent,” lamented the company’s monopoly, and expressed his hopes that the platform would no longer be a monopoly by the time his next game released. Maulbeck posted another tweet that has since been deleted, stating “I am going to kill gabe newell. He is going to die.”

Whether or not the “threat” was genuine is irrelevant to what transpired. At the end of the day, video games are a business and companies like Valve expect a certain amount of professional conduct from their partners. Business issues should be dealt with professionally via email, not through vitriolic rants on Twitter.

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Final Fantasy XIV First Expansion Coming


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Square Enix has announced the first expansion pack for Final Fantasy XIV, set for release in 2015. Dubbed Heavensward, and good luck pronouncing that, the expansion focuses on the city-state of Ishgard, and introduces a new race, new classes, new primals, and new high level content. Players will also have plenty to grind for, with an increased level cap of 60.

(Source: Square Enix Press Release)

Gaming For Good Raising $20 Million For Charity


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While other gaming websites are busy declaring the death of the gamer, they’ve managed to ignore Gaming For Good, a charity platform that brings gamers togethers and rewards donations with video games. The way the system works is that you donate to get points, and those points can be spent on game keys. Gaming for Good doesn’t see a single cent of the donations, and neither do the game developers: the keys are all donated, and there are some triple-a titles on that list.

At the time that this article is published, Gaming for Good has raised $19.8 million of the $20 million goal, and that is in less than three days. The charity event ends on the 19th, so if you have some extra clams, it’d be nice if you could throw some their way. Even if you don’t want any games.

Save the Children is working to reduce the number of malnutrition-related deaths among children under five and women in Ethiopia. ENGINE is the main preventive integrated nutrition project that contributes to this Save the Children impact on the life of Ethiopian Children.

(Source: Gaming For Good)

Jagex Declares Runefest 2014 "Most Successful."


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Jagex has declared this year’s Runefest, a convention for RuneScape fans, the most successful to date. At the festival held at London’s Tobacco Dock, Jagex revealed Chronicle, a collectible card game due to release next year. The convention played host to numerous presentations, Q&A sessions with developers, cosplay events, and other distractions.

At the center of the event, of course, was Jagex’s flagship title RuneScape. In addition to congratulating the game for its continued growth, a 20% bump in subscribers in July alone, design director Mark Oglive took to the stage to announce RuneLabs, an upcoming platform where players will be able to formally suggest ideas to be implemented, giving the community the chance to vote on said updates. RuneScape’s 2015 content schedule was partially revealed, with major updates including world events and a brand new client on their way.

Perhaps most impressive is the notation that 40% of Runefest attendees did not pay a dime of real money for their tickets, buying them using in-game wealth through RuneScape’s PLEX-esque Bond items.

The event also bore witness to an unprecedented broadening of RuneScape bonds usage. The digital currency allowed 40% of RuneFest attendees to obtain event tickets through their in-game wealth. Furthermore, a number of players used bonds to ‘pay’ for their accommodation and flights to the event, allowing them to attend RuneFest without spending a penny of real world money.

More details on Runefest revelations will be made available in the coming months.

(Source: Jagex press release)

City of Steam Merging US Servers


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City of Steam developer Mechanist Games has announced that the three US servers will be merged into one, bringing gamers together and dealing with waning populations. The merger is set to take place on October 21st and is expected to require four to five hours of downtime. Players from servers 2 and 3 will receive compensation in the form of subscription time and resources to compensate for the head start that players on server 1 received by launching several months ahead of the other two.

European players can fire an email off to Mechanist Games to receive a similar compensation.

(Source: City of Steam)