Category: News

All Points Bulletin Coming To Consoles


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This console generation is a good time to play your favorite MMOs on the couch, or at least it will be over the next year or so. Already host to the likes of DC Universe Online and Final Fantasy XIV, we still have Planetside 2, Everquest Next, Warframe, Neverwinter, and SMITE coming to one or both consoles at some point in the future. Reloaded Productions is the latest title to jump on board the console wagon with the announcement that APB: Reloaded will be hitting Xbox One and Playstation 4 next year.

Reloaded Productions would like to allow players to transfer characters, but is meeting heavy resistance on the idea by Sony and Microsoft.

(Source: VG247)

Xsyon Introduces Farming And Cooking


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Xsyon players will be happy to know that no longer will they need to eat their fish raw. Notorious Games has announced the release of two of Xsyon’s most anticipated features: Cooking and farming. With farming, players will be able to plant their own farms and grow crops, crops that will need to be tended to in order to avoid pests, dehydration, and weeds. The produce from farming, as well as other areas of the game, can be used towards the newly released cooking skill. With cooking, players are able to combine ingredients of various properties to create dishes that provide buffs.

As part of the cooking skill, players will need to take care of where they let their food sit. Dishes and ingredients that are not properly stored will rot, and must be stored in special baskets or in tribe commissaries. You can read more about the update on the official patch notes.

(Source: Notorious Games Press Release)

Destiny Most Pre-Ordered New IP


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While much of the world waits in anticipation for Destiny, Activision is already showing off their trophies. In a statement released today, Activision has declared Destiny as the most pre-ordered new IP in history. Exact numbers have not been detailed, but we know that the game has had a massive response with 4.6 million users taking part in the beta period over the console platforms.

We will surely know post-launch how many copies Destiny has sold.

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Less Massive: Google Pays $19 Million Over Apps


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Google has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay $19 million in refunds for apps and in-app purchases made by children since 2011 when in-app purchases were first introduced to the service. The Federal Trade Commission most notably took issue with the premise that Google didn’t do enough to protect customers from unauthorized purchases on their device, including lack of proper authentication.

The FTC and European Commission have been taking Google, Apple, and Amazon to task over deceptive practices involving in-app purchases on their respective devices, with fines and (for Google) orders to remove the deceptive “free” tag on games. Earlier this month, Facebook games were banned in South Korea under anti-gambling laws until a government agency could individually review the titles.

(Source: Eurogamer)

PSO2 Delayed, Not Cancelled


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Is Phantasy Star Online 2 coming to the west? Some say yes, some say no, and I’m just referring to Sega on different days of the week. We learned from sources last October that Sega didn’t think that the game would be profitable enough to launch in North America and Europe. As it stands, however, Sega recently replied to a tweet for information with a note that they are still working on bringing the game westward.

PSO2 is still delayed. SEGA is currently working on bringing PSO2 to the West and will update as soon as we know more.

More news as it appears.

(Source: VG247)

Zenimax Online Lays Off Staff


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Zenimax Online Studios has confirmed that a number of employees have been laid off from the Elder Scrolls Online development team. The layoffs are an unfortunate but standard part of the process once major development has ended and the surplus of employees brought on to see the game to completion are no longer necessary.

“Now that we are nearly 6 months post launch, we have a thriving online community in a game that runs smoothly.”

The studio continues to invest heavily in Elder Scrolls Online with console release and expansions on their way.

(Source: Joystiq)

Wildstar Announces Server Mergers


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Mega servers are the future, at least in the sense that they allow developers to merge servers without using the term and acting like there is nothing to worry about with the population. Wildstar developer Carbine Studios has revealed that the fledgling MMO will soon see its servers merged similar to DC Universe Online, with one PvE and one PvP server per cluster.

Going the Megaserver route means that we vastly increase server capacity allowing for greater critical mass of our player base, resulting in more people, more groups, more activity and more raids… more of everything that makes WildStar so fun. The Megaservers and their increased player capacity will give fans more options to group up and enjoy WildStar with friends and other players for a long time to come.

To avoid name conflicts, all players will be given a last name.

(Source: Wildstar)

Warframe Coming To Xbox One


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Digital Extremes announced today that the popular free to play shooter Warframe is now available worldwide on Xbox One via Microsoft’s ID@Xbox program. Billed as mmo-lite, Warframe tasks groups of up to four players with making their way through the galaxy to defeat the evil, genocidal Grineer. On the Xbox One, players will be able to take advantage of features including the Xbox Live friends list, Game DVR to record their heroic battles, second screen functionality through Smartglass, and more.

Warframe is already available for download as of this publishing. Those of you on other platforms can continue playing on PC and PS4.

(Source: Digital Extremes Press Release)

City of Heroes: The Mask Comes Off


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At this point in time, the idea that there are talks underway to get City of Heroes back up and running isn’t a secret. The previously unnamed team has been negotiating with NCSoft to acquire City of Heroes with the request that the negotiations themselves be kept secret and with the knowledge that the whole deal could fall apart at any moment, or could never have had a chance of succeeding in the first place. Today, Nathan Downes of Missing Worlds Media (who we spoke to in our most recent interview) posted an update on the negotiations.

You can read the entire post at the link below, but Downes summarizes the proposal as it stands currently.

The proposal as it stands right now (this is not a final form, just the current proposal on the table) is this:

  • The CoH IP would be spun to its own company, to handle licensing. This company would itself license the existing engine from NCSoft for the creation of a maintenance mode, using a binary copy of the i23 server.
  • The existing user database and characters are not part of this arrangement at this time, nor is the source code.
  • An arrangement is to be made to license the trademarks to the various Plan Z projects, CoT, Valiance and H&V, to create a family connection, and to allow each to drop the “Spiritual” portion of successor. This means they can make references to the original game if desired, and to enable the expansion of partnerships. This could be expanded for any of them, should the desire be there.
  • An arrangement is also to be made for the Atlas Park Revival project. As part of the informal agreement we have with them, they would be given an official stamp of approval, and the CoT game build would be licensed to them, to create a kind of “CoH 1.5” and migrate people off of the classic game engine before it finally becomes unsuitable (we expect this to happen around when Windows 9 is released, due to binary compatibility). This can be done because both APR and CoT run on Unreal Engine 4.
  • By being its own firm, the licensing company can also pursue other avenues which were unavailable before.

(Source: Titan Forums)

Play Star Citizen Until September 5th


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I know what you’re thinking: “I want to play Star Citizen, but I don’t want to have to pay like five thousand bucks for a ship I’ll probably lose on day one.” You’re in luck, because Roberts Space Industries has announced that attendees to DragonCon are being given a free flight week-end to try out Star Citizen’s Arena Commander module. With the pass, you’ll be able to walk around the hanger module, sit in a trainer ship, and take flight in arena commander. The pass is active until September 5th.

But Connor, I hear you say, I can’t afford to go to DragonCon! Neither can I, which is why regardless of if you actually attended the convention, you can head on to the link below and use the code DRAGONFLIGHT2K14 to get in on the promotion anyway. Check it out and tell us what you think.

(Source: Star Citizen)