Why does everyone have tiny heads? If you have to ask, you don’t know the answer. Luckily, ArenaNet is here to solve this age-old question, of which you are apparently the only person who has yet to figure out. Starting today, Guild Wars 2 players will find that their heads have been inflated to a more normal size.
The procedure is not optional, by order of the Red Queen.
Anytime you have separation point between a publisher and a developer, the question is inevitably raised as to just how much control the publisher has in the relationship. We have seen publishers take over development of a game from its developers all the way down to publishers only capable of forwarding bug reports to the developers for them to fix. The ultimate answer we seek in judging where the scale tips is so we know who to blame when the things hit the fan and players want to know who is responsible for mucking things up.
In the case of ArcheAge, at least we know that Trion is in full control of the cash shop. As Community Manager Scapes posted, Trion controls the content and the pricing.
“We decide what’s in it and at what price, simple as that.”
You can check out the entire Q&A at the link below.
(Source: ArcheAge Q&A)
The folks at Reloaded Productions have put out a new dev blog highlighting upcoming changes to APB: Reloaded’s engine. As some of you may know, All Points Bulletin is set to receive an upgrade to the latest version of the Unreal Engine 3, or the 2013 build to put it in another perspective. Updating to the latest version of UE3 means taking advantage of all of the improvements made over the past six years. The team is looking at getting the update out “as-is,” meaning players won’t be seeing any graphical improvements to the game at first. Over the longer run, however, APB should be capable of visual enhancements as well as a number of new features previously impossible.
Check out the entire blog post at the link below.
(Source: APB Reloaded)
Hunted Cow Studios has announced the first expansion for Eldevin, titled A Tale of Sands and Shards, is set for release on April 3rd. Sands and Shards increases the level cap and skill cap to 45, bringing with it new recipes, abilities, and more. The expansion will also see the launch of five new zones and forty five dungeons featuring seven new challenging bosses. Players will also be able to enjoy brand new class-specific weapon sets.
A Tale of Sands and Shards launches April 3rd and will be available for free.
(Source: Hunted Cow)
Perfect World Entertainment has sent us over an infographic on Neverwinter since the launch of Shadowmantle. Over 2.2 million characters have been created and 3.5 million have died in PvP battles. Check out the entire infographic below.
Perfect World Entertainment has announced that Dungeons & Dragons is coming to Neverwinter. To be more specific, April 1st will see the adventurers answering the call of Respen Durothil, transformed into a miniature figurine and used in a rousing tabletop game of Dungeons & Dragons. Those who complete this adventure will have an opportunity for new rewards, including a green slime companion.
Respen’s Marvelous Game launches on April 1st. For those keeping track, that is the first of April.
(Source: Neverwinter)
Trion Worlds has announced the fifth DLC pack for Defiance, Arktech Revolution, which seems to be aimed at improving quality of life features in the MMO shooter. Set for release this April, Arktech Revolution will see an increase to both the EGO rank cap and point cap, as well as the introduction of new perks to invest those extra points in. In addition to the increased level cap, players will also find that higher EGO rating makes a big difference on your abilities including damage, health, and shield functionality. To keep the game balanced, the population of NPCs are similarly seeing an overhaul with new abilities and designs. Events will scale dynamically based on the number of players present, with the promise that new players will not be left out.
Finally, some long awaited improvements to damage output and grenades. With DLC #5, weapon types will become more pronounced in their abilities, such as incendiary weapons being more effective against flesh or radiation being able to penetrate armor. There is also a new damage-mitigating buff called armor which does not recharge passively and must be recharged at an extraction point. And finally grenades, stims, and spikes will be receiving an overhaul to hopefully be less tedious to obtain. Enemies will now drop universal “charges” that refill specified items.
You can check out the entire announcement at the link below.
(Source: Defiance)
Mail.ru has announced that nearly fifty eight thousand accounts have been punished for destructive behavior on ArcheAge Russia, for activity including spamming and using bot programs. In addition, the publisher noted that two thousand accounts had been banned for taking advantage of exploits, with the players in the first category receiving chat blocks.
Among the list of exploits that were patched and banned include “counterfeiting of information transmitted from the client to the server,” packet spoofing to obtain items that players should not have access to, exploiting a bug to increase the maximum amount of potions one can carry, killing bosses via packet spoofing, and more. Mail.ru asks players to submit any bugs or exploits that they find.
(Source: ArcheAge)
Aventurine recently launched its March update, bringing with it weather effects, masks, clan markets, and more. To give players more of an incentive to join back up, Aventurine has invited beta players for two weeks of free game time. Eligible gamers should have already received an email by the time this article is published, so make sure you check your inbox/spam folder. To take part in the beta, simply send an email or support ticket with your username and “Returning Beta Player” in the subject line. We managed to have our account enabled around fifteen minutes after sending in the ticket.
The two week offer expires April 4th. Current subscribers can sign up for a six month package at 45% off.
Webzen has announced the unification of its three game portals, bringing together its own games under a single portal with gPotato and gPotato EU. Players will have easy access to all of Webzen and gPotato’s library of games, including the upcoming launch of Archlord II.
“A total of over 40 million players, from 150 countries, will be able to play and enjoy their favourite games together. This is what online games are all about – fostering online friendship.”
Webzen acquired gPotato as well as its parent company, Gala-Net, for a small sum last month.
(Source: Webzen Press Release)
MMO Fallout 