Category: News

Darkfall's Return Promo Caveat


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Aventurine has launched a brand new promotion to bring in new and returning Darkfall players. Starting February 5th and heading into the 13th, Aventurine has discounted the cost of the client by 75%, as well as 45% off of a six month subscription. Existing players with accounts in good standing will find that they are able to log in and play for free through the same period. The catch? You’ll have to contact support to reactivate your character if you’ve been gone for a while.

Please Note: Regarding the Return to Darkfall players: If your account has been inactive for over 3 months, your character is stored. In order to restore the character you need to contact support by submitting a support ticket and they will do it for you as quickly as possible.

Hopefully Aventurine’s support will be able to get to those characters in a timely manner.

(Source: Darkfall)

Transformers MOTA Set For Summer Launch


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Jagex’s Transformers Online, or “Not RuneScape” as I have referred to it in the past, has admittedly struggled in its development. Originally announced in 2011 for a 2012 release date, Jagex announced at the back end of 2012 that Transformers Online would be completely repurposed as a MOBA-style game and released in 2013. Why? Because Transformers don’t bake bread. As you might expect, this ground-up rebuild meant that the game would not make its 2013 release either.

In a news post released yesterday, Jagex announced that Transformers Online is primed and ready for a Summer 2014 release.

So here’s the big news. We are 100% set to launch Transformers Universe this Summer, and will be progressively inviting an ever-widening portion of the BETA community to enjoy the game before opening it to the rest of the world this summer!

The internal release date set for Transformers Universe is June, as stated by a Jagex employee on the official forums.

(Source: Transformers Universe)

Broadsword Online Reviving Mythic's MMOs


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Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot players have reason to rejoice today, as both communities were notified that Broadsword Online Games will be taking over development of both titles. Founded by fourteen members of the Mythic Entertainment team, including Mythic co-founder Rob Denton, Broadsword Online was formed to take the development of both games off of EA’s hands. Broadsword is not an Electronic Arts studio, but rather is operating on behalf of EA for both MMOs.

There aren’t any details on who the rest of the team includes, although we can surmise that the skeleton crews on both games are likely among the staff.

(Source: Broadsword Online)

Biggest Update Yet Coming To The Old Republic


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I suppose that “not as big as last year’s update” doesn’t have as much of a ring to it. Bioware has released the 2014 roadmap for The Old Republic, detailing some of the updates to come in the first half of the year. This month sees the full launch of the Galactic Starfighter digital expansion, which subscribers and preferred members already have access to. March will bring in a double experience weekend, and April will see several updates to the game’s flashpoints, operations, and more.

For June, Bioware has teased Update 2.8, described as the biggest update to this point.

  • And much more… this is going to be the biggest update up to this point – we will reveal more once we are a bit closer to June

More information to come soon.

(Source: The Old Republic)

Everquest Landmark Drops 32-bit OS Support


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Gamers looking forward to seeing Everquest Next Landmark on 32-bit operating systems can officially put their dreams to rest. Dave Georgeson posted on Twitter today to announce that there will be no 32-bit version of the game.

Another News Flash: Landmark is going to have to be a 64-bit OS game *only*. We are going to be unable to support 32-bit OS as we had hoped.

Unfortunate indeed, but unavoidable due to unforeseen technical issues. For those who already purchased Landmark, SOE is offering refunds with no questions asked.

(Source: Twitter)

Akaneiro's Team Down To Two People


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Akaneiro has fallen on troubled times. In a post on the Kickstarter page, American McGee commented that the game’s two hundred grand pledge goal was set on the grounds that revenue from the game would be enough to sustain further development. It wasn’t. A number of unexpected costs coupled with feedback that the game simply wasn’t fun led to a massive financial hole for Spicy Horse.

In total, around 360 man-months have gone towards development, bringing our investment in dollars to nearly $2 million USD. In that same period, we’ve generated roughly 300kUSD in revenue – this includes funds collected via the Kickstarter campaign, F2P purchases in-game, and one-time purchases via Steam. In simple math: We’ve spent $2 million, we’ve made $300k, we’re “in the hole” $1.7 million.

So what does this mean? The development team for Akaneiro has been reduced to two people, slowing progress for the foreseeable future. Depending on the performance of The Gate, Spicy Horse may divert more resources to Akaneiro in the future. For now, the future doesn’t seem so bright.

(Source: Kickstarter)

Is Sony's New MMO A Zombie Game?


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John Smedley is a man after my own heart, because what would be better for the company heavily invested in everything that SOE is doing other than to announce yet another MMO? We know from Smedley’s Twitter that there is definitely an MMO in the works, one that is dedicated to Star Wars Galaxies fans, presumably those who have been disgruntled with the developer ever since the New Game Enhancements way back when. Since then, Smedley posted two pictures on Twitter of in-game houses that were confirmed to be related to this upcoming MMO. So what is it?

Super sleuth Ste2000 over at the MMORPG.com forums found that Sony Online Entertainment filed a trademark last month for H1Z1, which sounds suspiciously like an MMO:

Computer game software and video game software; downloadable multiplayer, role playing, real time computer and video game software via an online website for entertainment purposes

H1Z1 is the name of a hoax zombie virus that spread around the internet claiming to be a strain of the H1N1. This isn’t a guarantee that Sony will do anything with the trademark, as developers are often known to file trademarks for products that die in concept/development.

(Source: MMORPG.com)

Blade & Soul Expanding Again…To Japan


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Prepare your expletive buttons, as they are about to get a workout. The good news is, Blade & Soul is once again expanding. Following the game’s massive success in China, NCSoft is following up on its 2011 announcement to bring the game overseas…to Japan. Sorry, westerners, but if you look to your right you will find several expired issues of Highlights magazine* with which to pass the time waiting. There is currently no ETA on when the Japanese servers will launch.

*magazine delivery not currently planned for North America, South America, Europe, and Oceanic regions.

(Source: MMO Culture)

Everquest Landmark NDA Lifted


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The Everquest Next Landmark alpha has been up for less than 24 hours, and John Smedley has taken to Twitter to announce that the nondisclosure agreement has officially been lifted. Players are allowed to talk about what they want, stream what they want, and post screenshots as they want.

The NDA is officially lifted for EQNL. Have fun. It will be Monday before we can yank it from the game

As far as people getting the wrong impression from the state of the alpha, “that’s life,” says Smedley.

(Source: Twitter)