News – Page 457 – MMO Fallout

Roblox Kicks Off Winter Games Competition

Grab your virtual snowboard and tobaggen and suit up for cold weather, because the ROBLOX Winter Games has officially begun. Beginning today and heading through February 10th, ROBLOX players will be able to compete in five different events, including snowboarding, snowball fights, racing, and even a tank battle. Each event has a leaderboard, badges, and a set of hats to earn for completing said badges. Furthermore, players will receive medals for placing in each event.

So what’s special about this? Every event featured in the Winter Games, including the ski lodge lobby, was developed by a select group of developers under 18 years old. It is incredible to see what people are capable of with ROBLOX.

(Source: ROBLOX press release)

Final Fantasy XIV Now Selling Physical Time Cards

I’m not horsing around. Those of you who prefer to keep your precious credit card data out of the hands of those prone-to-theft businesses are likely the same group as those who refuse to buy a subscription MMO without the option to buy time cards. After all, why not? Turbine has had multiple billing issues, as has Mortal Online and Warhammer, among others. Sony was hacked, stores have had their databases compromised, it seems like cash is the only safe method of payment for anything these days.

The good news is that players will be able to buy 60 day access cards for Final Fantasy XIV. They cost $30 and are available in stores in North America as well as on Square Enix’s website, the latter of which makes the whole “don’t have to use your credit card” part moot. Check out Final Fantasy XIV at a store near you.

(Source: Square Enix press release)

Funcom Offices Raided By Economic Crime Unit

News out of Norway is that Funcom employees showing up to work this morning were met by the economic crimes unit Økokrim. Police raided the Funcom offices, retrieving boxes full of seized documents. According to News in English, the raid is related to an investigation over whether or not Funcom breached disclosure requirements related to The Secret World, as well as who had access to inside information leading up to the game’s release. Funcom is also being charged with negligent bookkeeping according to a news post on the Oslo stock exchange, from which the company has been delisted until the investigation is complete.

This isn’t the first time that The Secret World has landed someone in hot water. Funcom’s former CEO Tron Aas came under investigation after he left his position and offloaded his shares of Funcom the day before The Secret World launched and Funcom’s stock plummeted. Employees have reportedly been sent home for the day.

(Source: News in English)

Elder Scrolls Online Pre-Order Bonuses

Yesterday the details for the Elder Scrolls Online collector’s edition leaked on the Amazon page for Dishonored, and today the details have been confirmed with Zenimax opening the game up for preorder. There are two bundles to choose from, standard and collector’s edition, and both have already sparked some controversy among fans. Preordering either edition automatically grants players the Explorer’s Pack, which includes the obligatory 5-day early access, vanity pet, and bonus treasure maps. The Explorer’s Pack allows players to roll on any faction, regardless of their race. Currently this is only listed as a preorder exclusive.

The Imperial Edition includes a metric ton of loot, including a 224 page illustrated book, a 12 inch Molag Bal statue, and a map of Tamriel. In-game, players receive a white horse mount, mudcrab pet, tradeable rings that grant bonus experience when grouped, and the ability to play as the Imperial race. To play devil’s advocate for a moment, anyone who purchases the standard edition has the option to later upgrade to the digital collector’s. The art of selling exclusive races seems to be getting more common, with last year’s Neverwinter offering an exclusive Drow race only with the purchase of a $200 package.

For now, check out the Arrival trailer.

Rise of the Ourobani Launches Today

The day has come, Hell has frozen over, pigs are flying, and cows are lactating chocolate milk. Earlier today, the folks at Quest Online took to Twitter to announce that the server for Alganon has been taken down in order to patch in the Rise of the Ourobani expansion. Originally announced in June 2011 for a release by the end of that year, the expansion has seen some turbulence in its development. Rise of the Ourobani includes flying mounts, a new race called the Ourobani (go figure), a new ranged class called the Warden, and a host of other changes.

Player housing was originally intended to launch alongside Rise of the Ourobani, however it had to be delayed in order to get the expansion out the door. After today’s launch, the folks at Quest Online hope to continue work on housing, future classes/races, and more.

(Source: Twitter)

Elder Scrolls Online Ignores PSN Subscription

The Elder Scrolls Online launches in just a few months on current gen consoles and PC, and playing on the Playstation 4 just became a little cheaper. In a blog post on the Playstation website, Zenimax Game Director Matt Firor revealed that The Elder Scrolls Online will not require an active Playstation Plus subscription in order to play.

Conversely, Elder Scrolls Online on the Xbox One does require an Xbox Live subscription in order to play, which owners of the console will already have if they play anything else online.

(Source: Playstation Blog)

Perfect World Arc Client Freebie: Khan Costume

Remember that Star Trek film where the guy shouts “Khan!” really loud? No I’m not talking about Into Darkness, I’m referring to the second film in the original series, The Wrath of Khan. Now you too can look like Khan, or at least dress the part. The Arc client is Perfect World’s central hub slash community portal through which you’ll be able to download and launch any of the games in their library.

To give a little incentive to use the program, Perfect World has put up free Khan costumes.

Claiming your exclusive uniforms is easy! Simply log into Star Trek Online via the Arc client and read the “thank you” message from the team that will be waiting for you in your in-game mailbox. After, make sure to stop by the tailor and outfit your captain in the incredible Khan uniforms pictured above.

If you’re not a Khan-man, don’t feel left out. Check out the link below for codes to Perfect World’s other games, including costumes, perks, and consumables in their respective games.

(Source: Perfect World press release)

EverEmber Beta V2 Releases Today

Here at MMO Fallout, we love games like EverEmber Online, so we were excited to see that the latest beta version will be releasing Monday, January 27th. The server is scheduled to come up at 5pm eastern, but you can download the client now and preload up to the latest release version. If you have never heard of the title, EverEmber Online aims to recreate the experience of 90’s MMOs driven more by experience than by holding you through a story. If you also hadn’t noticed, the game looks like retro 16-bit titles.

Check it out at the link below.

(Source: EverEmber Online)

SOE Shutting Down Four MMOs

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that four of their MMOs will be shut down later this year: Wizardry Online, Free Realms, Vanguard, and Clone Wars Adventures. Free Realms and Clone Wars are set to shut down March 31st with Wizardry and Vanguard following on July 31st. Sony attributes the sunsetting of Free Realms and Clone Wars as being due to its user base growing up and finding new games, while Wizardry Online was due to a mutual agreement with the publisher. In the case of Vanguard, SOE was unable to get past technical issues with the game’s outdated engine.

player population numbers have decreased making it difficult to justify the resources needed to support and update this game. This is an older game and we’re experiencing more and more technical challenges to continue running and updating it in a way you deserve. Simply put, these are issues that cannot be fixed in the long term and as a player, we would be doing you a disservice and going against our company commitment to provide the best gameplay experiences. So given this information, sunsetting the game later this year is the inevitable conclusion.

Vanguard is the oldest title to shut down, having launched in 2007, with Free Realms and Clone Wars going live in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Wizardry Online launched last January. Vanguard being shut down is especially saddening when you consider that (prior to being stopped by technical issues) the company seemed rather excited to start working on it. Still, the good news is that workers affected by the shutdowns were apparently absorbed into the SOE hive mind to work on other projects.

(Source: Vanguard Announcement, Clone Wars Announcement, Wizardry Announcement, Free Realms Announcement)

RuneScape Beta Introduces Combat Tweaks

A news post has appeared on the RuneScape website detailing large updates coming to the game’s Evolution of Combat system. Currently in beta testing, the updates include adding weapon-specific special attacks back into the game as abilities. Also on the table is a function to queue abilities, action bar setups, quickly change loadouts, as well as multiple smaller changes.

These are some of the larger features we’re working on, but there are plenty of smaller improvements coming up too. With these changes, we hope Evolution of Combat will be more appealing to all types of players, adding more depth for experts, while making it more accessible to those just starting out. But that’ll be for you to decide.

Players interested in testing out the upcoming changes and giving their feedback can log in to the RuneScape beta servers, which you can find on the main website. The combat beta does not affect your progress in the live game.

(Source: RuneScape)

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