Category: News

Ubisoft's MMO Is The Division


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We’ve suspected an incoming Ubisoft MMO for quite a while, ever since the developer/publisher posted that they were hiring for an unnamed online RPG. At Ubisoft’s conference at this year’s E3, Ubisoft’s David Polfeldt revealed that the game is a massive online shooter named The Division. Not a whole lot is known about the game, other than that it is a third person, massive online shooter set in the United States approximately 72 hours after a biological terrorist attack sends the country into panic. The player is part of a group tasked with maintaining order.

The title has been confirmed for PS4 and XB1 with no PC version planned. The game is planned for release in 2014.

(Source: Game Informer)

Face of Mankind's Successful Kickstarter


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Face of Mankind is a game of player interaction, an open faction system and player-driven economy in a completely dynamic universe. Fall of the Dominion is a restructuring of Face of Mankind, transforming the MMO and bringing it into a new decade with player-created factions, improved combat capabilities, crafting, exploration, progression, and more. Nexeon Technologies launched the Kickstarter for Fall of the Dominion back in early May, and the project is hitting its final days with successful funding just out of reach. With three days to go, the team needs a little over five hundred dollars to complete the funding effort, which will likely be achieved by the time you read this.

Perhaps what is most impressive is the dedication of the community. With three hundred twelve backers donating forty nine thousand dollars, the average donation comes out to nearly one hundred sixty dollars per person, a figure swayed by the few pledges in the multiple thousands (including one six thousand dollar pledge). If you haven’t had a chance to check out Fall of the Dominion, I highly recommend checking out the Kickstarter video below.

(Source: Kickstarter)


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/nexeon/face-of-mankind-fall-of-the-dominion

Lord of the Rings Online: Helm's Deep Announced


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Hold on to your Hobbits, folks, because Turbine is going to take you to Hel(m’s deep) and back. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has announced today that the fifth expansion to Lord of the Rings Online, titled “Helm’s Deep,” will be hitting the long running MMO in Autumn 2013. The content offered in the expansion fits its name, taking players to the battle for Helm’s Deep, continuing the epic storyline and raising the level cap to 95.

“With Helm’s Deep, we’re bringing the War of the Ring to players on a monumental scale,” said Kate Paiz, Executive Producer of The Lord of the Rings Online, Turbine. “Our team is thrilled to create another iconic moment in Middle-earth, and put players in the center of the action.”

Players will be able to take part in the Battle for Helm’s Deep starting at level 10, winning rewards for their contribution whether they win or lose. The expansion also opens up more locations in Westermnet of Rohan, as well as the capital city of Edoras, Dunharrow, and the fortress of Hornburg. Continue the epic storyline and level from 85 to 95.

Helm’s Deep launches this Autumn. More details as they appear.

Neverwinter's Founder Pack Valued $25 Million Yearly


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It all makes sense.

NCSoft Ignored Potential Buyers, Says Report


One of the luxuries of being a reporter is that I can always fall back on the ability to say “well it is a press release, so we have to give the benefit of the doubt.” The same way in which we automatically trust what comes out of a developer’s financial statements on the grounds that just because ENRON lied, doesn’t make all companies suspicious. But with NCSoft, even a simple notice on the Main page is suspect, thanks to the precedent set just a couple years back with the forging of Richard Garriot’s resignation. Sorry, fool me once shame on you.

So when NCSoft published the notice that all options had been exhausted when selling City of Heroes, the game’s fans were understandably suspicious. In a report over at Addicting Info, it appears that NCSoft may have been toying with what constitutes “all options.”

Within short order, two different investment groups (speaking while protected by anonymity) claimed that NCSoft had refused to even discuss a sale, and ignored any and all offers. A company which engages in this kind of behavior is not a good steward of its shareholders’ investment.

Only Addicting Info knows who these developers are, but if NCSoft did ignore even the idea of a sale, this news is just fuel on the growing fire that is NCSoft’s community relations following the surprise closure announcement. For now, however, the SaveCOH movement is not giving up hope.

(Source: Addicting Info)

SaveCOH Responds to NCSoft


Last week NCSoft published a press release to try and quiet the growing masses of angry City of Heroes players. Breaking their previous silence, NCSoft took to the stage to explain that attempts were made to sell the City of Heroes game, but we’re unsuccessful. And as you can see by the comments on our coverage alone, the community is having difficulty swallowing what NCSoft is trying to feed them.

In a press release by SaveCOH, the community presents several questions that they would like answered by NCSoft, including just what counts as “exhaustive efforts” in selling the game, and why potential buyers are reporting no response to their offers.

What attempts were made to sell the IP address, and how they were exhausted.
• Why a number of potential investors who came forward to try and buy the rights, did not receive a response of any kind from NC Soft.
• How NC exhausted all the option, given that the game is not due for closure until November 30, and the fact that there have only been only 32 business days since the announcement of the ‘sunset’ of the game.
• Why NC Soft did not consider combining servers, putting the game in maintenance mode and keeping it running without further developments or updates, or allowing people to create their own, private servers.
• They are calling on campaigners are also calling on NC Soft to publically name a price that they would be willing to accept for either Paragon Studios, or City of Heroes itself.
• And they want to know why a game that was running ‘well in the black’ and had seen an increase in players in the months leading up to the announcement is being closed down, while games such as Guild Wars which are running at a loss, are being kept alive.
• And why NC Soft failed to respond to an invitation from players to play the game with them, or a letter from best-selling author Mercedes Lackey to endorse NC Soft products, free of charge, for a period of five to ten years, for free, if they would be willing to work with players to keep the servers online.

Hopefully we will have more details in the near future. You can find the SaveCOH movement at http://www.cohtitan.com.

(Source: Press Release)

NCSoft Tried Selling City Of Heroes, No Buyers


It’s been over a month since NCSoft announced that City of Heroes would be shutting down, and since then the community has thrown virtually every theory out there as to why there hasn’t been any news from the talks with Paragon Studios.  The question that lays on everyone’s mind is: If NCSoft isn’t willing to keep the game running, why didn’t they try selling the studio/game? As it turns out, they did try. In an announcement on the City of Heroes website, NCSoft offers a small bit of detail on what went down.

We’ve exhausted all options including the selling of the studio and the rights to the City of Heroes intellectual property, but in the end, efforts to do so were not successful. City of Heroes has a special place in all of our hearts, and we want to ensure its reputation and the memories we share for the game end on a high note.

So there is some kind of reassurance that NCSoft at least made an attempt to save City of Heroes. It may not be the answer that they want to hear, but it is an answer nonetheless.

(Source: City of Heroes)

Phantasy Star Universe Sunsets


For Western players, the Phantasy Star Universe has already been over. Originally launched in 2006, Sega first began the MMO’s eventual closure by shutting down the North American and European servers on the PC and Playstation 2 in March 2010. Following, PS2 support in Japan was discontinued in April 2011, and just this month we saw the closure of the Xbox360 servers. Well, yesterday the game has finally come to a close with the closure of Japan’s remaining Phantasy Star Universe servers.

Any remaining Guardian Cash for players will be refunded as Phantasy Star Online 2 credit or as Webmoney AC. The shut down was originally announced at the end of July, and for the last month of service, players were granted access to PSU’s premium course for free.

Black Prophecy Shutting Down In September


I find myself asking this question a lot: Why does everything I love die? Black Prophecy is easily one of Gamigo’s most impressive looking titles, not to mention a unique player in its own right. Launched last year, Black Prophecy is a sci-fi MMO similar to Eve Online but with a more action-oriented control scheme and a more traditional MMO quest system. It wasn’t perfect, but for many players left on their own after the cancellation of Jumpgate Evolution, it was something to call home.

Unfortunately, times have not been so great to the game or its developer. Back in February, we mentioned that Reakktor Media was insolvent and regardless of the quality of Black Prophecy, it wasn’t bringing in enough money to keep afloat. So it comes as terrible news that Black Prophecy will shut down on September 26th. Players will no longer be able to buy cash shop funds starting today.

(Source: Announcement)

Star Trek: Infinite Space Cancelled, No Publisher Found


Star Trek: Infinite Space was announced a couple of years back by Gameforge as a browser-based free to play title. Set in the Deep Space Nine sector of the Star Trek universe, Infinite Space had the consultation powers of Denise and Michael Okuda to make sure that the game stayed true to the series. Unfortunately, times have not been great for the German developer, as last year the company was hit with layoffs that saw 100 staff cut and the cancellation of Mythos and Hellbreed. No longer able to publish the game themselves, Gameforge paused the beta in an attempt to find a co-publisher.

Well it seems that the endeavor has not been met with success, and Games Industry has reported that the project has been cancelled.

“”Unfortunately, our efforts were not successful. So we have decided with a heavy heart to finally abandon the project Star Trek: Infinite Space. The discontinuation is very regrettable. “

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)