Category: News

Free Diablo 3 Ends May 1st: WoW Annual Pass


Diablo 3 is here! Well, the release date and ability to pre-purchase is. While many of you who subscribed to the World of Warcraft annual pass (monthly payments, but locked in for a year) did so for the free mount and beta access to Mists of Pandaria, you may have also done so for the free copy of Diablo 3 that comes with it. Possibly, I don’t want to assume anything.

Now that Diablo 3 has a release date, May 15th, Blizzard has announced that the promotion is coming to a close. If you want that free Diablo 3, you will need to purchase the World of Warcraft annual pass by May 1st, after which your commitment will only net you a free mount and beta access to Mists of Pandaria.

(Source: Battle.net)

Incoming Bot Nuke: March 2012


Jacmob is the creator of RSBuddy, one of the major bots back in the day. Why is he important? Following the bot nuke, and the shuttering of RSBuddy, Jacmob was hired by Jagex to work on anti-bot solutions. In a post on the RSBuddy forums, Jacmob talks about an upcoming March 2012 bot nuke:

It’s been a while since that preliminary bot nuke last October. Now that there’s been time for competent people to move on and various arrangements to be made, I will soon be making my final announcement on RSBuddy. In particular I will speak about the end of RSBuddy and what the approach will be to any further related projects. I will also speak in general terms about the larger bot nuke that’s due in shortly, which should encompass every type of bot and conclude the development time needed to deal with bots for a long while.

Hopefully there will be more details soon.

Return To Telara For One Week


Good news, Telarans. Well, ex-Telarans. It’s been one year since Rift launched, and Trion wants to bring back all of its past subscribers, even those above level 20. Starting today, March 8th, and running until March 14th, anyone with a past subscription to Rift will find their accounts reactivated to join in the festivities. Take part in carnival games, enjoy the festivities, or just go back to your grind.

After the 14th, accounts without a subscription will revert back to Rift Lite, and any character that is above level 20 will be inaccessible without a subscription.

(Source: Rift)

Development Sunsets On Stellar Dawn


Back in August I wrote an article titled “Does Jagex Have Any Enthusiasm For Stellar Dawn?” In it, I referred to the disconnect between the complete lack of information regarding Jagex’s upcoming MMO and the fact that in August of the (at the time) release year, information on the game was virtually nonexistent. No screenshots, very vague trailers, and barely enough information regarding gameplay t fill a synopsis. Considering Jagex’s upcoming release of Transformers Universe, and the fact that Stellar Dawn is already saddled with the major financial disaster that was MechScape, I questioned whether or not Jagex had the will or desire to ever complete Stellar Dawn.

Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard has confirmed today that development on Stellar Dawn has ceased. In a post on the RuneScape forums, Gerhard says that the decision was not made lightly and was driven by the need to concentrate resources on Jagex’s other titles.

Rest assured that we will review the status of the Stellar Dawn project in the future so long as an appetite for the game remains. I hope Jagex can rely on your ongoing support.

So Stellar Dawn’s future is uncertain at best.

(Source: RuneScape forums)

Buffy MMO and Firefly MMO Canned


You may know Multiverse from…well you probably don’t know about Multiverse. You may know about the game engine because of two specific IPs set to have MMOs on the platform: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Firefly. Those looking forward to questing alongside Buffy or traveling the stars in the distant future will have to turn elsewhere. Multiverse has shut down production due to lack of funding, and has ceased operations as of December.

Although thousands of developers showed interest in the Multiverse Platform, Multiverse wasn’t able to achieve a profitable business model. As a result, Multiverse ceased operations in December 2011 due to lack of funding.

This isn’t the end of the Multiverse platform, however. According to the website, a group of people are working to start a nonprofit foundation to take over the platform and to support developers who still wish to use the engine.

(Source: Multiverse Website)

The MMO That Wasn't: The Agency


Looking at the success of games like CrimeCraft and the sales Tribes: Ascend during its continued beta period, I can’t help but feel that The Agency got the very short end of the stick when Sony cancelled it earlier this year. Perhaps if Sony had licensed an IP, say James Bond, the game would have gathered the internal enthusiasm to be thrown in the chopping block over, say, existing costs that show little promise. While Sony never made an official statement at the time, given their desire to release DC Universe as free to play in early 2011, it might be safe to say that The Agency would also have been released under a similar model. Instanced shooters are great, but historically have not proven to be viable subscription titles.

In the grand scheme of things, The Agency was likely a side project that Sony was working on alongside their other more serious projects, and when the company hit hard financial times and had to lay off a massive amount of people, it was the first project to get the boot. Perhaps at some point in the future, The Agency will be revived and Sony will continue where they left off.

But I’m an optimistic person.

The MMO That Wasn’t: The Agency


Looking at the success of games like CrimeCraft and the sales Tribes: Ascend during its continued beta period, I can’t help but feel that The Agency got the very short end of the stick when Sony cancelled it earlier this year. Perhaps if Sony had licensed an IP, say James Bond, the game would have gathered the internal enthusiasm to be thrown in the chopping block over, say, existing costs that show little promise. While Sony never made an official statement at the time, given their desire to release DC Universe as free to play in early 2011, it might be safe to say that The Agency would also have been released under a similar model. Instanced shooters are great, but historically have not proven to be viable subscription titles.

In the grand scheme of things, The Agency was likely a side project that Sony was working on alongside their other more serious projects, and when the company hit hard financial times and had to lay off a massive amount of people, it was the first project to get the boot. Perhaps at some point in the future, The Agency will be revived and Sony will continue where they left off.

But I’m an optimistic person.

Star Wars Galaxies Memoir Book


Star Wars Galaxies shut down a week ago, but it already feels like a lifetime. Whether you are a long time fan of the MMO, played a little now and then, or never had a chance to dive in, the crew over at Sony want to give you a chance to relive some fond moments. If you head over to the Galaxies website, Sony has uploaded a memory book full of screenshots and snippets from Galaxies.

This is no light reading, either. The book itself is 250 pages thick and covers all of Galaxies from launch to its shuttering last Thursday. I should warn those with slow internet connections: This is a 252 page PDF document.

(Source: Star Wars Galaxies Memory Book)

Star Wars Galaxies: Final Address To The Community


Looking back on Star Wars Galaxies and all these years I am so thankful for being able to be a part of the Star WarsGalaxies community both as the Producer and as a fan. It would not have been the incredible experience that it was without you, the players and fans, the dedicated team of people who worked on it over the years and the fantastic Star Wars® galaxy itself, which offered us a very unique and compelling place to explore, fight, play, make friends, and build our homes.

This is a book of memories, so let me start with a few of my own.

When I was a little boy, my father brought me to the movies to see a new science fiction film that he heard was pretty good. What I remembered most was the feeling of awe I had back then, and still feel to this day. Once I had experienced Star Wars, my life would never be the same again. In May of 2004, I walked into the office at Sony Online Entertainment to start a new job working on a game based on the very same story that had amazed me in my youth. Cool! I was very excited. All I wanted to do then was learn how this thing worked, and I spent the next seven years doing just that. I can say that not a day passed in the development of Star Wars Galaxies where I didn’t learn something new. Each day presented different challenges and solving them was always a rewarding accomplishment. It is everyone’s hope to find a job that you look forward to each and every day. Being a developer onStar Wars Galaxies was just that kind of job for me.

Star Wars means something different to each of us. That’s why we played Star Wars Galaxies. On June 26th, 2003, SOE and LucasArts released Star Wars Galaxies and, for the first time, you could play online with your friends in the Star Wars universe. I was amazed at how much there was to do in the game – player housing, crafting, entertaining, combat, and more. One of the most exciting times for all of us on the team was the launch of the Jump to Lightspeed expansion, which let players fly and battle it out in space in a true 3D simulation. Now we could all truly live out our Star Wars fantasies. It was like being a kid again.

Continue reading “Star Wars Galaxies: Final Address To The Community”

Mythos Shutting Down In Europe


If you live in the US and were eagerly awaiting the North American release of Mythos (and let’s face it, how many among us can honestly say we weren’t holding off only Old Republic preorders), you will be disappointed to hear that those prospects for a release and long life span have dropped rather significantly. In the EU, Mythos already launched under Frogster. In the United States, Hanbitsoft will be taking the reigns.

Of course, if you were waiting for Mythos to launch in North America, you’d know that Codemasters is shutting down Mythos in Europe, following what the company described as a great launch and then a terrible retention rate (and as I’ve pointed out time and time again, it’s all about retention in this business).

MYTHOS enjoyed great popularity with the launch in April and the numerous registered users ensured a good start. The desired long-term success unfortunately did not follow. Under these circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue the operation of MYTHOS.

This puts Mythos’ life span at about six months. Players who bought into the game will be compensated via credits for Runes of Magic, and potentially beta keys for Codemasters’ upcoming title Eligium.

You can read the entire announcement here.