PSA: Steam Sale Starts This Week


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MMO Fallout would like to issue a public service announcement to remind our viewers that the Steam Summer Sale begins June 23rd and runs through July 4th. In preparation for the sale, we’ve listed some tips to help you spend wisely.

  • Because of Steam refunds, daily sales are no longer a thing. Once a game is on sale it will stay at that price for the duration of the sale.
  • Games purchased during Steam sales are still eligible for refunds. Same rules apply, two weeks and under two hours of gameplay.
  • If you bought a game in the past week, played past the refund period, and it goes on sale, try emailing Steam customer service and ask for the sale price. It isn’t 100% guaranteed to work, but it has for some in the past.
  • Buy Steam Wallet cards: Thanks to an incredible Steam sale back in 2013 where I inexplicably wound up spending about $200, I now buy Steam wallet cards and remove the credit card off of my account during Steam sales. We all like to think of ourselves as fully in control until those 75% markers start showing up.
  • Build a wishlist: Pick the games you really want and throw them on a wishlist. There will be tens of thousands of Steam games on sale and not nearly enough time to wade through them.
  • Steam Bundles: It used to be that Steam bundles were worthless if you owned one or more games in the collection. It is now possible for publishers to pro-rate their collections, so you’ll still get the sale price minus the cost of whatever games in the collection you already own.
  • Pricing Errors: Guaranteed to happen once or twice over the course of the sale due to some publisher placing the decimal point in the wrong spot. This happens right when the sales change and are fixed within minutes, so grab them fast. A few lucky users managed to pick up Tropico 4 for less than a dollar a couple of years back.
  • Trading cards can be obtained in your games and sold for cash money (Steam wallet cash money anyhow). In most games, you can simply idle and gather up their trading cards to sell on the open Steam market. Ten cents here, twenty cents there, it adds up over time and means your games can effectively fund other games.
  • Check the competition: Just because a game is on sale on Steam doesn’t mean you’re getting the best price. Before you hit that buy button, check out https://isthereanydeal.com/ for competing prices. You may just get a better deal.

If you have any tips of your own for Steam shopping, leave a comment in the box below and let us know.

In Plain English: Epic Sues Paragon Cheat Maker


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Epic Games has launched a lawsuit against German gamer Robin Kreibich under allegations that the defendant violated copyright by selling cheat software for their upcoming MOBA game, Paragon. The program, known as SystemCheats, claims to be the most powerful hack for Paragon and sells as a monthly subscription for approximately $10/month.

The hack promises to give players perfect aiming with “smooth aim” to make their movement seem more natural and presumably less likely for manual detection. According to the creator, the hack is “fully undetected” and can be used with no risk for being banned. Evidently that immunity hasn’t protected Kreibich from court, but the more intrepid viewers might be wondering why a German citizen is being sued in a US district court in California by a game developer based in Maryland. The answer involves some legal wrangling.

Epic Games issued a takedown of Kreibich’s Youtube videos demonstrating how the hack works. When a person files a counter-notice to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown, by Youtube’s own terms of service they consent that any legal matters will be taken care of in Youtube’s judicial district.

It also helps Epic Games that the lawsuit be held in California’s northern district court. Back in 2013, Blizzard won its lawsuit against Ceiling Fan Software simply under the breach of contract charge. The courts agreed that the cheat software was sold with the knowledge that it would breach the contract between World of Warcraft and its users, and the court awarded $7 million in damages and an injunction against Ceiling Fan Software from selling, developing, licensing, or allowing others to use their bot software.

Epic Games is demanding a trial by jury, as well as unspecified damages including reimbursement of their own legal fees.

More coverage to come.

(Source: Scribd)

Crowdfunding Fraudsters: Legend of Zelda On Unreal


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Fraudster:
2a:  a person who is not what he or she pretends to be :impostor;

Gather around, students, for it is time for another Crowdfunding Fraudsters courtesy of MMO Fallout and a never ending legion of people whose motivations are, shall we say for the sake of legal liability, questionable? The reason we call this segment Crowdfunding Fraudsters, rather than say ‘Kickstarter Scam Artists,’ and put the definition right at the beginning is to forward the idea that this isn’t a witch hunt. Most of the projects covered under this segment are merely the ill-informed dreams of ignorant fans. They either lack the business knowledge, the legal understanding, or the programming experience to see their projects to completion. In short, they are impersonating someone who can run a competent crowdfunding campaign.

Today’s project is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time ported to the Unreal Engine 4 so PC gamers can play it. It sounds like an invitation for a cease & desist from Nintendo, but the campaign has been up and running for a while now so let’s give it the benefit of the doubt.

Let’s find out about the creator.

My name is Joseph I am the current lead developer and coming from Germany / Italy and i think im Well known for the Nintendo character creation in Unreal Engine 4 🙂

As a game developer, being well known as the guy who steals Nintendo assets and ports them to other engines probably isn’t something to be especially proud of, although that resume would have gotten you a job at Silicon Knights years back.

This game will never be allowed to be sold so for the project to ever be completed it must be crowd funded. You are the only ones who can help with the competition I hope to make this a three person team as you can see from the demos we have posted so far this game is coming along, and most of the main maps are complete.

Here’s the thing that people don’t seem to understand about copyright, and I won’t go into the whole idea of profit motive as a concept just yet. It is illegal to just 1:1 recreate a game on a different engine and sell it for money, I think we can all agree on that basic point. With that in mind, creators like Joseph tend to think that if they don’t charge up front for something that they can’t legally sell, but ask for donations or contributions that it’s suddenly alright in the eyes of the law.

Spoiler: It isn’t. It also doesn’t help that the campaign is going to directly sell the game, as it admits right afterward:

IT WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR ALL TO DOWNLOAD AFTER A SMALL CONTRIBUTION $1 MINIMUM

Joseph needs $2,500 to make Legend of Zelda on Unreal Engine 4 a reality, but the goal is flexible because why demand the whole pot when you can hope to lure in some hapless chap for $50? With about 20 hours left to go as of this publishing, not a single person has fallen into this campaign.

The good news is that you can be listed as a producer with nothing more than a mere $15 contribution. For $500, you can be listed as the sole executive producer.

My advice to the creator: You do more benefit to your image and portfolio by creating original works. Nintendo is not well known for its patience when it comes to unlicensed works, and asking for money is just adding gasoline to the inevitable fire.

Indiegogo

Planetside Shutting Down July 1st


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April and May were really exciting months for us with the release of the new Construction System, base revamp of Indar, and new population caps to improve battle flow. It’s been exciting to watch all of you experiment with base design and shift battles in new directions. A big thanks to all of you who have jumped in to try it out and given us feedback.

While we hope you are as excited as we are about the recent changes, we do have to make a more solemn announcement. On July 1st, at 4:00 PM PT, we will be closing the PlanetSide 1 server. PlanetSide 1 has a very important history with Daybreak Games and a special place in the hearts of those who work on its successor. While we have run the game for free since 2014, due to evolving business needs and technical requirements it has become necessary to conclude this service.

We hope you will take this opportunity to enjoy the remaining time available with each other and please help us give PlanetSide 1 the sendoff it deserves.

Planetside was supported likely only by the grace of John Smedley and nostalgia, and since Smedley is no longer present and Daybreak has been axing projects left and right in an effort to reduce spending, it was only a matter of time before this ancient shooter got the axe.

(Source: Planetside 2)

Guild Wars 2: World V World Poll Now Available


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Should the Desert borderlands be removed from Guild Wars 2 World vs World? The team at Arenanet is holding a community poll and wants your opinion on whether or not the changes would provide a superior play experience. Players can log in and vote at the link below.

Vote here.

Video: The Secret World Museum of the Occult


Funcom has posted a new video showing off the Museum of the Occult, a cross between a place to display your achievements and The Secret World’s answer to player housing. The museum serves as a space to show off your progress and purchase rewards.

Waiting for players who complete the entire museum is a unique item that will “really turn the tides of battle,” according to the developer post.

The Museum of the Occult is a brand-new feature that allows you to collect, display, and customize exhibits of monsters in your own personal Museum.  The Museum allows you to customize displays based on your collected achievements and lore on The Secret World’s bestiary. It is a personalized space where you are able to place full-size exhibits of monsters you’ve encountered and learned about. Once you’ve set up your Museum, you can even invite your friends to visit and bask in your glory.

In addition to offering visual trophies, players also are able to purchase new rewards, including T-Shirts designed by members of our community, pets, Grim Glamours, and consumables that grant a chance to call upon monstrous guardians to assist you in combat!

The Realistic Future of MMO Fallout


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So I can halt any fears: This is not a shut-down announcement or news that I’m getting bought out.

With MMO Fallout’s seventh (good lord) anniversary coming up, I wanted to discuss the realistic future of this website and how I see things changing in the coming months. If you’re a regular viewer of this website, you’ve probably noticed the not-so-subtle change in direction over the past year. Even if you’re not a regular, I can probably assume you have at least some interest in the MMO genre and have noticed how that has changed.

So where to begin? I conceived MMO Fallout as a spinoff of an earlier project in 2009 to document the rise and fall of developers piling onto the genre after the success of World of Warcraft. The name, and thus the current logo, reflects how success and failure has a rippling effect in the industry. Since its launch, the scope has expanded far beyond the original vision, and the industry has changed quite dramatically.

We’ve gone from a world where MMOs were quite easily defined to one where the lines have been blurred to the point of irrelevance. Everyone has a progression system, everyone has microtransactions, everyone has persistent online features, not every MMO has a hub world. With the exception of a few titles, the answer to “how is this an MMO” can only be answered with “because I believe it to be.”

In that respect, coverage has become a lot harder because I have to constantly ask how far I’m willing to stretch my own definition in order to cover something that I think is important. I’d sit down and look at a game and think “does this count? Not really, but it is 95% like another game that I did cover,” and that policy over five years has slowly diluted the overall pot. As the scope of coverage has expanded to include serious issues of consumer protection, like Steam’s refund policy, developers revoking fraudulently purchased keys, etc, I’ve had to throw those definitions out so many times that they don’t even feel relevant anymore.

For those of you who have your ad-blockers on and wouldn’t notice, this website doesn’t serve ads. It has never generated a profit or a revenue stream, and I used all of my pay from writing for MMORPG.com to cover this website’s costs. So in writing, I consider two things: interest and time. People read how to fix your FFXIV demo, or about lawsuits. According to my metrics, they don’t come here for patch notes, so I stopped writing about them.

Yea, yea, stop rambling. This was supposed to be about the future.

So where does MMO Fallout go from here?

  • More coverage of important events. Game launches, developer shuffling, new studios, etc.
  • Less coverage that boils down to small patch notes.
  • More time spent following up on previous coverage.
  • Less articles that are simply regurgitating press releases.
  • More emphasis on highlighting independent developers worthy of your attention, aka why I incorporated indie development in the first place.
  • Less emphasis on vilifying indie developers through various pieces and Crowdfunding Fraudsters (but that isn’t going away).
  • More previews, reviews, game-specific editorials. I’d like to do more of these.
  • Less dead/abandoned columns. I’m looking at you, editorials section.
  • More involvement from developers and the community. I currently do interviews/collaborations maybe once every six months. This isn’t out of a lack of offers.
  • Less news for the sake of news.

MMO Fallout will always be centered on the online game industry, so don’t worry about our focus suddenly shifting to movies or cake recipes (although I’d like to look at some game-based books/movies), but the days of folding our hands and refusing to cover something because it doesn’t 100% pass the litmus test is long gone.

I want MMO Fallout to continue to exceed my expectations, and I am nothing without my readers. I respond to all emails, questions on Ask.fm, and messages on Twitter. My doors have always, and will always, be open.

And with that, let’s go back to talking about games.

Tree of Savior Bans Another 5,600 Accounts


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IMCGames has announced another mass ban in Tree of Savior. As posted on its official website, the ban targeted players using a third party program to allow themselves access to the game’s market, repair, and other interfaces outside of the game’s cities.

As part of the announcement, IMCGames also broke down exactly how these players will be punished:

– 1151 had already been permanently banned and therefore their status has not been altered
– 3462 had been previously restricted and will now be banned permanently, as this is their second known offense
– 994 will be banned for a total of 30 days, as this is their first known offense

Also worth a note is that IMCGames is now restricting access from Steam accounts that have been sanctioned by Valve. One player who had his account restricted due to chargebacks noted that he is not allowed to play Tree of Savior, receiving the message below. An IMC employee confirmed the rule in the same thread.

ikwGn2o

Valve Bans Another Shady Developer


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In what appears to be a more coordinated approach to quality assurance, Valve has banned yet another shady developer on Steam. Developer Kut Stupid, at least as he is credited on the game’s store page, has one title on Steam: Lemurzin. It’s been on sale since November 2015 at the price of $1.99 and carries a “mostly positive” 78% approval rating.

The game is also unavailable for purchase. I’ve noted Lemurzin a couple of times over the past week for the fact that the game has a highly suspicious DLC package, the “Pterodactyl Edition.” For $99.99, you receive an upgrade to the game that changes the propeller to a dead pterodactyl. Yep, that’s it.

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One hundred smackers for that. You may notice that Lemurzin is the exact same game as ZombieRush, another game that was recently shut down by Valve, down to the fact that both games even use the “dried pterodactyl” image. There have been allegations that Kut Stupid and Arthur Kariev may be the same person/group, but there is equal likelihood that both are using the same asset pack.

ZombieRush is credited to Arthur Kariev, however it was originally submitted by Rai Studio Games, another developer that recently had its games removed from Steam for unscrupulous activity including review botting. It is indeed possible that Arthur Kariev and Rai Studio Games are the same people, and by that understanding so could be Kut Stupid.

It’s important to note that since their games have been removed, there has been no comment from any of these developers.

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Housing Hits Elder Scrolls Online In 2017


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IGN managed to interview Zenimax’s own Matt Firor, who revealed that housing is coming to The Elder Scrolls Online in the first quarter of 2017. Before player owned houses come to Tamriel, Zenimax plans on dropping an update in August that will add a customizing barbershop and an Argonian dungeon pack.

The dungeon pack represents a new form of content delivery that Zenimax is aiming for, creating smaller, almost episodic content for players to come back to.

“It’s interesting to see what happens when you take away the subscription model away,” Firor explained. “You don’t see a hardcore playstyle – like playing for six months and then quitting – we don’t see that. We have a lot of players who will play for two or three weeks because they want to get through a zone and then stop. Then they come back two months later for another month, because there’s no pressure to play all of it at once.

Housing is a staple of the Elder Scrolls series, so it’s not surprising that players have been clamoring for it since the game initially launched. Housing joins recent major revelations, from the impending launch in Japan to content scaling to the player’s level.

(Source: IGN)