Xsyon developer Notorious Games has announced that the indie MMO has dropped its optional subscription and converted entirely to buy to play. Keen gamers will now be able to access everything that the title has to offer with a single payment.
Past paid players are welcome to return for free to the world of Xsyon to rejoin and rebuild tribes or simply enjoy the latest features! All players are also welcome to join in testing upcoming improvements. Currently development is focused on creatures, including combat revisions, taming, mounts and pets.
An optional subscription has not been ruled out, pending player requests, and would likely cost $4.99 a month.
Gazillion Entertainment has begun the first day of festive events in Marvel Heroes, inviting players to log in each day for the next two weeks for a new present each day. The game has been pretty generous in the past with holiday presents, and this year looks to be the same with plenty of free eternity splinters, team ups, pets, costumes, and a random hero box. You can also use the code H2-B2 for a free Herbie pet.
Log in today, the 18th, for a loot explosion containing eternity splinters, odin marks, and more.
Funcom has announced today that the game developer has entered a partnership with Conan Properties. As a preferred partner, Funcom will be the go-to developer for all video games on PC and console that feature the Conan brand or take place in Hyboria. The first game to be developed under this new relationship will not be announced until January, and marks one of three games set to launch in 2016.
“We are tremendously excited to be strengthening our relationship with Conan Properties,” said Funcom CEO Rui Casais. “‘Conan the Barbarian‘ is undoubtedly one of the world’s greatest and most recognizable fantasy heroes, and as game developers, working with such a character and being able to draw from the fantastically detailed world of Hyboria is nothing short of a dream come true.”
I recently had the opportunity to play Nosgoth’s upcoming map, The Nest. If you haven’t played the game, Nosgoth is a team-based multiplayer game developed by Psyonix and set in the world of the Legacy of Kain games. It is the first in the series to be released in over ten years, with Legacy of Kain Defiance having launched in 2003 on the Playstation 2. Psyonix are best known for their recent smash hit, Rocket League, as well as its predecessor Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars.
My favorite aspect of Nosgoth is the fact that the two teams are not the same mirrored opposites that you find in many other games. There are drastic differences in how both teams work, and knowing how to play to those strengths and avoid their weaknesses is key if you want any chance at victory. The humans rely on more primitive means of offense, in the form of weapons like crossbows and potions that create fire and light. They fight best when able to keep their target at a length, peppering them with bolts and arrows. The humans rely on nodes across the map to replenish health and ammunition.
The vampires, on the other hand, are more up close and personal. They can scale the sides of buildings, pounce on victims or knock them to the ground, and even pick them up and carry them into the sky in order to inflict damage. Vampires perform best in the middle of chaos, splitting up the human team and picking them off one by one, or slamming into the group and scattering them around.
And the variety of characters is easily the greatest strength of Nosgoth. No matter which side you play, or which character, every class has their own unique play style to love or hate, and each character must be dealt with as an individual threat. The fact that the game is five vs five means that your contribution, or lack thereof, are all the more important to your team.
So the map we played on is called The Nest, it is a large map with about as many open spaces as closed. The layout is covered in medium to tall buildings, giving the vampire team plenty of places to climb up and escape danger or plot their next ambush. For the players, however, there were also plenty of open areas and buildings to enter, mitigating the threat from above. It’s also easy for the human team to get too close, putting the whole group at risk of area of effect attacks and ground slams from the larger vampires.
The most disappointing part of our play session was the, ultimately, it came to an end. Nosgoth looks great, handles well, and is fun enough that the time melts away. Unfortunately, the game’s matchmaking in my experience and as pointed out in the community, is a painful slog that often takes longer to find a game than most people are willing to wait. Much longer.
If you have some time to spare, I highly recommend giving Nosgoth a chance. Check out one of the rounds I played on The Nest below
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO and League of Legends team owner Martin Shkreli was arrested today on charges of securities fraud and corruption. According to Bloomberg, Shkreli is accused of using money illegally from his company Retrophin in order to pay off debts incurred by a separate company. Shkreli made a name for himself as the poster boy of capitalism run amok when he bought up a drug used for treating immune-related illnesses including, among other things, HIV and subsequently raised the price by more than 5000% from $13.70 a pill to $750. Shkreli later reneged on promises that the company had learned the error of its ways and would bring the price back down.
Shkreli has been accused of running his companies like a ponzi scheme, using the assets to pay off investors from previous failed ventures. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rejected a campaign donation from Shkreli, with Donald Trump referring to him as a spoiled brat. If convicted, Shkreli could be banned from running a public company.
It’s hard to believe that, as of next year, RuneScape will be older than some of its players. Launched in 2001 as a project by Andrew Gower, RuneScape exploded in popularity to become one of the most played games on the internet. In its fifteen years, the browser MMO has spawned two major upgrades as well as several spinoff versions including the upcoming card game Chronicles. To celebrate the anniversary, Jagex is planning on making 2016 a big year for content.
“To reach this incredible 15-year anniversary milestone is astonishing for everybody working on RuneScape, especially as it continues to experience a fantastic resurgence of players. It is testament to our loyal, passionate, and growing community, that the development teams at Jagex can continue to tell new stories within the world of Gielinor,” said Phil Mansell, vice president, RuneScape.
Founders Andrew and Paul Gower are set to return as guest designers on their own quest, Gower Quest, due to release in Spring 2016. January brings with it the invention skill, the first in a line of ‘elite skills’ introducing new ways to level up your character. Using invention, players will be able to dismantle equipment in order to use the components to upgrade their other gear. Further into the year marks the launch of RuneScape’s newest client, bringing better performance and higher graphical fidelity.
Hi-Rez Studios recently surprised its community with the announcement that Tribes Ascend would be once again receiving the love and, more importantly, updates that had been denied to it ever since support for the title was dropped back in 2013. The Out of the Blue update, or ‘It’s About F*cking Time,” as it has also been called, is a massive list of fixes, tweaks, and new content. Chief among the changes is that the prior nine classes are being melted down into three: light, medium, and heavy. As a result, all purchases have been reverted.
Due to the dramatic changes to the underlying game, all in-game purchases have been reverted and all Tribes Gold and XP refunded to your account. If you have previously purchased the Ultimate Weapon Pack or Game of the Year it will be re-added to your account. If there is any Tribes Gold on your account you will be automatically gifted the Ultimate Weapon Pack.
New maps, new weapons, and an encyclopedia worth of balances make up the majority of this massive update. The entirety of the patch notes are at the link below.
NCSoft has posted a notice on the Lineage II website that anyone wishing to transfer their character this month should do so before December 16th, otherwise they will have to wait until next year.
With the upcoming holiday, the last server transfers of 2015 will be processed during the December 16th maintenance. Purchasing and queuing for server transfers will not be available after this date and any server transfers that fail during the next maintenance will be processed next year.
Missing the deadline will mean having to wait until transfers begin again on January 6th.
Albion Online continues to march its way through beta, with the latest update introducing multiple user-friendly features. While player vs player combat is the focus of Albion, the developers recognize that players still want traditional MMO features like dungeons. The Aurelius update introduces three new ‘safe zone hellgates,’ allowing players to raid with a safer environment.
Safe Zone Hellgates offer an introduction to PvP. Five players can enter a hell dungeon where they must face mighty demons – and possibly other players that are also after the precious loot. Hellgates in safe zones utilize yellow zone PvP rules – knockdown only and no full loot, making them a perfect starting point for newer citizens of Albion to begin their PvP adventures.
The update also introduces a new interface, as well as improved controls to allow the player to stay in combat. You can find the entire list of patch notes below.
With Deadman now six weeks out of launch, Jagex has revealed their plans for the game in the upcoming year. As previously discussed in our interview with Mat K, part of the idea for next year is to have seasonal deadman, a separate set of servers that run on independent rules and are wiped once the season is over. Seasons could, for instance, have higher experience rates, or equipment unavailable in the standard game.
Prior to each season we will allow players to decide if they want additional rules for that season. For example, you may want a season with Dragon Claws, PvP armour or other things. Please do let us know what ideas you have for the Deadman Mode Seasonal servers.
The top five thousand players from each season will be able to participate in a special tournament, with the last man standing receiving $10,000 as a prize.
MMO Fallout 