CCP Layoffs From Publishing Team


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Eve Online developer CCP Games has confirmed to Gamasutra that a recent wave of layoffs has resulted in 49 employees being cut from the company. According to the report, teams from Eve Online, Eve: Valkyrie, Project Legion, and DUST 514 have not been affected by the layoffs.

“As part of our strategy to focus on the EVE Universe, today CCP conducted a restructuring that resulted in the layoff of 49 people in our publishing organisation,” 

The developer has promised severance packages and job placement assistance to those affected.

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Not Massive: Sniper Elite V2 Free On Steam


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Rebellion has announced that Sniper Elite is on Steam for free for the next 24 hours. The promotion lasts until Thursday June 5th at exactly 10am PST/6pm BST. To get your hands on the game, all you have to do is open the page in Steam and click download. After that, the game is free forever.

MMOrning Shots: Iron Man


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Marvel Heroes. I finally got my hands on Iron Man, which is great considering I have two extra costumes for him. The first (left to right) is the default armor, followed by the Shotgun Armor, and the Heartbreaker Amor costume. I believe you can still unlock the third by entering the code IM3HRTBREAKER on the Marvel Heroes account page.

Comic book reference every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Pantheon Returns To Full Development


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Visionary Realms has announced that Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen is back in full development mode. Development initially ceased following an unsuccessful Kickstarter campaign, only to be revived under a team of volunteers last month. Brad McQuaid discusses in detail what the team is focusing on presently.

The Programmer’s efforts with the new network code are essential. Within 1-2 weeks we will be able to (internally) create accounts, create characters, and then log into one of the game’s zones. This requires the client to be able to connect to the servers, and the server code to be able to talk to the database. The good news is that we had some of this working before, so we can reference that.

Read the entire announcement at the link below.

(Source: Pantheon)

Defiance Is Now Free To Play


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Defiance officially becomes free to play today. Patch 2.0, dubbed the NSFW patch, allows players to experience the entire Bay Area storyline for free, at least for PC gamers. Console gamers will have to wait until around July 15th to get their free gaming on. Free players will be limited to two character slots, two loadouts, a cap of 50 ark keys, and 35 inventory slots. The move also introduces the Paradis Patron subscription, which can be bought at the in-game store and includes store discounts and bonuses to loot, scrip, experience, and more.

You can find the entire list of updates here, as well as patch notes for today’s 2.0 update.

(Source: Defiance)

MMOrning Shots: Marvel Heroes 2015


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Today’s MMOrning Shot comes to us from Marvel Heroes and is one cool looking poster. Marvel Heroes 2015 is meant to showcase how far the game has come in the last year.

Do justice for MMOrning Shots every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Perfect World Entertainment Posts Strong Growth


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Perfect World Entertainment has posted their most recent quarterly income, showing a strong growth in the first quarter of 2014 despite lowered promotional activity. Revenue for the international publisher amounted to $124 million, down 2.5% from the previous quarter but going along overall with a 44% annual growth. The mobile sector of Perfect World Entertainment grew from 10% of overall revenue to 15% last quarter, thanks in part to the 3D mobile RPG Fantasy of the Immortals.

The publisher is set to increase revenues thanks to their deal to publish Dota 2 and Neverwinter in China, both of which are expected to launch this year. Neverwinter is also expanding several titles in its library to more territories, including the Portuguese version of Neverwinter which launched in Brazil earlier this year. Revenue for the second quarter is expected to rise around five percent, thanks to upcoming launches in China.

(Source: PWE income report)

Perpetuum Online Sees Growth


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With Perpetuum Online now operating as a buy to play title, and the folks at Avatar Creations have posted a status report detailing just how things are getting along. Thanks to an upswing in users, five times the average player count, Perpetuum is receiving the capital investment that it so deserves. For starters, the server cluster is being upgraded and moved to a more suitable location: Amsterdam (your drug jokes here). Gamma islands are still closed down in preparation for a relaunch, along with multiple quality of life changes to the game’s UI and features.

I don’t have the freedom to tell you actual financial data, but it should be enough to say that after months (years?) of worrying about what to put on your plate tomorrow, it’s a liberating feeling to have that off of the list of things to worry about, and being able to just focus on making the game better.

Also in the works is the ability to buy and sell ingame items for Steam wallet funds. There is also a major rewrite of the engine in the works which should allow for higher resolution textures and a brand new interface. Check out the entire announcement below.

(Source: Perpetuum Online)

Wildstar Early Access Hammered By DDOS


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With players piling into Wildstar’s servers for early access, what more could a developer possibly ask for? A denial of service attack, apparently. Executive Producer Jeremy Gaffney posted on the game’s Reddit to confirm that the servers were under attack and that it was being handled. Since then the servers have come back to normal.

I’ve heard from a few folks it’s a confirmed DDOS attack (real time updates, may change, fog of war, etc.). Partially handled. Servers taking in some players now, player counts rising. Ninjitsu continue.

Never underestimate the potential of anonymous basement dwellers with botnets.

(Source: Reddit)

Marvel Heroes 2015 Coming June 4th


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Gazillion Entertainment has announced Marvel Heroes 2015, a culmination of a year’s worth of updates to the superhero MMO, set for launch on June 4th. Intended to highlight on how far the title has come since its launch, June’s updates also include new end-game raid content as well as alternate advancement, and a final showoff against the fire demon Surtur.

“We’ve come a very long way since our original launch a year ago, and the now imminent release of Marvel Heroes 2015 alongside our massive anniversary celebrations marks the beginning of something even better.”
-David Brevik

For more details, check out the trailer below.

(Source: Gazillion Entertainment press release)