Perfect World Extends Support Hours


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Perfect World Entertainment has announced that, to better serve their customers, the publisher will be extending their customer service and billing support hours.

We are pleased to announce that our Customer Service and Billing support hours have been extended to better, and more quickly, serve you. Starting now, our support teams will be working during the hours of 10AM to 7PM PST, 7 days a week. Need any help with login issues? Let us know. Having in-game problems? We’re here to help! Make sure to bookmark our support site here and reach out to us anytime.

In the future, Perfect World hopes to add live chat to their list of services.

(Source: Neverwinter)

MMOrning Shots: Eldiving In


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Today’s MMOrning Shot was taken in Eldevin. I have no idea what being hated by the Crimson Macabre will do to my reputation, but it was well worth slaughtering several hundred of them to achieve. How big is that organization anyway?

NCSoft Q4 2013 Looking Good Thanks To Blade & Soul


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NCSoft has released their Q4 2013 finances, and things are looking up for the Korean developer. Following the company’s major dip in the previous quarter, sales have recovered by 24% and profits by 85%, with pre-tax income up a staggering 97% over last quarter. Total sales amounted to $197 million in the fourth quarter, with operating profit at over $54 million. Royalty revenues from Blade & Soul contributed heavily to this outcome, thanks to the game’s ongoing success in China. Lineage continued to grow in Korea despite being the oldest game in the library, with Guild Wars 2 holding strong in its associated territories.

As already stated, Lineage saw a large rise in sales. Guild Wars 2 and Lineage II also saw bumps in revenue, with Aion remaining on a slight decline from the last couple of quarters. While Blade & Soul’s direct revenue decreased over last quarter, this presumably does not factor in sales from royalties in territories where the game is selling quite well. Cost of labor and marketing decreased year over year thanks to layoffs and launches of Guild Wars 2 and Blade & Soul respectively.

(Source: NCSoft Finances)

Turbine Suffers Layoffs


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Turbine is in the midst of a round of layoffs. According to a news article on Gamasutra, the game developer let go an unspecified number of employees, with the explanation that the layoffs were necessary “in order for us to invest in growth areas at Turbine.”

“These are always tough decisions, which we don’t approach lightly, but it’s crucial that Turbine is structured in a way that reflects the current and coming marketplace.”

How these layoffs affect Turbine’s games, including Lord of the Rings Online and Infinite Crisis, will have to be seen.

(Source: Gamasutra)

MMOments: Akaneiro Demon Hunters


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Around eight months have passed since I last took a look at Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, and quite a bit has changed since we last ventured as Little Red Riding Hood in Feudal Japan. For the sake of not repeating myself, here is a basic rundown of the game itself. Akaneiro is a top-down hack and slash that should be familiar to fans of Diablo or Torchlight. You have a quest hub with associated vendors, and travel out into instanced dungeons to kill large quantities of mobs, in return for loot and experience, to find or buy better equipment to kill bigger things. Got it? Good.

In my early look at Akaneiro, I criticized the game for a lack of potions and how the game mechanics took the game down a path of “pay to live.” The combination of no potions and attacks that frequently stunned your character for far too long meant that death often came quickly and without any sort of grace or fairness. Death in Akaneiro also means forfeiting any experience you gained in said dungeon, however players were offered the convenience of resurrecting on the spot…for cash shop currency. The good news is that you may now find potions both in the hub store and in enemy drops. Resurrection is now paid for with in-game currency, allowing the player to resurrect on the spot using some of the gems they have collected.

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A bunch of improvements have been made to the overall game since the last time we looked at it. Crafting currently allows you to upgrade weapons and armor using materials found while completing dungeons. The ability bar has been expanded to allow for six abilities as well as three consumable slots. The map has been improved from its previous iteration to better show off progression, and the whole thing overall just feels more responsive and less laggy. While the game hasn’t fundamentally changed, it is rather spectacular to see how much better a game can become by fixing a lot of little things.

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Akaneiro: Demon Hunters, I highly suggest you do so through Kongregate.

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MMOrning Shots: Goats Butters


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I am happy to announce that, beginning tomorrow, MMO Fallout will be renamed Goats Day Out and will only cover the upcoming godsend to the industry also known as Goat Simulator. If you haven’t had a chance to offer up 10% of your paycheck and assorted organs to Goat Simulator, check it out on Steam later this spring.

Lord of Ultima Shutting Down


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No, not that Ultima. Lord of Ultima is the browser-based kingdom building game that loosely shared the Ultima franchise name and if you’ve never heard of it, well you can understand why it is shutting down. EA Games announced today that the Lord of Ultima servers will shut down May 12th at 0700 UTC. Until then, registration of new accounts will be closed and the ability to purchase play4free funds for the game will also be suspended.

It is always hard when we are met with such choices and the decision to retire older games is never an easy one. We cannot thank those who have supported us enough, and throughout the years of Lord of Ultima’s existence it has been the pleasure of both past and present developers to have been on this journey with you.

Lord of Ultima went into open beta in mid 2011.

(Source: Lord of Ultima)

World of Warcraft Discontinues Resurrection Scrolls


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The Scroll of Resurrection is being discontinued in World of Warcraft. Previously, scrolls of resurrection could be used to bring a player whose subscription had lapsed back into the game, not to mention gifting a spectral rider to the person offering the invitation. Players on the receiving end of the scroll could insta-boost one of their characters to level 80, in addition to the 7 days of free game time. The last day to send an invitation will be February 18th, with a 30 day time limit for recipients to accept.

Warcraft’s upcoming expansion, Warlords of Draenor, includes an insta-boost to 90 with the possibility that level boosts may become available on the in-game cash shop.

(Source: Blizzard)

The Secret World Preps Tokyo


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The final showdown is upon us! After months beating back the filth as it attempts to creep its way around the world, players will finally converge to battle the Zero Point Pathogen in a 40 man raid.

The final showdown in Agartha takes place now in Funcom’s The Secret World! The last chapter of the extensive Whispering Tide event has come, and now the players must face a huge 40 man raid challenge to defeat the invasion of Filth.

The event will run until the portal to Tokyo has been cleansed, allowing players to enter Tokyo once Issue #9 is released.

(Source: The Secret World press release)

John Smedley Defends Curt Schilling


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Those of you who read MMO Fallout know that I have quite a lot of respect for SOE’s John Smedley. The guy isn’t perfect and no one would doubt that there are plenty of mistakes made in Sony’s past, but the guy has a tendency to spell it out as it is and be as transparent as his corporate overlords will allow him to be. The company keeps their games going long after they are commercially viable, and even after they were no longer profitable.

Over the past few days, Smedley has taken to Twitter to defend 38 Studios and Curt Schilling, stating that Schilling’s “only crime was believing in his own ability to will things to be better,” adding that “he busted his ass to get funding.” He then goes on to state that Sony Online Entertainment was approached by 38 Studios for funding, but did not jump on board because the game was deemed too expensive and risky. He went on to say that the fact that no other company was willing to get on board should have been the first warning sign to Rhode Island not to go through with the deal. Public funds, says Smedley, should never go to back something as risky as an online game.

Rhode Island is set to vote today on encouraging out of court settlements against Schilling and those who drafted the loan.

(Source: Gamespot)