See RuneScape’s NPC History

RuneScape has been up and running for well over a decade, long enough for the NPCs in the game to undergo several graphical upgrades and revisions to their looks as the game progressed from a project by one guy in his basement to one of the largest MMOs in the world. Some of you may remember the old days when many of the creatures in RuneScape were essentially palette swipes of each other, the same dragons and demons copied and pasted with new colors and different names. As the company has grown and more resources were allotted, creatures have become more diversified.

If you’re interested in seeing what the old days looked like, or perhaps you just want a trip down memory lane, the unofficial RuneScape Wiki has a massive page with the old and the new.

(Source: RuneScape Wiki)

See RuneScape's NPC History

If you’re interested in seeing what the old days looked like, or perhaps you just want a trip down memory lane, the unofficial RuneScape Wiki has a massive page with the old and the new.

(Source: RuneScape Wiki)

MMO Fallout Mentioned In LEGO Book

Some of you may remember back a billion years ago when I interviewed Stephen Calender about Lego Universe, back when MMO Fallout was an even tinier blip on the radar of the internet. Generally I assume that our old articles are lost to the deep recesses of history, not to mention the back pages of Google’s search ranking, only to be brought up when I feel like talking about them. Count me wrong, because not only did someone dig up the old interview, but they felt it pertinent enough to mention in a real life book. With pages!

Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry is about how LEGO brought itself up from the brink of irrelevance to become one of the most successful toy companies ever. It also has a small mention to our interview with Stephen Calender, about the flaws in Lego Universe and the difficulty in getting rid of all of the bugs in a game.

Check it out at the link below.

(Source: Amazon)

MMOrning Shots: Super Speed

Missing Worlds Media and their Plan Z falls somewhere on MMO Fallout’s list of games we really hope see success. I’m not sure where, it isn’t so much a list as a poorly coordinated jumble of titles and ideas. If you aren’t aware, the Plan Z is one of the larger of multiple community-built MMOs on their way to fill the hole left by City of Heroes. The above image was posted last week on Missing World Media’s Facebook page as a prototype for a particle trail left behind when running at super speed.

There is a Kickstarter going up in September I believe for Plan Z, which we will have covered here.

(Source: Facebook)

Free Stuff Plz Month #1 Reminder

Free Stuff Plz is off to a big start with the reveal of the first month’s contest: Sony Station Cash. Since Sony has such a large library of MMOs all tied to a single cash system, we figured why keep it to just one title? Between now and the end of July 2013, take a screenshot in any one of Sony Online Entertainment’s games and submit it to freestuff@mmofallout.com. There are no specific requirements as to the screenshot itself, so get crafty.

Capture and submit your best screenshot from Everquest, Everquest II, Free Realms, Clone Wars, Planetside, Planetside 2, DC Universe, Dragon’s Prophet, or Vanguard.

The contest will run from June 19th, 2013 through July 31st, 2013
It must be YOUR screenshot.
Only one attempt per email, please.
The prize is given as Station Cash. If your account does not use Station Cash (IE: Prosieben.Sat users), you will not be able to claim the prize.
You must be 13 or older to enter.

Grand Prize:

$45 Station Cash

Runner Up:

$15 Station Cash

Rift Tops Raptr’s Charts For June

Let me put my hard hat on real quick. Alright. Raptr is a desktop app similar to Xfire that we’ve featured here on MMO Fallout because it not only tracks your game time and achievements across your consoles, it also regularly gives free stuff at the cost of absolutely nothing. Thanks to a strong promotional effort between Raptr and Trion, Rift came out on top as the most played game of June, with a whopping 13% of the pie. World of Warcraft came in at #5 with three MMOs dropping out from last month’s list: Defiance, Neverwinter, and The Old Republic.

As far as PC games go, Guild Wars 2 ranked #7 with The Old Republic at #10, Neverwinter at #12, Star Trek Online at #14, Marvel Heroes at #17, and Microvolts at #18. Defiance showed up as #13 most played games on the Xbox 360.

You can check out the top lists at the link below.

(Source: Raptr)

Rift Tops Raptr's Charts For June

You can check out the top lists at the link below.

(Source: Raptr)

Major Development Ends On Tribes: Ascend

Major updates have ceased for Tribes: Ascend, as confirmed today by Todd Harris over at Hi-Rez Studios. Instead, the developer of the fast paced shooter is focusing its efforts on launching their upcoming MOBA game, SMITE, as well as the continued development of the sequel to Global Agenda, also known as Global Agenda 2. As a result, however, there are no major updates planned for Tribes: Ascend in the next six months, and Harris notes that the company would more likely develop a Tribes: Ascend 2 than add a substantial update to the existing game.

Per the development blog on our forums, the recent TA work has been Kate developing some additional maps. If time allows then these new TA maps (along with some bug-fixes) would be finalized and deployed but no committed date yet.

The move isn’t entirely surprising, as development for Global Agenda was all but abandoned around the time Tribes: Ascend began picking up speed, a fate that will likely meet SMITE in favor of Global Agenda 2 and whatever else Hi-Rez happens to be developing at the time.

(Source: Tribes: Ascend Forums)

End of Nations Is Now A MOBA

Remember when End of Nations was set to go into open beta? Over seven months ago when Petroglyph underwent massive layoffs and Trion had to take over development? All’s been quiet on the Russian front for over half of a year, and now we know why: Much like Jagex Ltd did with Transformers Universe, Trion has decided that the best course of action is to recreate End of Nations as a “MOBA RTS.” The End of Nations website has reappeared on the web, describing the game as a tactical MOBA where the user controls multiple units on the battlefield.

End of Nations® is a tactical MOBA where your success on the battlefield depends on the heroes and units you command and quick decision making in the heat of combat. Dominate during team based matches and catapult your commander to the top of the ranks.

In this case, End of Nations was already so much like a MOBA that the change is virtually in name only. Even then, the game feels distinct enough to set itself apart from the crowd of League of Legend clones.

(Source: End of Nations)

Prius Online Is Still Unsuccessful, Shuts Down Again

One major lesson I try to teach here at MMO Fallout is that all of the rebranding in the world won’t stop a market failure from crashing over and over and over again, no matter how many times you try to change its legal name and put on new eye liner. Such is the case with Prius Online, the latest in a long line of ultra-generic low budget imported MMOs that we see in a consistent state of swapping publishers, shutting down only to reappear a year or two later under a new name and with some new quest dialogue, only to perform as poorly as its previous launch and shut down yet again.

Prius Online was originally launched in 2008, with gPotato bringing it to western shores down the line in 2011. Due to poor reception, the game was shut down in 2012, only to be re-imagined as Arcane Saga and launched by Netmarble in 2013. Arcane Saga launched just one month prior to the announcement that it would be shut down on September 16th. It’s so new, the “(new)” tag is still on the game on Netmarble’s website.

There is a lesson to be learned in here, but I’ll let you figure that out for yourself.

(Source: Netmarble)

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