Mortal Online Is Free To Play


Count this one under “who could have seen that coming?” Star Vault has announced on Facebook that Mortal Online will be heading free to play. Free accounts will have a restriction of 60, out of a possible 100 skill points, with some other restrictions. Premium subscribers will have access to thievery, and are able to loot and trade expensive items.

“Our new subscription model is a perfect fit for Mortal Online. This means Mortal Online will be free to play forever, without sacrificing the quality of gameplay that makes Mortal Online great. New accounts will have access to the entire game. FTP accounts may upgrade to a Premium Account for a monthly fee and earn exclusive and powerful benefits!”

Mortal Online has suffered financial and subscriber problems since its launch. With any luck, this should bring new players who were afraid to leap into the hardcore MMO previously.

(Source: Mortal Online)

City of Steam Giveaway: Part Two


It’s only November and yet it already feels like Christmas. City of Steam is heading into closed beta! What is City of Steam, you ask? City of Steam is an upcoming MMO by Mechanist Games, based in the Unity3D engine and set in a steam powered, industrial world. Players are able to choose from ten races with four classes (with more on the way), with a branching story that lets you decide what path you take. I had a chance to play City of Steam during its beta-phase, and I enjoyed the game so much that I leaped at the opportunity to get some of my readers in-tune with the game.

There will be four beta phases for City of Steam, and any key you use will be good for all beta weekends.

[keys id=9257]

How to redeem your key:

  1. After getting your Beta key, head to the City of Steam website here .
  2. Register an account (or sign in if you already have one), copy/paste your Beta Key, click the register/sign-in button, then click on the ‘Play Now’ button and test out City of Steam’s Closed Beta release (or if the test is not yet up, your key will be safely activated and ready for when the game goes live).
  3. Enjoy!

Key Features Include:

  • Character and Weapon Customization – Weapon appearance changes when modded
  • Branching Storylines – Choose the path your story will take
  • Lightweight – No massive download or install required
  • Full Featured – Content you’d expect from a AAA MMO, but all easily accessed from a browser
  • Beautiful graphics and scenery
  • 10 races, 4 classes, with more on the way
  • Content for casual and hardcore gamers alike

Darkfall Finds Itself On Steam Greenlight


Darkfall: Unholy Wars launches December 12th, 2012, and with luck you may be able to get it on Steam. Aventurine has posted the upcoming revamp to Darkfall to be voted on by the masses and, if the tides are right, approved by Valve to be released on Steam. You can head to the link below to vote for Darkfall: Unholy Wars, even if the game doesn’t get approved by December 12th, hopefully it will be greenlit eventually.

(Source: Greenlight)

Save City of Heroes Reaches Out To Disney


City of Heroes shuts down in two days from the time of this writing. Despite the astounding campaign from the City of Heroes community, which gained the support of celebrities including Neil Gaiman, Mercedes Lackey, and John C. Wright among others, NCSoft stands by their earlier statement that all attempts at selling the IP were unsuccessful. In their continuing efforts, the Save City of Heroes campaign delivered a package to Disney HQ, filled with information about City of Heroes, the campaign, and explaining why Disney should add the title to their ever growing portfolio. The information was written by NY Times Best Selling Author Mercedes Lackey along with several others, who wrote:

“We believe that acquiring City of Heroes will provide Disney Interactive with the logical extension of their games for kids and teens, offering a game that literally the whole family can play.”

Will Disney step up and rescue City of Heroes? That will need to be seen.

(Source: Press Release)

End of Nations Postponed Until Further Notice


End of Nations will not be entering open beta at any time in the near future. Trion’s upcoming MMORTS has been in closed beta for some time, and in a post on the official Facebook page, Trion notes that while the beta has offered a lot of good feedback, it has also brought to light some glaring issues that need to be fixed.

“As a result, we have decided to postpone the Open Beta phase of testing until further notice. We will let you know as soon as we have an update. Those players who made an End of Nations purchase should expect to receive a follow-up email shortly. Thank you in advance for your continued input and support. It is greatly appreciated.”

It’s good to see that Trion is refunding closed beta players, and hopefully Trion will be able to fix whatever needs to be fixed in End of Nations.

(Source: Facebook)

Eve Online Makes Accidental Crime More Difficult


Don’t you hate it when all you’re trying to do is navigate a crowded system, and all of a sudden you fire on an unsuspecting player? And then your keyboard and mouse inexplicably lock up, and you continue firing until the combination of NPC protection and players gun you down, destroy your pod, and come over to your house to crap in your cereal. Luckily, CCP is here with the new system safety system. With the upcoming update, players will be able to set themselves to one of three modes: enable, partial, and disabled safety.

On enabled safety, you won’t be able to do anything that is against the law. Think of it as Paladin mode. On partial safety, you will be able to perform actions that raise you into “suspect” status, but not criminal. Disabled safety is free reign to do whatever you want. The option is only for player convenience, although there will surely be some heated discussion over the update.

(Source: Eve Online Website)

Falling Out #18: Freedom of Bankruptcy


True fact: Whenever a hardcore indie FFA PvP sandbox MMO shuts down, Blizzard releases a commemorative cash shop pet. Think about it.

Funcom Q3 2012 Finances


The third quarter results are in for Funcom, and the news is a mix. The Secret World has launched and revenues for the third quarter are 10,963 TUSD, more than double for the same quarter in 2011 and far higher than in the second quarter of this year. Unfortunately  due to the poor launch of The Secret World in July, new estimates show that the company may not achieve a positive cash flow in 2013. All of Funcom’s titles that have launched are in a position of bringing in a positive cash flow, while development continues for Funcom’s Lego Minifigures MMO, as well as Project A revealed previously and in conceptual stages. The Lego MMO is set for a 2014 launch.

Now for some juicy speculation. Funcom stated that 30-40% of The Secret World’s income is from the cash shop. Since The Secret World pulled in $1.1 million USD in October, and we’ll go the low route and say 70% is from subscriptions and they are all people paying the $15 a month. That leaves Funcom with approximately fifty one thousand subscribers for The Secret World in October. This number is either great or terrible, depending on your perspective. Hopefully it is more than enough to keep the MMO going.

Funcom has retained ABG Sundal Collier and GP Bullhound, leading some to believe that the development studio is on the verge of selling itself off to the highest bidder.

Star Vault Q3 2012


Profits and sales are down from last quarter in Star Vault’s latest reports. According to the latest financial documents, subscriber count decreased in the third quarter compared to the second, despite the release of Mortal Online’s expansion Awakening. Awakening aims to bring new players into Mortal Online by making the game more user-friendly.

Next on the list is promotion. Star Vault hopes to have Mortal Online present on Steam. And once again for the moment we all anticipate each quarter: Star Vault anticipates break even in…unknown. The previous expectation for September or October has obviously not come to fruition, due to a break in the upward trend when the estimation was first given. Star Vault will prepare Mortal Online for 2013.

Other than that, no surprises for Q3.

Lineage II: Vision For The Future


It’s been nine years since Lineage II launched (In Korea), and NCSoft continues to update the game on a regular basis. The publisher just released this video, an eleven minute trailer for what the game might become one day. If you haven’t played Lineage II in a while, or at all, the video doesn’t really offer much exposition as to what the future holds. Guys fight each other, people die and get stabbed in the face (not necessarily in that order), and some dialogue that makes me think NCSoft needs to brush up on their zingers.

I don’t know about you but I’m still waiting on Lineage Eternal news.