World of Warcraft Subscriber Bleeding Stemmed: 10.2 Million


It seems like only yesterday that we were talking about the possible, perhaps, maybe imminent death of World of Warcraft at some point in the near or far foreseeable horizon of an unpredictable future just out of our gaze but right under our noses. Over the past few months, Blizzard has really revved up the promotion machine, offering free upgrades to Cataclysm and level 80 characters for returning, offering a free copy of Diablo III for promising Blizzard you would delay the divorce for another twelve months.

Well the promotions must be working, because World of Warcraft’s subscriber loss seems to have shorted out: From 10.3 million reported in November to 10.2 million reported in Blizzard’s latest report. You can check out the report at the link below for more information on Diablo III, Call of Duty, etc.

(Source: Blizzard Finances)

The Old Republic Dropped 400,000 Subscribers, 1.3 Million


I have good news and bad news. First the good news: Electronic Arts is reporting a net income of $76 million compared to this time last year where the publisher posted a loss of $276 million. Additionally, total revenue for the past fiscal year came to $4.14 billion, compared to $3.59 billion the year prior. On the kind-of-massively-but-not-really front, EA’s “Play4Free” games rake in around $2 million monthly.

Now the bad news: The Old Republic has dropped 24% in population since February, when Bioware revealed that the game carried 1.7 million subscribers. The Old Republic now boasts 1.3 million, which may not include the nearly forty countries that the game just launched in at the end of April.

In addition to the recent Legacy update, Bioware has the upcoming Allies update to hopefully bring in lapsed subscribers.

(Source: EA Finances)

Garry’s Mod: When Your Community Is So Atrocious…


Back when I first started talking about alternatives to Lego Universe, a few people came up and recommended Garry’s Mod, a modification for Valve’s Source Engine which allows players to play a very wide variety of games from shooters to role playing to building and everything in between. Without hesitation, I said no. Absolutely not, I would not subject my greatest enemy to the blight that is the active Garry’s Mod roleplaying or building community.

AusFrag, an Australian web host, has announced that they will no longer be hosting Garry’s Mod servers due to the massive number of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) associated with the game.

AusFrag is no longer supporting Garry’s Mod due to network abuse. We have been slapped with a massive bandwidth bill that could potentially close our doors if we continue to host this game. We have found Garry’s Mod servers are targeted almost daily in DDoS attacks which we do have protection to an extent but we are still billed for domestic packets the scrubber doesn’t filter.

From my time in the Garry’s Mod community, the DDoS attacks come for a variety of ridiculous and immature reasons: Jealousy from one server owner to another, servers are regularly attacked for running anti-cheat scripts or by banned griefers, and even Garry’s websites are attacked on a regular basis by cheat makers and their community, some of whom create and sell the very DDoS tools that the banned cheaters use.

Now, obviously DDoS attacks occur on other games, but this is the first time that I have personally seen a host drop support for a game entirely due to how widespread and common the issue was. It is a shame because Garry’s Mod still have amazingly talented people working on modifications and special servers, unfortunately the band of cheaters, pre-teen children and their DDoS scripts are ruining the experience for everyone.

I used to enjoy Garry’s Mod for the roleplaying servers, but stopped as each one fell one-by-one to DDoS attacks from “competing” (in the words of the other server owners) roleplay servers. Eventually I just didn’t have any time to find a good server and stopped playing altogether.

Garry's Mod: When Your Community Is So Atrocious…


Back when I first started talking about alternatives to Lego Universe, a few people came up and recommended Garry’s Mod, a modification for Valve’s Source Engine which allows players to play a very wide variety of games from shooters to role playing to building and everything in between. Without hesitation, I said no. Absolutely not, I would not subject my greatest enemy to the blight that is the active Garry’s Mod roleplaying or building community.

AusFrag, an Australian web host, has announced that they will no longer be hosting Garry’s Mod servers due to the massive number of distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS) associated with the game.

AusFrag is no longer supporting Garry’s Mod due to network abuse. We have been slapped with a massive bandwidth bill that could potentially close our doors if we continue to host this game. We have found Garry’s Mod servers are targeted almost daily in DDoS attacks which we do have protection to an extent but we are still billed for domestic packets the scrubber doesn’t filter.

From my time in the Garry’s Mod community, the DDoS attacks come for a variety of ridiculous and immature reasons: Jealousy from one server owner to another, servers are regularly attacked for running anti-cheat scripts or by banned griefers, and even Garry’s websites are attacked on a regular basis by cheat makers and their community, some of whom create and sell the very DDoS tools that the banned cheaters use.

Now, obviously DDoS attacks occur on other games, but this is the first time that I have personally seen a host drop support for a game entirely due to how widespread and common the issue was. It is a shame because Garry’s Mod still have amazingly talented people working on modifications and special servers, unfortunately the band of cheaters, pre-teen children and their DDoS scripts are ruining the experience for everyone.

I used to enjoy Garry’s Mod for the roleplaying servers, but stopped as each one fell one-by-one to DDoS attacks from “competing” (in the words of the other server owners) roleplay servers. Eventually I just didn’t have any time to find a good server and stopped playing altogether.

[Roblox] Opening The Toybox Part 2: For Parents!


Check out part 3: Gallery

Part 1 of Opening The Toybox was all about Roblox as a game and a company. Hearing about subscription prices, user demographics, and whatnot is great but we shouldn’t lose sight of why MMO Fallout has looked into Roblox: Parents. With the exception of Lego Universe, I have often found (and I’m sure most parents will agree with me) that so called kid-friendly games are overflowing with less than savory players. Coming from the games I play on a regular basis, the community of Roblox is a light in the dark wilderness of the internet. All forms of the hateful, obscenity laden internet seem to die at the borders of this online game, giving way to nothing more than a pleasant community with kids who just want to play games and have a chat.

And Roblox does have a team of moderators and community managers to not only filter out the bad eggs, but to keep the community engaged. Ever since I mentioned the ability to buy Robux in part 1, I’ve had a few parents asking me to clarify on a particular issue of child safety: Buying Robux without parental consent. For its part, Roblox does not keep credit card numbers on file, instead using third-parties such as Paypal to handle processing as well as pre-paid cards in stores. In addition, there are daily and monthly spending maximums to reduce the amount of “friendly fraud” possible. As for building, Roblox allows a much more free-form building mode than Lego Universe, while keeping fairly close in tune with the feeling of building with Lego, Megablox, or similar toys. All players have their own personal area available to them for free, which they can fill to their heart’s content for their own personal enjoyment, or to create their own game for others to enjoy as well.

Roblox offers much of what parents would like to see in an online game: A pleasant community filled with similarly aged players, a staff that moderates and quickly removes any offending players/objects, and the kind of safety that prevents your kid from running off with the credit card and spending a few hundred on hats. Your kids will have fun, more fun for free than many other games offer, and you can rest assured that they are in a safe environment.

This is part 2 of a 3 part Roblox series. Next week for the final issue, I will take a look at some more interesting creations picked by both myself and the Roblox staff.

Earthrise MMO Is…Back? Countdown Appears On Website


During its short life on earth, Earthrise followed a well known and much feared trajectory of MMOs: Releasing far too early and never gaining a following. Of course it doesn’t help that the game comprised of little more than grinding combat and crafting, coupled with performance issues that drove away much of the user base. In December, Earthrise dropped its subscription fee for existing players with the promise of full free to play to come at a later date. After the servers went offline for a full month due to “maintenance,” Masthead Studios announced that the game would be coming to a close in February, citing lack of resources.

Well something is afoot over at the Earthrise website. A countdown has appeared leading up to 6pm Eastern on May 10th. Did Masthead Studios find an investor? I find the prospect likely.

(Source: Earthrise Website)

 

Elder Scrolls Online Trailer Brings Unlikely Allies


Unlikely allies are always my least favorite. The trailer for Elder Scrolls Online lays the foundation for Elder Scrolls Online: The dragonfires are unlit (similar to Oblivion) and enemies are once again poised to strike on Tamriel. It will take more than one warrior to fight off this threat.

Elder Scrolls Online is set for release in 2013, it is being developed by Zenimax Studios.

Bethesda Confirms Elder Scrolls MMO


Well, it is here. I’ve been talking about an Elder Scrolls MMO for at least a year here at MMO Fallout, from why I don’t think such a game would be a great idea rolling back to when we first got wind Zenimax was working on a secret project. Next month’s Game Informer has been revealed, and the cover story is Elder Scrolls Online.

Players will discover an entirely new chapter of Elder Scrolls history in this ambitious world, set a millennium before the events of Skyrim as the daedric prince Molag Bal tries to pull all of Tamriel into his demonic realm.

Players are no doubt enticed by the promise of three-faction player vs player combat, and is set for release in 2013.

(Source: Game Informer)

Some MMO Kickstarter Projects You Should Fund


Kickstarter and independent developers are starting to become great friends, so it is no surprise that indie MMO teams have come forward to get some startup cash without as much reliance on investors or publishers. I have two currently running funds for MMOs to advertise to you, and will let them speak for themselves, but since this a rather touchy subject, let me explain some details of Kickstarter to you:

  1. You are making a pledge. If the Kickstarter does not reach its goal by the due date, no money will exchange hands.
  2. A successful kickstarter does not guarantee that the product will see release. Remember: You are playing investor. Spend your money wisely.

1. Squad Wars

Space Combat the way it was meant to be: Fast, uncompromising, and totally intense. Jumpgate Evolution might be dead and buried, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a spiritual sequel to the series. In development by the creative forces behind Jumpgate, Squad Wars is an MMOG based on scripted scenarios with fast paced dogfights, giant space fights, and massive capital ships.

END Games is offering some pretty nice perks for pledging, from beta access to in-game credit, xp boosts to badges to your own vote in which scenarios are built first.

Check it out. The Squad Wars pledge ends May 19th.

2. Storybricks, The MMO Storytelling Toolset

Personally I am looking forward to Storybricks more than most other AAA titles, for the simple factor of the story telling. Storybricks allows players to create their own worlds in a fashion you may be aware of in tools like RPG maker. Using visual editors, players are able to create NPCs that interact with one another, the world, and the player, in order to tell vast, amazing tales.

Storybricks is being supported by Brian Green, who some (some) of you may remember from the great grandaddy of graphical MMOs, Meridian 59. I personally backed up Storybricks with a $45 donation.

Check it out, the Kickstarter ends on June 1st.

May Marks The Newbie Blogger Initiative


It is May, and you know what that means! Or perhaps you don’t, in which case continue reading.

May marks the one-month Newbie Blogger Initiative, and MMO Fallout is proud to be sponsoring the event. NBI is a month where established bloggers like myself and others come together to encourage new writers to start up their own blog in exchange for some support. The theme, of course, will be MMOs in general or a specific title. Everyone benefits, from the sponsors who are able to enrich the community to the new bloggers who receive encouragement, advice, not to mention the nice boost of traffic.

So if you are an established (read: established does not mean famous) blogger looking to sponsor or a new writer looking for a helping hand, head over to the Newbie Blogger Initiative forums and sign up. I will have more to discuss on this topic as the month goes on.