Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids


If Lego Universe has a legacy to leave behind, it is a page in history soaked with the sorrow of children and parents who simply want to give them a game that they can have fun with and perhaps learn something from. Since I wrote the bit on Lego Universe and children with autism, the stories of the parents have made their way all over the Internet and I’ve received more requests for alternatives and suggestions of said alternatives than I can count.

Lego Universe is a game that won’t be replaced any time soon, the combination of freedom to build and the outstanding community are unmatched by anything else on the market. When suggesting games for kids, I wanted to miss a few caveats that others have a habit of falling into. So here are some games, both online and offline, that can somewhat substitute Lego Universe.

Continue reading “Let's Talk: MMOs For Your Kids”

Darkfall’s New Player Experience: Safe Zones


As someone who enjoys playing video games even more than I do writing about them, I am sympathetic to the plight of the newbie. After all, I’ve played enough of other games to have gotten a good feel for Darkfall when it released a few years ago, but I understand that there are plenty of others who will have a harder time getting attuned, not only to twitch controls in an MMO but the overall idea of free for all combat in an open world environment and full loot rules.

While I’m sure at least one person will object to the idea of a new player experience being something other than a mace to the face by a fully geared veteran, Aventurine has laid out some plans for the new new player experience.

The training areas consist of a series of chambers where new players can train before they move on. Training starts with basic movement and progresses all the way up to spellcasting and combat. This training process is actually a nice adventure with an epic ending, before new players earn their pass and are transported to the actual world. The goal is to ensure that, before entering Agon, new players become familiar with the basic mechanics, as well as the essence of Darkfall, and they can do this at their own pace.

Additionally, it will become a lot harder to steal someone else’s mount as the creature will remember its owner for a short period after dismounting, leaving enough time to de-summon the mount without having to worry about another player running in and riding off. There are a few other new game systems revealed in the blog post, which you can check out at the link below.

(Source: Darkfall Epic Blog)

Darkfall's New Player Experience: Safe Zones


As someone who enjoys playing video games even more than I do writing about them, I am sympathetic to the plight of the newbie. After all, I’ve played enough of other games to have gotten a good feel for Darkfall when it released a few years ago, but I understand that there are plenty of others who will have a harder time getting attuned, not only to twitch controls in an MMO but the overall idea of free for all combat in an open world environment and full loot rules.

While I’m sure at least one person will object to the idea of a new player experience being something other than a mace to the face by a fully geared veteran, Aventurine has laid out some plans for the new new player experience.

The training areas consist of a series of chambers where new players can train before they move on. Training starts with basic movement and progresses all the way up to spellcasting and combat. This training process is actually a nice adventure with an epic ending, before new players earn their pass and are transported to the actual world. The goal is to ensure that, before entering Agon, new players become familiar with the basic mechanics, as well as the essence of Darkfall, and they can do this at their own pace.

Additionally, it will become a lot harder to steal someone else’s mount as the creature will remember its owner for a short period after dismounting, leaving enough time to de-summon the mount without having to worry about another player running in and riding off. There are a few other new game systems revealed in the blog post, which you can check out at the link below.

(Source: Darkfall Epic Blog)

Did ProSiebenSat.1 Accidentally Leak Vanguard Free To Play?


Color me interested. For at least a year now, Sony has slowly escalated the slow moving striptease that is the prospect of a free to play Vanguard. John Smedley has made comments of the Vanguard team hiring new staff, who have begun patching the game and even adding in an updated new player experience, and back in November a user tweeted to John Smedley: “how about making vanguard saga of Heroes ftp… If not just kill the game already,” to which Mr. Smedley responded “stay tuned.”

Sony’s ongoing fiasco with Alaplaya over European hosting may have accidentally produced some juicy tidbits of information. In an IRC discussion, the community manager for Alaplaya may have accidentally let slip that Vanguard is heading free to play:

With the launch of DC Universe, we will introduce a new in-game currency that is similar to StationCash. It will not be Alaplaya Points. Your Station cash will be converted to our currency and you will be able to use it with EQ2 and Vanguard.

Granted, this could just be a misunderstanding. Vanguard isn’t even listed as one of the games set to transition to Alaplaya.

(Source: EQ2Wire)

Cleanup In Aisle 5! SOE Community Explodes In Response To Europe Deal


In the land of MMOs, few have ginned up more controversy than Sony Online Entertainment. Sony announced that they would be partnering with Alaplaya, gaming division of ProSiebenSat.1 to publish most of Sony’s MMOs in Europe, transitioning European players off of Sony’s account system and on to PSS. The deal has an astounding laundry list of negative impacts on both the North American and European communities which you can read here at EQ2Wire, and the drama only increased when allegations arose that PSS once had a policy of publishing personal details of its customers, and how Alaplaya’s current library is mostly filled with cheap free to play Korean grinders with pay-to-win cash shops, servers riddled with exploits and gold farmers, and mostly absent GMs.

The community has exploded over this news, and the forums were set ablaze by angry customers resulting in numerous posts deleted and users banned for “excessive negativity,” including Morgan Feldon of EQ2Wire. Sony has been mostly silent, saying little more than that the deal is not a done deal and nothing is set in stone yet, while ProSiebenSat has set up a forum and has been talking to users about specific complaints.

There will surely be more information on this as it appears.

Jagex Hires David Solari As Chief Marketing Officer


Jagex today announced the hiring of David Solari as the company’s new Chief Marketing Officer. David Solari is the former Vice President of Codemasters, where he oversaw the release of Lord of the Rings Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Archlord, and RF Online. At Jagex, Solari will take over and oversee all Jagex marketing activities.

According to the press report, Jagex sees 2012 as “scheduled to be one of the most significant years in the studio’s history.” Jagex currently has three MMOs, Stellar Dawn, 8Realms, and Transformers Online, scheduled for release this year, as well as the continued maintenance and weekly updating of the company’s current staple: RuneScape.

David Solari’s effect on Jagex’s marketing is sure to be seen in the coming months.

(Source: Jagex email press release)

Aion: Truly Free Coming To North America


Last year, NCSoft announced the upcoming free to play transition of Aion…in Europe. In a rather unsurprising move, the developer announced today that North America will be following. Players will have access to all of the content in Aion free of charge, without restrictions on zones, housing, mounts, quests, etc. In addition, NCSoft promises robust cheat detection to ensure that bots won’t take a choke hold over the game.

As a head start, NCSoft will be launching a “Rallying the Troops” event, offering new players a chance to check out the game with no time limit, but a level cap of 40. Returning players will have the ability to have their accounts reactivated for 14 days in the run up to the launch of Truly Free.

Aion Truly Free hits this spring.

(Source: Aion Truly Free)

Rift Raids Southeast Asia Via Asiasoft.


World of Warcraft has shown us that when it comes to dominating the marketplace, Asia is just as important as the West. In an article on Games Industry, Trion has announced a partnership with Asiasoft to bring Rift to multiple Southeast Asian countries.

“Asiasoft, with its deep reach into Southeast Asian countries, is an ideal partner to realise our goal of bringing original connected experiences like Rift to gamers everywhere.”

(Source: Gamesindustry.biz)

Guild War 2 Trumps TERA, Play While You Queue


Someone must have told Guild Wars 2 developer Arenanet that I was comparing MMOs based on how they handle server queues. At least so far in the beta, TERA compensates players who spend more than ten minutes in line for their server with a period of bonus experience upon logging in. I didn’t point this out in the TERA article, but you can actually leave the game without logging in and still receive the bonus.

Guild Wars 2 says sucks to your queue line assmar. Martin Kerstein has posted over at Guild Wars 2 Guru that instead of throwing the players in line and punishing those who join fuller servers at launch, Guild Wars 2 will simply move the player to an overflow server temporarily while they wait in line on their home server. Once the line opens up, you can head back in without delay.

Let me explain what an overflow server is and what it does. It is a technology we also use as our version of a queuing system. When a map or a world you want to log into is at capacity limit, the game will ask you if you want to play on an overflow server – so you can actually play while you are in a queue. Once space opens on your world, the game will ask you if you want to join your friends on your world. And you keep all the progress you made while you were playing on the overflow server.

(Source: Guild Wars 2 Guru)