Blizzcon 2012 Cancelled, Blizzard Too Busy


Since 2005, Blizzcon has been a place of reveals, a chance to check out new Blizzard games early, and an opportunity to see just how scantily clad a Blood Elf can get. However, in a nod to Blizzard’s current heavy work load, Blizzcon has been canned until 2013. Currently, of course, Blizzard is on full production of the next World of Warcraft expansion, the next Starcraft 2 game, Diablo 3, and the mysterious Project Titan, among other projects.

It’s easy to forget just how much work and money goes into a convention, that could be better spent on development and marketing. Still, no doubt players will be disappointed if they had a costume set up to show off this year.

Until next year, friends.

Final Fantasy XI On PS3: Extra 9 Gigabytes of Space


Bad news, Playstation 3 users: You’re going to have to make more space on that hard drive for Final Fantasy XI. Square Enix has announced that in February, a patch will be added to Final Fantasy XI that will require more hard drive space on the Playstation 3, but only on specific models. The models are the 60gigabyte and 20gigabyte which are backward compatible with Playstation 2 games (otherwise this doesn’t apply to you, because you can’t play it anyway). Unfortunately, for users with 20 gigabyte hard drives, this means you won’t be able to play Final Fantasy anymore until you upgrade.

The new space will be 21 gigabytes, reportedly for the purpose of preventing fragmentation on the hard drive. The actual game itself takes up around 12 gigabytes. Playstation 2 and PC users will not be affected by this at all.

(Source: Gamer Escape)

RuneScape Raising Prices: Grandfathering In Current Subscribers


RuneScape is one of the cheapest subscription MMOs currently on the market. Due to increased costs of production and maintenance, in 2008 Jagex increased the price of RuneScape’s membership from $5 USD to $5.95 USD. Just today, the developer announced another price hike, and it is a rather notable increase (based on the previous price). Monthly subscriptions will be increasing from $5.95 to $7.95 monthly starting February 1st.

In appreciation of our existing members, there will be no change whatsoever to anyone who is a member before the 1st February. The price you pay now will be locked in for as long as you stay a loyal member and we will even allow a seven day grace period should you forget to renew.

Jagex notes this increase in price as due to increased investment into RuneScape over 2011 and planned in 2012. This could be related to the facelift talked about by Kotaku for this year.

Kingdom of Amalur Preview


Why preview Kingdom of Amalur? It’s the first game by 38 Studios, who you may know are working on an MMO to come out at some point in the future. I wanted to get an idea what to expect in terms of quality and aside from some technical issues, I was rather impressed.

Check out my other videos on Youtube at the video link above.

[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding


Memes somehow end up being far funnier when the people who perpetuate them end up in trouble by people who don’t “get it.” Take, for instance, the user who was banned from The Old Republic (including the game) for using the meme on the forums “I’m 12 and what is this.” Like any other company operating under the Child Online Privacy Protection Act, Bioware is required to actively monitor their player base and weed out any players who may be under 13.

Still, the humor in Bioware mistaking a meme for an actual confession of age has not eluded internet users. Infuriating, this is not. At least not as frustrating as the users who were warned for posting links to how to cancel your subscription when the option went missing for a good number of users.

Continue reading “[Humor] Bioware Permaban Over Meme Misunderstanding”

Video of the ____: ArchAge Boss Hunting


The bosses in ArchAge are enormous, and if this video is any indication, the presence of siege weaponry is going to be invaluable when fighting them. I’ve seen a few complaints that the siege equipment makes the boss too easy, but I don’t really see the problem. If ArchAge has a system where siege equipment can be destroyed by bosses, all that does is add more demand into the economy so crafters like myself can make good money off of boss hunters.

For more ArchAge and other MMO news, check out the games list on the right.

Let's Talk Pathfinder's Bounty System


At the beginning of the month, I did an article on Dominus, and their advertised bounty hunter system, making the point that it was woefully prone to abuse, not unlike many other bounty systems MMOs have attempted to incorporate over the past decade or so. Well the folks at Pathfinder Online must be after my own heart, because they’ve detailed their own bounty system that addresses many of my concerns.

First off, players are given the option to place a bounty when they are murdered (killed unlawfully) and apparently only at that point. Not only can you put a bounty on the person who murdered you, but anyone else who damaged you or assisted that person. So let’s say you are ganged up on by a fighter, a ranger, and a healer. You’ll be able to put a bounty on the heads of the fighter who murdered you, the ranger who stayed afar and pelted you with arrows, and the healer who healed the two.

In addition, you can specify who can redeem the bounty. The idea is that bounty hunter guilds will form up, and players can essentially contract a specific guild/player to be able to collect the bounty, preventing the killer’s friend from collecting it. But death isn’t the end: When your bounty is collected, you are given the option to re-issue it. Want to make a griefer pay? Keep resubmitting his bounty until your coffers run dry or he rage stops logging in.

This also raises a heavy risk for players who like to role play as red (criminal) gangs. Kill the wrong person, and you could find yourself on the receiving end of a very long manhunt. Granted, this whole system does not apply in cases of declared war, where killing is lawful. The hope is that this will prevent players from running around killing each other for no reason and to make a murderer’s life that much more dangerous.

Granted, there are still some ways to exploit this system, including the murderer being in secret cahoots with the mercenary guilds, but the Pathfinder solution is one of the best I’ve seen.

Let’s Talk Pathfinder’s Bounty System


At the beginning of the month, I did an article on Dominus, and their advertised bounty hunter system, making the point that it was woefully prone to abuse, not unlike many other bounty systems MMOs have attempted to incorporate over the past decade or so. Well the folks at Pathfinder Online must be after my own heart, because they’ve detailed their own bounty system that addresses many of my concerns.

First off, players are given the option to place a bounty when they are murdered (killed unlawfully) and apparently only at that point. Not only can you put a bounty on the person who murdered you, but anyone else who damaged you or assisted that person. So let’s say you are ganged up on by a fighter, a ranger, and a healer. You’ll be able to put a bounty on the heads of the fighter who murdered you, the ranger who stayed afar and pelted you with arrows, and the healer who healed the two.

In addition, you can specify who can redeem the bounty. The idea is that bounty hunter guilds will form up, and players can essentially contract a specific guild/player to be able to collect the bounty, preventing the killer’s friend from collecting it. But death isn’t the end: When your bounty is collected, you are given the option to re-issue it. Want to make a griefer pay? Keep resubmitting his bounty until your coffers run dry or he rage stops logging in.

This also raises a heavy risk for players who like to role play as red (criminal) gangs. Kill the wrong person, and you could find yourself on the receiving end of a very long manhunt. Granted, this whole system does not apply in cases of declared war, where killing is lawful. The hope is that this will prevent players from running around killing each other for no reason and to make a murderer’s life that much more dangerous.

Granted, there are still some ways to exploit this system, including the murderer being in secret cahoots with the mercenary guilds, but the Pathfinder solution is one of the best I’ve seen.