Champions Online Unlimited Demo Getting More Unlimited?


No longer the last thing demo players will see...

Earlier last year, slightly over two weeks ago to be exact, I reported the announcement that Champions Online would be joining the unlimited beta group, releasing the tutorial for free forever. Players have the opportunity to play through the first fifteen levels, fight off the Qulaar invasion, and apparently making me look like a bribed spokesperson, or possibly a fanboy:

“At least with Champions Online, you’re not seeing the best the game has to offer, suckering you into buying the title, followed by immediate disappointment when you realize that you just bought a house based on the mailbox and the garage door, to find the rest of the building had been burned down in a fire.”
-Omali, MMO Fallout, on Champions Online

My apologies to Age of Conan and Warhammer Online fans, and my condolences to the families of the keyboards you broke in the process of writing me hatemail.

But there are more important things afoot! The MMO Fallout super sleuths (myself stalking dev posts on various forums) were able to come up with this quote by Cryptic Studios’ Daeke, showing that the company is giving strong consideration to opening up more of the game for the unlimited demo’ers to play.

That quote, of course, after the break.

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Cryptic Wants Your Feedback on Christmas Event…


likely won't listen to it...

Part of my job here on MMO Fallout is to point out the flaws in developers, and in today’s case: Cryptic’s major issue is that, for how much they hype up their player communication, they do not listen to players. I said this several months ago (You Have Public Tests, USE THEM) after problems arose concerning easily fixed issues with the Halloween event.

The issues that arose out of the Halloween event were easily fixed, and many of them were fixed that night. The most ridiculous, however, was the two hour countdown that each portal had on it until the next opportunity to participate in the event, meaning players spent more time hopping instances hoping that their portal of choice wasn’t taken. Issues also arose with perks not being handed out correctly; I myself missed half of the Halloween perks, despite several attempts at the undead heroes, because the system simply refused to acknowledge my participation in the fight.

And here comes the Christmas event, after the break.

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Funcom: Going Casual


Sweet Robot, er, tiger?

With Funcom working on an expansion to Age of Conan, as well as the upcoming The Secret World, and the engine change to Anarchy Online, I admit I was both surprised and concerned when the announcement came that Funcom’s new division, Sweet Robot, would be working on a kid’s MMO: PetsVs Monsters. After playing Pets Vs Monsters: The Beta, the concern has relegated itself to my lower intestinal track.

But who knew? The same company that brought us layoffs and greatly lowered revenue is also bringing us more casual titles! Granted, this is nothing new. Back in a time when Ritual Entertainment made great first person shooters, they were gobbled up by Mumbojumbo and are now creating casual titles. Funcom announced that they have even more casual kid MMOs planned for the future, with Pets Vs Monsters in open beta currently.

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Fallen Earth: Take A Note, NCsoft.


If Funcom's money was gold-backed...
Fallen Earth will take you to the bank.

What is the difference between Fallen Earth and Aion? Ok, sure, there’s the wings, the combat, the currency, the crafting system, the point of view, the lore, the engine, and pretty much everything else. But what is really different about Fallen Earth? Given up? Fallen Earth doesn’t have the same problem with gold farmers that Aion does.

But how does Fallen Earth do it, you may say? In a recent interview with Massively.com, Project Manager Colin Dwan had these points to make, which he did after this break.

Continue reading “Fallen Earth: Take A Note, NCsoft.”

World of Warcraft: Misses You, China


Minister of Culture, at your service.

Hello, China! Enjoying your World of Warcraft? Between the switch from operators (The9 to Netease), subsequent banning, delay of The Burning Crusade expansion (yes, I said Burning Crusade), reopening under a test phase (no new registrations), and subsequent rebanning, it is unlikely anyone in China did much enjoying of World of Warcraft. China’s General Administration of Press and Publication (GAPP) has required that Blizzard and Netease change some content in the game, not specifying what. Certain content already altered in WoW China includes piles of bones being changed to piles of sacks, and the undead showing less bone and more skin. Players do not leave corpses, but leave behind gravestones. Players and monsters also spew green and black blood.

More after the break…

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Dungeon Runners: What Happened


“Dungeon Runners just isn’t cutting the mustard. If she were a ship, she’d be taking on water. Yeah, she’s been taking on water for a long time now. Are my cryptic references too hard to decipher? The game just isn’t profitable. And, the first rule of business is to be profitable!”
-Stephen Nichols, NCsoft, on Dungeon Runners.

Today marks the first day of a new year, as well as the death of two MMOs: Dungeon Runners and Metaplace. Dungeon Runners shut down earlier this morning following an event that saw a giant bomb explode in the game’s main city: Townston. Here at MMO Fallout, “What Happened” has to be my least favorite section as, despite popular opinion, I don’t get my jollies from watching companies fall.

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Atlantica Online Vs Child's Play: Blame The Players


Atlantica: You can't fire me!

“due to some negative player complaints, Child’s Play has regrettably asked to be withdrawn from our efforts to raise money for their cause. We were informed that Child’s Play received negative emails from Atlantica Online players around the nature of the donation and the box, causing them to request removal from our fundraising efforts. “

There’s an unwritten list of things that fall under the category of “burns you can’t recover from.” The list includes, but is not limited to, getting divorced via text message, getting fired via text message, starving while snowed in at a grocery store, and finally having a charity tell you “thanks, but no thanks” to your donations.

Continue reading “Atlantica Online Vs Child's Play: Blame The Players”

Atlantica Online Vs Child’s Play: Blame The Players


Atlantica: You can't fire me!

“due to some negative player complaints, Child’s Play has regrettably asked to be withdrawn from our efforts to raise money for their cause. We were informed that Child’s Play received negative emails from Atlantica Online players around the nature of the donation and the box, causing them to request removal from our fundraising efforts. “

There’s an unwritten list of things that fall under the category of “burns you can’t recover from.” The list includes, but is not limited to, getting divorced via text message, getting fired via text message, starving while snowed in at a grocery store, and finally having a charity tell you “thanks, but no thanks” to your donations.

Continue reading “Atlantica Online Vs Child’s Play: Blame The Players”

2010: The Blue Moon Year


We enter January as 2009 comes to a close, we look at the year before us, and the year ahead, and remember that life goes on, no matter what happens in the present. I’ve dubbed 2010 the blue moon year because it has the pleasure of beginning with a blue moon, an event that won’t be occurring on New Year’s Eve for a long time to come.

I’m going slightly out of character with this article, if anything just to be the one time a year I get to be a jerk and pick on the same companies I spend the other 364 days vying for the attention of (Thank you Tork, Hasbro, Aventurine, Cryptic). This is a comprehensive list of some questions I have going into the new year, that I hope to get answered by this time next year.

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