It was one month ago that Champions Online launched to the waiting crowd, the first in our Mega September that saw a number of new titles launch, old titles receive expansion packs, and an oldie hit its twelfth birthday. It is one month after an MMO launches that the honeymoon is over, as is the free month of membership included in the game, and the true players are separated from those who just stuck around because they had the free month.
In a move first capitalized by The Wizard, viewers got a glimpse of the oft-delayed and just as oft-sued, upcoming MMO Stargate Worlds. In the premier of Stargate Universe, character Eli Wallace is a gamer who finds his way into the Icarus program. After spending months attempting to complete an “unbeatable puzzle,” he gains the attention of Stargate Command. Of course, the game he is playing is none other than Stargate Worlds.
This is the first update on Stargate Worlds’ website since May, and it is unclear at this time whether this is a sign that the game is still going, or if what we saw was just a simple cameo from one section of the IP to another.
It’s only a little but we will have much more to show very soon as we mentioned earlier.
Certainly more to come. I don’t normally report on pure MMO news, but I make an exception for Stargate Worlds. You could make quite a nerdy soap opera based off of the development of Stargate Worlds. Will Stargate Worlds ever be released? Are the claims of the ponzi scheme true? Will Cheyenne’s employees ever be paid? Will Gary Whiting be thrown under the bus? Tune in next time folks! Same vaporware time, same vaporware place!
When I said that Crimecraft would stay online as long as it remained profitable, I was not specifically referring to the subscription based format. I try not to inject too much speculation into my articles, but I could not see Crimecraft running very long on a forced subscription based platform, even if it costs less than most other MMOs. There are just too many other shooters on the market that cost the initial $50, and then cost absolutely nothing to play per month.
Earlier this week I did an article on Funcom laying off 20% of their workforce. While the layoffs have officially delayed Funcom’s upcoming MMO, The Secret World, by at least 3 months, I questioned how this would affect Age of Conan, namely its upcoming expansion: Rise of the Godslayer.
I can happily say that, in this bad news, there is good news. Rise of the Godslayer has not been affected by the layoffs. There is still no news on the Xbox360 version of Age of Conan, or a release date for either the upcoming new MMO, or Rise of the Godslayer.
More on Funcom and their upcoming titles as it appears.
I’ve been struck by some of my viewers for giving WAR too much of a bad light on MMO Fallout. Apparently I am focusing too much on the negatives (Which is half of what this website was set up to do), but not enough on the positives. Low retention rate, massive server mergers, and the continuing issue of desolate areas, where doing certain RvR tiers or public quests is impossible due to the lack of other players present.
With the latest patch to hit the Warhammer Online public testing server, Mythic is looking to make the game easier not only for new players, but long time veterans as well. With this new patch, players will no longer start in the old starting areas. Instead, players will be thrown into a singular starting area, one for Chaos and one for Empire, allowing them to meet and greet, and to allow for easier group formation. New players will also notice that they have been automatically enrolled in a starting guild for each server, to allow them to meet other new players/alts, and form their own guilds off the bat. In addition, there is now a voice-over tutorial, and an improved in-game help manual.
As September draws to a close, Funcom ends the month on a bad note: The developer of the MMO Age of Conan announced today that they are laying off 20% of their workforce. The developer is looking to reduce redundancies in its ongoing focus to move the company to Montreal, where they can enjoy more tax breaks and lower wages.
Funcom’s upcoming title (pictured above), The Secret World, has been officially delayed by “several months.” The title does not yet have an announced release date, and a release date of late 2010 to early 2011 is expected. It is unknown if this will affect Age of Conan’s upcoming expansion, Rise of the Godslayer.
Also unannounced is what effect, if any, will be had on Funcom’s current titles: Age of Conan and Anarchy Online.
Impatience is not a virtue in a recently launched MMO. In fact, hindrance is not a strong enough word to explain just how disappointed a player will be if they dive into a recently launched MMO with hopes of 100% stability, a lack of bugs and glitches, and a some residual issues that even the open beta or head start periods could not iron out before launch. Early World of Warcraft players will remember Blizzard being on hand with defibrilators day and night to revive the many servers from their often hourly heart attacks. Warhammer Online saw server queues, and more recently Aion saw total lockouts from certain servers, as well as the load of AFK shop owners bringing some parts of the server to their knees.
Continue reading “Fallen Earth: Stumbling Launch and Today's Stroke”
Impatience is not a virtue in a recently launched MMO. In fact, hindrance is not a strong enough word to explain just how disappointed a player will be if they dive into a recently launched MMO with hopes of 100% stability, a lack of bugs and glitches, and a some residual issues that even the open beta or head start periods could not iron out before launch. Early World of Warcraft players will remember Blizzard being on hand with defibrilators day and night to revive the many servers from their often hourly heart attacks. Warhammer Online saw server queues, and more recently Aion saw total lockouts from certain servers, as well as the load of AFK shop owners bringing some parts of the server to their knees.
Continue reading “Fallen Earth: Stumbling Launch and Today’s Stroke”
That’s right! Although the original Planetside downsized to one server this year, it appears that Sony is not yet done with the intellectual property. Yesterday, Sony sent out a mass email to their subscribers telling them that a new game based on the Planetside universe is being planned, and that they would like input directly from the players as to what should be put in.
This is where I admit that I looked at Planetside all wrong. John Smedley had this to say about the (soon to be) series:
John Smedley: PlanetSide fans will be happy We have big things planned in the next 12 months. Were working on something new thats really cool.
Sony Online Entertainment, as I have said, is notorious for keeping MMOs online as long as humanly possible, even if it means cutting every cost except for the electricity required to keep the servers running, as long as the title remains profitable. Although Planetside was a pioneer of its time, one of the first MMOs to bridge the gap between first person shooters on a massive spectrum, the title has aged greatly since its launch. A brand new Planetside would do justice to the game that capitalized on massive battles involving hundreds of players.
It should be noted that Planetside 2 is technically unconfirmed at this point. There is the possibility that this new game may be a complete rework of the original Planetside, reminiscent of what Jagex did with the transition from Runescape to Runescape 2.
Aion is one of the few MMOs to incorporate private shops in addition to an Auction House. Players are able to set up shop wherever they go, allowing their character to set up a little table for other player to browse. Current Aion players that I talked to on the subject prefer the private shops to the auction house, noting that in the auction house there are “too many instances of players doing everything to undercut each other in price.” Setting up a shop also removes the automatic logout feature for players who are away from keyboard.
Continue reading “NCsoft Nukes Server Cloggers: New Servers!”
MMO Fallout 