Aion launches alongside the delayed Fallen Earth come September 22nd, and those of you who have watched sales figures over the past few months will have seen Aion topping the charts for the PC market, both retail and digital through Steam and Direct 2 Drive. Aion preorders have gone so well, that NCSoft has proudly boasted the latest mark of over 300,000 preorders for the upcoming MMORPG. NCsoft is looking to make Aion not just localized, but going forward and culturalising the title for Western markets, changing various mechanics in the game to suit a different play style and expectation.
It’s All About Retention Rate
Aion launches alongside the delayed Fallen Earth come September 22nd, and those of you who have watched sales figures over the past few months will have seen Aion topping the charts for the PC market, both retail and digital through Steam and Direct 2 Drive. Aion preorders have gone so well, that NCSoft has proudly boasted the latest mark of over 300,000 preorders for the upcoming MMORPG. NCsoft is looking to make Aion not just localized, but going forward and culturalising the title for Western markets, changing various mechanics in the game to suit a different play style and expectation.
Eve Online: The Exception To The Rule
Some time ago I wrote an article discussing how games that have full, unrestricted PvP are doomed to fail. The games create a griefer’s paradise, where Player Vs Player combat is no longer about finding the most powerful person to take down, but rather how many people you can gank out of their starting area before you are removed for a few hours. Developers create the games with the knowledge that the title will be niche, but fail to realize just how many players will not make it past their first free month of gameplay.
Bethesda Vs Interplay: In Plain English
I know there are some avid Fallout Wiki readers who already know about this, but the rest of you might want to listen up. While the MMO community has had a good laugh over the past few months calling Fallen Earth the “Fallout MMO,” what many of them are not aware of is that there is indeed an MMO in development based on the Fallout Universe. When Bethesda bought out the Fallout franchise in 2007, they sub-licensed the rights to a Fallout MMO back to Interplay, on the agreement that Interplay would be in full development by April 2009.
April 2008: Interplay announces that Fallout Project V13 has entered production.
April 2009: Interplay announces that it will be working with Masthead Studios, who are currently working on Earthrise.
June 2009: Rumors surface that, due to the lack of productivity on Project V13, Interplay may have lost the Fallout MMO License.
September 2009: Bethesda is now suing Interplay for breach of agreement.
In plain English: Interplay sold the entire Fallout franchise to Bethesda with the agreement that Interplay would have the rights to develop a Fallout MMO. The terms of the contract stated that they had to gain funding and begin full development by April 2009, otherwise Interplay would lose the license and Bethesda would be free to make their own Fallout MMO. Despite some news over two years, Interplay was unable to procure either funding or proof of development, and as April has come and gone, Bethesda is playing the part of angry apartment owner, with Interplay being several years late on rent.
Interplay has had a rough time, going almost 60 million dollars in debt before doing massive restructuring and selling off much of their IP to get that money back. It would appear that a Fallout MMO will only happen under one of two circumstances. Either Interplay will hit be in full production, and the court will decide that they have fulfilled their side of the agreement, or Bethesda will win, gain the final puzzle piece of the Fallout IP and start work on their own MMO.
Which would you rather see? A Bethesda or an Interplay version of Fallout: The MMO?
Champions Online Q&A Feed
Champions Online Live Q&A Transcript. More after the break.
Free Retcons for Everybody!
I’ve talked a lot about the launch day patch for Champions Online, how it changed the game in a very dramatic fashion, making previously viable combat sets now obsolete and unusable. Originally, Cryptic allowed users who created their account during the head start to have a free respec, resetting their powers and allowing them to start fresh.
A patch today launched that will give all Champions Online users a free respec who created their characters before the 10th. Right now, the free respec was bugged, and therefore left out of the patch. Players can still obtain this free respec, until the UI bug is fixed, by typing /character_usefreerespec
http://www.champions-online.com/node/526341 The full list of patch notes.
Headstarts, Expansions, and Free to Play
It’s a busy day today for MMOs. First off, those who preordered Fallen Earth will find that the headstart servers are now open for them to start roaming and utilizing those preorder bonuses before all the lazy people come in. Fallen Earth has been on my radar for quite some time now, not just because I was invited to the closed beta, but because it taught us a lot about false pretense. I’ll admit I was suckered into the idea that Fallen Earth would be an MMO take of Fallout 3, until I actually played the game and found that the two are different as day and night. Fallen Earth is a fully realized MMO set in a massive persistent world, with a unique system of crafting, leveling, and fighting. Those of you who did not preorder can dive into the live servers when the game fully launches on September 22nd, barring any future delays.
Secondly, an oldie comes back for a rejuvination. Today, Dungeons and Dragons Online goes fully free to play, alongside the newest expansion: Eberron Unlimited. The level cap has been raised to 20, and free players have access to most content, with a number of classes, items, and other features paid for through the game’s VIP system. Grab your 20 sided dice, get your party ready, and go deep into this title today! No doubt MMO Fallout will be focusing more on Dungeons and Dragons Online, what with the ongoing lawsuit between Developer Turbine and Publisher Atari.
Stygian Abyss Ships! And Ultima Online 2?
Despite being two years older than Everquest, Ultima Online can only boast half the number of expansion packs. That being said, EA reminds us of the continued investment they hold in the title with today’s release of Stygian Abyss, introducing a new race, new classes, new abilities, and an entirely new facet.
In an interview with Calvin Crowner, he had this to say about the possibility of a new Ultima Online:
Well, I can’t say just yet, but Mythic is always looking at our existing intellectual properties and discussing the best course of action for the franchises.
What do you think? Ultima Online 2 has been tried, and never made it through production. Should Mythic go through with a plan for Ultima 2, they will have to take a good hard look at who they’re going to market the game towards.
WoW: 10 More Years
In a recent interview with Joystiq, J. Allen Brack (Lead Producer over at Blizzard) had this to say on the game’s longevity:
I have said, internally, and I think externally as well, that I fully expect WoW to be around for at least 10 more years.
Good news for anyone getting worried (IE: Borderline paranoia) about World of Warcraft shutting down. 10 more years? Hopefully by then World of Warcraft will have transferred over to a neural system beamed directly into our cerebral cortex so we can monitor real life with one eye while leveling to the 100 level cap, raiding, gaining tier 25 armor in the other.
I’ll see you all in 2019 to see where WoW is.
Did Champions Online Pull A Trammel?
There’s a very specific reason I don’t do previews of MMOs while they are in open beta: Because the final product may be very different than what players are testing out for the developers. As a rule, I remind people to never preorder on the assumption that, when the game launches, it will be the same as it is now. The open beta is a perfect opportunity for testers to show exactly what needs to be changed, and changed it will be. Abilities get tweaked, some features get buffed, and yes some features get nerfed. MMOs are never a final product, and big changes should always be expected.
MMO Fallout 