Tag: Earthrise

Earthrise Servers Have Been Offline Since December 8th


What a poor time to schedule a “Why Aren’t You Playing” article.

Due to restructuring of our activities and change of the server location, the Earthrise servers will be going offline for 1 week between 8th of December and 16th of December. During that time you will not be able to login and play the game. All accounts will be compensated with added value to their free to play status when the game goes free to play in 2012.

It appears that when Masthead Studios took down Earthrise to migrate servers, they also decided to throw in some upgrades. As a result, the servers are still down with an estimated relaunch of “when it’s done.” Possibly January. Hopefully January.

At this point, as I had posted previously when progression has been made and it is decided to release the game in a more playable mode it will be posted. The negativity in the comments do not speed the process up at all. We do applogize for the delay but more effort is being made to full polish the build before any release.

Oops. In the meantime, is anyone up for a game of M2?

(Source: Earthrise Forums)

Earthrise Moving To Free To Play: December 1st


Earthrise is one of those MMOs that journalists (or myself) look at and cringe. We’d love to see it succeed, because we support indie developers, but since we can’t cherry pick the news coming out of the title to put it in a better light without compromising our integrity, the end result is the perception of a group of writers forming a circle and kicking the company to death. On the other hand, my biggest problem with such MMOs is when the developer charges premium rates for a product that is not, by any means, premium quality. Look at Runescape, which could never have gotten away with a $15 monthly subscription back in the old days when it looked like this.

Then again, I consider any announcement of free to play to be a good thing, and that is exactly what we are here to discuss. Masthead Studios announced that Earthrise will be making the big dip into free this December. The actual transition does not take place until early next year, the December 1st date is for current and former players who had already purchased a copy of the game to play for free.

“The free-to-play model will offer convenience for players, it will not be ‘pay to win’ with items that ruin the balance of the game.”

The team plans to roll out the free to play system in a manner in which players can access without the servers crashing, and rather than opening the floodgates will be allowing players in intervals.

“Meanwhile Earthrise will be used as a test for the new free-2-play model and Masthead will limit the creation of new accounts. Invitations will be sent to selected new players and a new sign-up option will be provided. All existing subscribers will receive a number of invitations to bring their friends in the game. “

Come Back To Earthrise: 14 Days


Masthead Studios just released patch 20557 on to the live server, bringing in a slew of new features including (among other things) ride-able vehicles. You can read the entire list of patch notes here. More importantly, Masthead is so proud of their patch that they want you ex-players to come back and check out all that is new with Earthrise. Starting October 21st (yesterday), players are invited to log in for fourteen days to get a feel for the world and, oh I don’t know, refill that subscription you left so long ago.

Oddly enough, Masthead Studios hasn’t made any formal announcement that I’m aware of. MMORPG.com has reported on the welcome back weeks, but I don’t believe any emails have been sent out to former players. I’ve noted in the calendar how long this program should last.

Earthrise: More Price Cuts! Lower Subscription Fees!


Earthrise. It’s a game by Masthead studios, which is not just the name on a shirt that I got for free then took a shaky photograph of. Since its launch earlier this year, Earthrise has seen a slew of sales looking to bring in new customers, culminating in a price drop in June to $29.99. Apparently not bringing in as many people as Masthead hoped, the developer announced a further price drop for the client:

Masthead Studios, a leading independent developer of MMOs, announced the reduction of the game client and monthly subscription prices. The company decided to lower the price of game client by 60% starting 5th Aug 2011. It will cost 12 Euro for EU players and $14 for Non-EU players.

The price of a 6-month subscription will also be reduced to $50, or about 8 dollars per month.

Earthrise/Star Trek Online On Sale


Direct2Drive is on a month long set of summer sales, and today’s sale is Earthrise and Star Trek Online. If you haven’t picked up either title, now is the time to do so.

Earthrise is available for $11.95 (60% off) and is available for purchase worldwide. Star Trek Online is available for $5.95 (from $14.95) and is also available for purchase worldwide. Both packs come with promotional items exclusive to their purchase area. The sale only lasts for a short while, so get it while the getting is good.

Earthrise: Come Back, Old Players!


Earthrise wants you back to see a cool thing they just added into the game. With a list of patch notes substantial enough for Masthead Studios to call it an expansion, Earthrise launches the welcome back program, offering ten days (starting today) for veteran players to return to the relatively new MMO. If you’ve played in the past and never renewed your subscription, you will find yourself able to log in starting today through the 23rd.

So head on in, if you haven’t already, to experience if the game has changed for the better since your last encounter.

Earthrise: Come Back, Old Players!


Earthrise wants you back to see a cool thing they just added into the game. With a list of patch notes substantial enough for Masthead Studios to call it an expansion, Earthrise launches the welcome back program, offering ten days (starting today) for veteran players to return to the relatively new MMO. If you’ve played in the past and never renewed your subscription, you will find yourself able to log in starting today through the 23rd.

So head on in, if you haven’t already, to experience if the game has changed for the better since your last encounter.

Earthrise Is On Sale. Get It On Direct2Drive


Earthrise is relaunching today with the release of Territorial Warfare, bringing in a slew up content as well as doubling the size of the game world and bringing in territory control (go figure).

More importantly, you can find Earthrise at a lower price. Now, on the official website the price has dropped to $29.99 USD, or €29.90 (about $43 USD), OR you can head over to Direct2Drive and get the game for $29.99 USD universally.

Earthrise has released on Direct2Drive now, so those of you who preordered can now download.

Wait, Earthrise Is Back On Preorder? Off Shelves?


Dear Internet,

Perhaps I’m missing something obvious here. To the best of my memory, Earthrise has been launched and is still running live, at least a quick trip to the official website would lead me to believe so. According to the website, there is a plan to drop the price of Earthrise to $29.99 USD on June 1st, which may coincide with this oddity over at Direct2Drive. At MMO Fallout’s #2 favorite distributor, the game is strangely back on pre-order for a June 1st release date, but is listed at $20.99, with a regular price of $29.99, which fits the development plan.

Meanwhile, I also noticed that Earthrise dropped off the face of the earth from my local Target, as well as Target in general (you’ll remember Final Fantasy XIV was still being sold through the website). Not even the computers had the game still in the system.

I’ve contacted Direct2Drive in regards to the listing, but I’m not expecting an answer soon (it is a Saturday after all). I might actually pick up Earthrise tomorrow morning (I never make a purchase after midnight, it is not in my best financial interest), if it’s going for $20.

[Update]: I got a response back from Direct2Drive:

The preorder status would be at the publisher’s request.  I can only guess that it is to do a special “re-release”. For more info on that you may want to ask the publisher, we follow their instructions on selling their game.

Project V13 Beta! In 2012…


Don't hold your Nuka Cola.

I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Project V13, the fabled Fallout MMO and namesake for this blog, is trucking along and will be hitting beta soon. The bad news is that by soon, I mean soon in Valve Time, and it may be likely that the beta will trigger the end of the world as we know it.

In a recent posting over at Interplay’s website, the company has announced that they have been working with Masthead Studios to bring their vision of Fallout to life, with all of the vaults, irradiated beverages, and super mutants that you know and love. Even more descriptively was the note that Project V13 will be using the same proprietary tools as Earthrise.

“Masthead joined the project in early 2009 and development continues under Interplay’s direction and control. Project: V13 will utilize the proprietary tools and MMOG technology Masthead developed for its “Earthrise” project.”

How soon is this beta, you say, Omali? Not soon enough that you shouldn’t put off buying anything. We’re looking at mid to late 2012.

“This MMOG will have many unique features that we will disclose before launch of the public Beta in 2012.”

But it isn’t all bad. Tell me, Interplay, will Project V13 be innovative, or will it be just a sad re-skinning of functions and mechanics we have already seen before?

“Project: V13 incorporates many creative and technological innovations. We believe it will be a unique experience. Our technology will continue to evolve in order to realize all the extraordinary content and features Interplay has designed.”

Good enough for me. More on Project V13 when we get closer to the beta in two years.