Launch – Page 13 – MMO Fallout

Top MMOs That Need To Come To Consoles

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The current generation of consoles have played host to a major surge in massively multiplayer games, with new titles releasing and being announced every month. To date, console gamers can enjoy titles like DC Universe, Planetside 2, Neverwinter, Final Fantasy XIV, Elder Scrolls Online, and more. With Star Trek Online recently announced for both Xbox and Playstation, MMO Fallout has decided to give its list of MMOs that need to make their way to the comfy couch.

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1. Marvel Heroes

Now that Marvel Heroes has gamepad support, a launch on Xbox and Playstation is the next logical step. Imagine the appeal of sitting on your comfy couch and beating the crap out of Magneto as Captain America, or even as Magneto since he’s a playable hero now. Since both consoles support free to play fully, with open talks of cross-platform play, it isn’t entirely out of the question to see people on all three consoles playing together in harmony.

While Marvel Heroes hasn’t been confirmed for console launch, the prospect hasn’t been denied either. There were initially plans for release on PS3 and 360, which were scrapped after the game launched for a variety of reasons, including a need to focus resources on fixing what had been a heavily panned launch on PC.
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2. Age of Conan

With Exiles set for release on consoles and Funcom on a tight budget, the odds of seeing Age of Conan come to Playstation and Xbox are probably slim to none. That being said, the game’s action combat could find itself perfectly at home with a controller, and the free to play model would introduce the game to a whole new category of gamer.

Incidentally, Age of Conan was also meant to come to consoles. Initially confirmed for launch on the Xbox 360, it took Funcom until 2011 to admit that the game wasn’t coming out, likely out of a combination of the poor reception of the PC version at launch and the technical limitations of the Xbox. Regardless, the game could find a new home on PS4/Xb1.

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3. APB: All Points Bullet

Unlike the previous games on this list, APB is still hoping for a console launch, with Deep Silver confirming the game’s release in Q2 2015. While we are now one year late, and still without a current launch date, it is unknown exactly when the game will be coming out. Regardless, a third person shooter with cooperative/competitive elements is a sure fit for the consoles, albeit one that is now pretty dated.

You’ll notice a trend that these titles were previously confirmed for launch on Xbox 360 only to have their development quietly cancelled later on. A lot of developers wanted to be the first not-Final Fantasy MMO on Xbox 360, only to face the harsh realities of developing, releasing, and maintaining such a title and dealing with Microsoft’s policies of the time.

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4. Champions Online

Since Star Trek Online and Neverwinter have console ports, it only makes sense to go back and bring back the title that started it all, Champions Online. Considering that, like most other games on this list, Champions Online was originally supposed to launch on the Xbox 360, it makes sense that Cryptic Studios already had a design drawn up on how to get the game working comfortably on consoles.

Much like Star Trek Online, Champions Online has a ton of content built up over years of development with fairly little competition on the consoles. Apart from DC Universe, there aren’t really any online super hero games to play on Xbox.

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5. Heroes & Generals

It’s been a long time since console World War 2 shooters were fruitful and plenty. We haven’t seen a WW2 Call of Duty since 2008, Medal of Honor dropped out in 2007, Brothers in Arms was 2008, and Battlefield 2009. There is Battalion 1944 coming out in 2017, but otherwise the genre is pretty much dead on home consoles.

Heroes & Generals is just what the doctor ordered, a first person shooter that is still consistently updated, with plenty of replayability and a long progression system, and a genre that is ripe for the picking. Heroes & Generals is still in early access, so a console launch isn’t even being planned at this point while the PC version is finished.

What MMOs would you like to see on consoles? Let us know in the comments below.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Launches May 26th

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(Correction: The free card packs run until May 15th)

Jagex Ltd, makers of the popular MMO RuneScape, have announced that their collectible card game RS Chronicles will launch on Steam on May 26th. In order to celebrate the occasion, anyone who logs in between now and May 15th will receive three free booster packs to bolster their decks.

RS Chronicles is one of the latest additions to the battle card game genre, following the massive success of Hearthstone. The title sets itself apart from the competition in that cards are used to build adventures for the player’s hero, building up their abilities or tearing down their opponent in preparation for the final battle at the end of each match.

“It’s just two weeks until we officially throw open the doors to Chronicle’s Hall of Legends on 26^th May, and its launch on Steam is only the beginning for what we have planned. We’ve already introduced brand new cards every week, increased rewards, balancing improvements, and there’s even more content planned for the months to come,” said James Sweatman, lead designer, Chronicle: RuneScape Legends.

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends is currently free to play with microtransactions. Chronicle: RuneScape Legends will launch on Steam in seven languages: English, French, LATAM Spanish, German, Polish, Russian, and Brazilian-Portuguese.

(Source: Jagex press release)

Surprise! DC Universe Launched On Xbox One Today

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Daybreak Game Company previously announced that DC Universe Online would be heading to Microsoft’s latest console generation, and the less patient of you need wait no longer. As of noon today EST, you can download the free to play superhero MMO on Xbox One and create your dream hero or villain. While there is no cross-platform play with PC and Playstation gamers, content on the Xbox is on par with what is available on the other platforms.

While the game is free to play, you do need Xbox Live in order to play.

(Source: DC Universe)

Heart of Thorns Is Officially Here

Guild Wars 2 players have reason to rejoice today, as Arenanet has launched the latest and first paid expansion to the MMO. The expansion adds a number of firsts to the game, from raids to the new mastery system, guild halls, and more. The Heart of Thorns expansion is available on the Guild Wars 2 website, while the base game is available for free for anyone interested in giving it a go.

Arenanet co-founder Mike O’Brien had the following to say about the launch:

“We energized our fans in January with the announcement of Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns as the first expansion to Guild Wars 2, and we’ve seen steady growth in our player base ever since. Our community is widely recognized as one of the best and friendliest in MMOs—many of our veteran players organized in starter zones to welcome new players the weekend we made the core Guild Wars 2 game free. We’re eager to see how our fast growing community continues to flourish, and we hope they’re eager to embrace where their Guild Wars 2 journey takes them next in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns.”

Since launch, over seven million accounts have been created in Guild Wars 2.

(Source: Guild Wars 2)

Wildstar Free To Play Transition Accompanied By New Content

Wildstar is heading free to play this year and eyeing a Chinese launch, but before that happens Carbine Studios wants to detail a few changes that are coming.

“WildStar going free-to-play is so much more than a new business model”, said Mike Donatelli, product director at Carbine Studios. “We’re also introducing a massive game update full of new features and quality of life improvements. It’s going to be a fun environment for new players to join and we’re also going to do right by the players who have been with us since the beginning”.

A new rewards system will allow players to obtain points for making NCoin purchases, buying subscriptions, and redeeming CREDD. The reward system is retroactive, providing points to anyone who had previously invested in Wildstar. New players will be greeted by a revamped tutorial and new game experience, with options based on the player’s prior knowledge of MMOs. The way equipment works will change, with certain stats (brutality, finesse) being removed and replaced by other new primary stats (assault, support, health, armor).

Also accompanying the updates are changes to dungeons, splitting them into separate level tiers, and new content areas for PvE and PvP.

Look for these updates, and more, later this year.

(Source: NCSoft press release)

[Rant] Double Standards And The Scrubbed Starting Line

I dove into this topic in my piece about Infinite Crisis last week, but the line between beta and launch has become so blurred in the MMO industry that the whole concept has lost its meaning and many of us in gaming journalism are thoroughly sick of it. Go to virtually any website that reviews MMOs and you’ll likely see the same policy: We start judging when they start charging. I’m paraphrasing, but the point is the same regardless.

In earlier years, I defended the practice of selling beta access as a perk for pre-ordering because it was the best a customer could do to get a “demo” on an MMO. Granted, these were the days when 90% of western titles had subscriptions and wouldn’t see free trials until at least six months post launch, if at all. Furthermore, it was relatively low risk for the consumer. All you normally had to do was throw down the $5 minimum at Gamestop (or your local equivalent), a refundable/transferable five bucks I should add, and you’d get a beta key on your receipt. Apart from some know-how of the game and maybe a participation item, people in the beta didn’t get any advantage because characters were reset before launch.

But then free to play became dominant and the goal posts got moved time and time again. Developers stopped wiping beta characters, began opening up the cash shop in beta and in some cases even alpha. It’s important to read into the motives because the general consensus is that once you start charging for the use of a product, you agree that it is worth selling and therefore worth critiquing.

The launchification of beta, or early access as the industry has started calling it, has presented a remarkable double standard in game developers who want the freedom to treat the game as effectively launched in the sense that the servers won’t be wiped, the cash shop is open, and anyone can create an account and start playing, but keep up their shield against criticism whenever someone like myself posts a preview saying “this isn’t worth buying right now.” I have several times been the recipient of an email conveying disappointment or offering corrections, calling my criticism unfair because the product wasn’t considered launched yet.

What we’ve learned from the industry these past few years is that certain devs have no problem blurring the lines between beta and launch so long as it conveniences them and, when pushed on it, rubbing it out and flat out denying that it exists. When pushed on refunds, Turbine turned around and said no to founders because they’ve been playing for two years and, by Turbine’s opinion, they got their money’s worth regardless of if the game launched. When players struck back and pointed out that at least a decent portion of the time was spent dealing with outages, extended maintenance, game breaking bugs, and missing or incomplete features, Turbine’s CM simply denied the concept of launch altogether.

Because, in their logic, what does launch really mean when the game will continue to receive updates, bug fixes, and new heroes in the coming years? It makes sense, yes, but going by this line of thought, when are reviewers allowed to critique your product? Because if it’s unfair to criticize a game before it is finished, and a game like Infinite Crisis is in your explanation never finished, are you trying to say that it is never fair to criticize the game?

Or does the whole narrative eventually collapse and we go back to where we started?

With games increasingly shutting down mid-beta or very shortly after and then refusing to compensate customers, the need for tough scrutiny is higher than ever. The days of beta being a low risk, fun thing we did to get some game time in, help squash some bugs while stress testing, and ease the pain of waiting for launch are long over, and in its place is the high risk, predatory game of early access that carries no customer protection, no guarantee of ever receiving a final product, and no out once you’re in.

Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter.

TERA Opens Up Inactive Usernames

TERA’s launch on Steam means a lot of new players, and that means a lot of people looking for free names. On June 25th, characters who haven’t logged in over the past year will have their usernames changed in order to free up choices for these new incoming players:

Any characters that have not logged into the game since June 25, 2014 will have their names appended with “_1”, freeing up their old names to anyone creating a new character or using the paid Character Name Change service.

You will need to log in before June 25th to keep your name saved.

(Source: TERA)

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