Tag: MMO

Buffy MMO and Firefly MMO Canned


You may know Multiverse from…well you probably don’t know about Multiverse. You may know about the game engine because of two specific IPs set to have MMOs on the platform: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Firefly. Those looking forward to questing alongside Buffy or traveling the stars in the distant future will have to turn elsewhere. Multiverse has shut down production due to lack of funding, and has ceased operations as of December.

Although thousands of developers showed interest in the Multiverse Platform, Multiverse wasn’t able to achieve a profitable business model. As a result, Multiverse ceased operations in December 2011 due to lack of funding.

This isn’t the end of the Multiverse platform, however. According to the website, a group of people are working to start a nonprofit foundation to take over the platform and to support developers who still wish to use the engine.

(Source: Multiverse Website)

The MMO That Wasn't: The Agency


Looking at the success of games like CrimeCraft and the sales Tribes: Ascend during its continued beta period, I can’t help but feel that The Agency got the very short end of the stick when Sony cancelled it earlier this year. Perhaps if Sony had licensed an IP, say James Bond, the game would have gathered the internal enthusiasm to be thrown in the chopping block over, say, existing costs that show little promise. While Sony never made an official statement at the time, given their desire to release DC Universe as free to play in early 2011, it might be safe to say that The Agency would also have been released under a similar model. Instanced shooters are great, but historically have not proven to be viable subscription titles.

In the grand scheme of things, The Agency was likely a side project that Sony was working on alongside their other more serious projects, and when the company hit hard financial times and had to lay off a massive amount of people, it was the first project to get the boot. Perhaps at some point in the future, The Agency will be revived and Sony will continue where they left off.

But I’m an optimistic person.

The MMO That Wasn’t: The Agency


Looking at the success of games like CrimeCraft and the sales Tribes: Ascend during its continued beta period, I can’t help but feel that The Agency got the very short end of the stick when Sony cancelled it earlier this year. Perhaps if Sony had licensed an IP, say James Bond, the game would have gathered the internal enthusiasm to be thrown in the chopping block over, say, existing costs that show little promise. While Sony never made an official statement at the time, given their desire to release DC Universe as free to play in early 2011, it might be safe to say that The Agency would also have been released under a similar model. Instanced shooters are great, but historically have not proven to be viable subscription titles.

In the grand scheme of things, The Agency was likely a side project that Sony was working on alongside their other more serious projects, and when the company hit hard financial times and had to lay off a massive amount of people, it was the first project to get the boot. Perhaps at some point in the future, The Agency will be revived and Sony will continue where they left off.

But I’m an optimistic person.

Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart


I hate reporting on MMOs shutting down. For how much the market is saturated, each game holds a special place in at least one person’s heart, and no matter how unmarketable the title was there will always be a group to mourn its loss. It almost goes without saying that when a kid’s MMO is shuttered, the effect is even worse. I received this comment on the Lego Universe article yesterday:

I sure hope you are willing to make the server files available to people who wish to run a private server in their home for their children to play. I understand you cannot allow internet based servers, but there should be a way to play on a LAN. Please, for those of us who bought the game. I have a son with Autism, and I am very concerned about how this shut down will affect him!
-Mike Shaffer

I think Mike misunderstood that I have no affiliation with Lego Universe, but how do you answer that question? How do you tell a child with autism that the game that has helped them so much is going away? A quick trip to the Lego Universe forums was apparent that Mike isn’t the only person in this position as a parent. Read on for other stories from the forums…

Continue reading “Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart”

Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart


I hate reporting on MMOs shutting down. For how much the market is saturated, each game holds a special place in at least one person’s heart, and no matter how unmarketable the title was there will always be a group to mourn its loss. It almost goes without saying that when a kid’s MMO is shuttered, the effect is even worse. I received this comment on the Lego Universe article yesterday:

I sure hope you are willing to make the server files available to people who wish to run a private server in their home for their children to play. I understand you cannot allow internet based servers, but there should be a way to play on a LAN. Please, for those of us who bought the game. I have a son with Autism, and I am very concerned about how this shut down will affect him!
-Mike Shaffer

I think Mike misunderstood that I have no affiliation with Lego Universe, but how do you answer that question? How do you tell a child with autism that the game that has helped them so much is going away? A quick trip to the Lego Universe forums was apparent that Mike isn’t the only person in this position as a parent. Read on for other stories from the forums…

Continue reading “Lego Universe And Autism, Or, A Shattered Heart”

NCSoft, Nexon, Others Relieved Of Identity Attacks…


Over in Korea, players have a lot more to lose when a company leaks their information. Unlike in most other countries, players are often required to register to MMOs with the Korean equivalent of the social security number, and more than once data leaks have resulted in these numbers being readily available for the gaming public. An entire black market has surrounded these games, and at least once per year I am contacted by a group offering entrance into several Korean only betas with accounts registered with stolen identities.

Nexon made big news last month when they announced that the details of thirteen million accounts in Korea were stolen, including the Korean RRN (Resident Registration Number) in an encrypted format. In response, a number of Korean developers have announced plans to stop collecting Korean numbers and instead outsource the collection process to a third party agency. Rather than storing the sensitive data, the agency processes the RRN of the registrant, matches it up to the list, and reports to the developer if the person is an adult, child, nonexistent, or a bot.

Rather than jump on the bandwagon of hate, I think this is a good thing for everyone. Players no longer have to worry (as much) about their identity being stolen, and the developers have a massive load taken off of their backs. Korean MMOs require a player’s identification because the country has strict laws on minors playing certain games and during certain times, and requires companies to enforce such restrictions. As a result, developers have become prime targets for identity theft and security breaches by hackers in search of the delicious gooey center of personal data.

So developers not having access to your RRN can only be a good thing. For those of you in the states, would you trust Turbine or Sony with your social security number? Neither would I.

Roma Victor Developers Working On Sandbox MMO


Do you remember Roma Victor? I do, and was very disheartened when the company finally shut the servers down back in January 2011. But with all night comes dawn, and the folks at RedBedlam wanted to make it clear that this was not the last we’d heard of them:When I was a little filly and the sun was going down

RedBedlam is currently focussed exclusively on developing projects for third parties. It is worth bearing in mind however that a great deal of work was put into the project codenamed ‘Roma Victor 2’, and we still have every intention of releasing a top quality historically authentic ‘remake’ at a later date. All user data from the original Roma Victor has been backed up and stored safely. It is our intention that this data will be used in a future Roma Victor game to ensure that our original community will have new assets proportional to their previous standing.

Well those of you waiting on a Roma Victor 2 can step to the side, because RedBedlam has announced The Missing Ink, a free to play browser/tablet MMO coming next year that features players taking the role of a Paper Mari0 style game in a 3D sandbox world (your characters are paper thin) where players can explore and build and fight in pvp combat.

You can find the announcement on Eurogamer here. The Missink Ink will be available to play when it is released as an alpha next month.

Lineage 2 Heading Free To Play


NCsoft wants you to play Lineage II your way. Coming off the heels of City of Heroes taking the free to play route comes the announcement that NC is pairing up with Innova to bring free to play to Lineage II. The new model is being called “Play Your Way,” and is not being referred to as free to play, but rather a hybrid model, by NCsoft. So far the details are sparse, but user Pocket Medic of the Lineage II forums posted specifics from Innova’s other services:

Anyone can play for free. However, if you pay the monthly subscription, you get permanent 2x Exp, SP, Drops, Spoils.Item store includes items like Buff Milks, 30-day rent-a-Buffpet, 30 day rent-a-Mount, New Hair Accessories, etc.

More on this to come. Lineage II is one of NCsoft’s best performing games, and I think the dip this past quarter may have been the first indication that the west would go free to play or follow in Lineage’s footsteps and simply shut down.

Week In Review: Keep Your Origin Account Safe Edition


Today’s week in review is a bit more interesting than previous works, if I do say so myself as an unbiased outside source. As far as MMOs go, I’ve been spending a lot of time in Lord of the Rings Online with my pitiful leveling speed in an already slow to level game. Currently I am either level 27 or 28, somewhere in the Lonelands working on book 2 of volume 1. To give a better idea of my placement in the storyline, consider the length of a football field, and my position is the Thursday before the game even begins.

I normally prefer games that don’t rush you to end-game, but with Lord of the Rings I think I’d prefer a system that simply doesn’t see three or four level differences in between chapters. Completing a single level 25 quest only to see the following be level 29 is like getting a glimpse of sunlight only to be dragged fifty feet underground and start the process of digging up to the surface all over again.

1. Banned In One Game, Banned In All: EA Origin

Consider this the controversy of the week. Players are understandably angry over comments made by EA Games today regarding the recent Battlefield 3 beta launch. On the beta forums, a DICE employee Bazajaytee posted a warning to players that playing on modified servers could result in your account being compromised, stats to be altered, or even banned from EA Origins.

To complicate matters further, Bazajaytee posted further along in the thread that “if your account gets banned, it does mean that any EA game you have on your account would also be unavailable.” This is concerning, considering my time in the Battlefield 3 beta I could see modded servers directly in the server browser. Will EA be actively removing the modded servers from the browser? Is it possible to join a modded server through the quick join button, and if so does my entering a random server and capturing a point to see +20,000,000 experience put me at risk of being banned and losing access to my other games?

I hate to use the L word, but this sounds legally questionable.

2. The Feeling Of Playing Torchlight, But In An MMO

I love Torchlight. Granted, I bought it way back when it was released and never got around to playing it up until a few weeks ago, but nonetheless I consider myself a big fan of the game. Shortly through my playthrough, I started to understand the positions of people I’d seen posting on the MMORPG forums, about how Torchlight is the game MMOs should aspire to be more like.

So I started taking a list of things I enjoyed about Torchlight that I hated with an MMO. Loot became a thing of the past, because all I had to do was send my wolf off to town to sell my things. Gone were the days of trudging back to town with my pockets full every fifteen to twenty minutes, or doing side by side comparisons of what to keep and what to destroy based on its worth. All I had to do was move the items to my pet’s inventory and click a simple button, and two minutes later my trash became cash. As for my cash, I think I’ve spent most of it on reviving myself over buying anything. The enemies I’ve fought drop so many health and mana potions, not to mention I picked up a heal self spell, that I’m never in need of resupplying.

My favorite part, without a doubt, is upgrading my gear. My weapon cycles maybe once every ten levels, but the feel of finally getting my hands on a more powerful weapon is exhilarating. At one point, I came across a ram head-shaped one-handed mace that carried almost double the attack strength of my sword. So, ditching my sword and equipping the mace, I threw myself into the nearest crowd of mobs and bathed in their blood and crushed bodies. The weapons feel powerful, as though my mace is actually busting some skulls.

That being said, Torchlight also shares my frustrations with MMOs, specifically in the sense that bosses are just bigger versions of existing mobs but with more health, higher defense, and more powerful attacks. Unfortunately with the game’s hack and slash nature, I probably haven’t noticed if any bosses had the capacity for more intelligent tactics than chase player -> attack player, because I’m too busy breaking kneecaps and setting my pointer finger up for early onset arthritis.

3. I Can’t See Why An MMO Lottery Wouldn’t Work

I see this a lot on various game forums, the question generally comes up of “why can’t we have a lottery where players buy tickets and then at the end of the month a winner is decided for the jackpot.” The discussion then rises and buckles under the complaint that players would be rich through sheer luck and with no time invested. Now that is half of a lie.

The real issue that players oppose is the time invested aspect over luck. It has nothing to do with luck, luck is an inherent system in MMOs. After all, it is luck that I managed to kill thousands upon thousands of dragons and never obtained their rarest drop over the course of a few months and a hundred hours of grinding, while the other guy managed to saunter in and grab two of them in a good long five hour play session. If people didn’t like the idea of getting rich in MMOs based on luck, we wouldn’t have any of the systems that we do, and most of your items would be completely useless thanks to high drop rates.

So forgetting luck and throwing off time invested, why not have a system where players can buy lottery tickets and have the chance at winning the pot? It’d be a great idea for a money sink, all the rich players who would gamble away their riches in a lottery and never win anything, with a percentage of the total amount invested going to the actual payout.

4. The Fact That TOR Is Still Buyable Concerns Me

Ever since Bioware announced that The Old Republic preorders would be throttled to allow for a smooth launch, the chatter has not died down at all. Now, we know from an EA financial release that The Old Republic has already become the best preorder title in EA’s history, but the fact that the game is still for sale with release just months away raises a few questions.

The optimist in me is saying that this is a result of Bioware upgrading their server structuring as the preorders continue to roll in, upgrading stability and adding more servers where needed. The pessimist in me says that players are going to be greeted by the exact same closed door server queue that the throttling was designed to prevent, or just temporarily barring accounts on launch day under the name of “first come, first serve.”

As much as I try to ignore the pessimist in me, he is loud, obnoxious, and unfortunately has his moments of insight. The Old Republic’s launch in December is going to come under heavy scrutiny if Bioware doesn’t ensure smooth sailing from the get-go, which as previous titles have shown is akin to the Wright brothers attempting to invent an airplane that not only flies but performs so well that no future model could improve upon it.

5. You Know What? I Don’t Want Those Games Back.

I talk about nostalgia a lot here, but push coming to shove I don’t think I’d want a lot of those old, missed MMOs back in action. I recently got my hands on Freedom Fighters on the PC, and with all that I remembered about it I stopped playing the game about a quarter of the way through the story mode because I just couldn’t stand it anymore. The game was not as I remembered playing it back in 2003, just because I’ve become so accustomed to things changing and, for the most part, getting better.

I didn’t remember the game handling so clunky, or the areas that would instantly kill you if you didn’t perform an action somewhere else, or how your weapons had near zero accuracy. As a result, Freedom Fighters just doesn’t have the same place in my heart that it did before I installed it. So in that sense, I’d like Tabula Rasa, Chronicles of Spellborn, Shadowbane, and the other games to stay where they are: Dead. Otherwise you’d be killing my youth.

Picture of the _____: A What Fondler?


I finally made it into Glitch, the MMO by the guys who made Katamari Damacy, and they have taken yet another step forward toward insanity. I managed to get this achievement for successfully petting 11 piggies, before nibbling on each one individually.