The flames are reignited.
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Tag: SOE
Daybreak Clarifies Ownership…Three Years Later
Pop quiz: Who owns Daybreak Game Company? If you answered Columbus Nova, you are as wrong as every news outlet that reported on this three years ago, including MMO Fallout. You would be forgiven for this misunderstanding considering that the news was announced from Daybreak’s PR with the headline “Columbus Nova Acquires Sony Online Entertainment,” with the first sentence straight up saying that Columbus Nova had acquired the company.
Columbus Nova, an investment management firm based in New York, announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a recognized worldwide leader in massively multiplayer online (MMO) games and emergent gameplay.
And then there is John Smedley’s note in the announcement that they would be joining Columbus Nova’s roster of companies.
“We are excited to join Columbus Nova’s impressive roster of companies.”
Turns out that SOE was acquired not by Columbus Nova itself but by an executive at Columbus Nova, Jason Epstein, and the company had just never corrected the record.
“It was current executive chairman Jason Epstein, former senior managing partner of Columbus Nova that acquired Daybreak, not Columbus Nova itself. That distinction was never corrected in the past, so we are correcting that now.”
The reason this is relevant today of all days is because Columbus Nova has become embroiled in US sanctions on Russian oligarchs, specifically its owner Viktor Vekselberg. The distancing between the two companies has been raising a lot of eyebrows since both Daybreak and Jason Epstein himself have said on more than one occasion, and very explicitly, that Columbus Nova as an entity has purchased SOE.
(Source: MassivelyOP)
Half-Elfs Break Everquest’s Progression Server
If you’ve been waiting for Daybreak to unlock the Ragefire progression server for Everquest, you’ll be waiting a bit longer. The server has been taken down due to a bug allowing players to log in with fully-formed level 50 characters. The Daybreak team is currently looking into what caused this.
Half-elf bard’s broke #Everquest. 😦 We’re looking into it. All insta-level-50 half elf bards on Ragefire are asked to sit on their hands…
— Holly Longdale (@TheWindstalker) May 20, 2015
Linda “Brasse” Carlson Is Now At Trion Worlds
Linda Carlson, also known as her Everquest avatar Brasse, has been scooped up by Trion Worlds and hired as the new director of community relations. Carlson had previously worked at Sony Online Entertainment until shortly after the company was acquired by Columbus Nova and rebranded as Daybreak Game Company.
We here at MMO Fallout wish Carlson the best of luck at her new position.
(Source: gamesindustry.biz)
H1Z1 To Cheaters: Thanks For The Donations
Sony Online Entertainment has an excellent track record on fighting cheaters, to the point where in Planetside 2 many developers have thrown in the towel and given up. H1Z1, currently in early access, is looking to be no different.
SOE senior game designer Jimmy Whisenhunt has posted to his Twitter account regarding a recent wave of bans, thanking the cheaters for their generous donations.
Dear #H1Z1 cheaters: Sorry some of you suddenly can’t play anymore, your donation and tears are greatly appreciated. More bans inc.
— Jimmy Whisenhunt (@jimmywhis) February 2, 2015
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You can follow Whisenhunt on Twitter for further ban announcements.
(Source: Twitter)
Diaries From H1Z1: The Apocalypse Cometh
Generations from now, humanity’s survivors will look back and wonder how did we fail? What caused the virus that wiped out 90% of the world’s population? Was it a plague, disease, or wrath of god? No. The fall of society came when Taylor Swift announced that she was retiring from music and would only release further albums in the form of Kidz Bop covers. The fabric of reality tore, civilizations fell, and Nancy Grace’s show was cancelled. I suppose the news isn’t all bad.
I wake up in the middle of nowhere, nothing on my person but a flashlight and the clothes on my back. I don’t know how I got here. I head up to the house down the road to find some food or a weapon to defend myself with. Maybe I can salvage some AA batteries to get my Gameboy working again. All I need is a trustworthy person and I can trade my Kadabra so he’ll evolve into an Alakazam.
It starts raining, heavily. The house turns out empty, but the rain muffles the sound of my feet as I pass by a large congregation of Taylor Swift fans. I can hear them moaning, “whyyyy.” They cannot be saved, they are driven by an insatiable hunger for human flesh.
Further down the road I come across a small block of houses. In the first building I enter, I find a machete. The tool not the film. Otherwise this area is pretty much devoid of stuff. Either it was ransacked by other survivors or the townspeople were incredibly poor. They must have spent all of their money on the numerous sedans lining the street.
I realize that I’m becoming very thirsty. It doesn’t occur to me to look upward with my mouth open, given the rain is now in a full-fledged downpour. I could also suck on the sleeve of my shirt for nourishment, but I haven’t bathed in two weeks and the water is being repelled by the accumulated oils. I need to find something to eat.
Sjoberg’s Mandarin Oranges, my old nemesis. Sjoberg prided himself on being the first food manufacturer with “on-can DLC.” I don’t even know what that means, but there wasn’t much sympathy when old Sjoberg died at a Two Live Crew concert from a bad batch of hollandaise sauce.
In the next house over I find an AR15 on the toilet in the bathroom.
Finally, the house of a sane person. I always kept a loaded pistol sitting on the commode in case someone broke in while I was dropping an orphan off in the woods. The gun doesn’t have any bullets.
It’s about time for me to sign off for now. I’m hungry, thirsty, and loaded to the teeth with useless weaponry. Hopefully next time around I’ll be able to eat my shirt.
John Smedley Defends H1Z1 Airdrops
Airdrops are sort of like H1Z1’s answer to MMO lockboxes in that they can be purchased for real money and contain random loot, except they are public and dangerous. Calling in an airdrop attracts both players and zombies alike, both groups seeking to feast upon what they might find.
John Smedley took to Reddit to defend the airdrop mechanic, noting:
1) You cannot call in airdrops until the servers are 1/4 full. 2) You can’t call in airdrops without generating a ton of zombie heat. 3) the airdrops are random in what they deliver. 4) you are not guaranteed to get a single thing out of the airdrop you called in. You could die trying and you’re out the money. 5) We fly the plane in very slowly and loudly..
SOE is planning on updating airdrops to make them drop slower, with a wider drop radius, lowering the chances of weapon drops, and increasing the number of people in a server required to call in. For those who still think it’s pay to win, Smedley has a response:
So if you think it’s P2W don’t buy it. Don’t play it.
H1Z1 is currently availabe for purchase on Steam Early Access.
(Source: Reddit)
DC Universe Online Reclaiming Inactive Names
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that inactive names will be reclaimed later this month. In a post on the official website, players have been warned that characters that have not been accessed since July 20, 2013 will have an underscore and Roman numeral attached to their names, although the account and character itself will remain unchanged otherwise. No characters will be deleted.
(Source: DC Universe)
Planetside 2: “We Are Actually Trying To Make Money.”
John Smedley went on Twitter today to defend SOE’s decision to reduce the drop rate and effectiveness on implants to push players toward newly introduced, more powerful variants. In response to complaints that the update was a cash grab, Smedley responded via Twitter:
Sorry but we are actually trying to make money. I don’t consider it a money grab.
Smedley later pointed out on Twitter that the changes were due to the original drop rates being too high.
(Source: Massively)
Planetside 2 Automated Turrets Being Balanced
Sony Online Entertainment is currently planning on implementing automated turrets into Planetside 2, and is soliciting feedback via the forums and through an update set to hit the public test server in the next few weeks. Turrets will be stationary objects, likely only available to the engineer class, and the hope is to release them in November/December.
“The current plan is to have a stress test on the Public Test Server with prototype turrets in late October/early November to evaluate server performance. We’ll need a sizable population on PTS to get useful data so we’ll organize a time, date and testing instructions when we’re ready. If our tests go well, we are aiming for auto-turrets to go live late November/early December.”
How should automated turrets be implemented in Planetside 2?
(Source: PCGamesN)
MMO Fallout 
