Tag: Update

Mobility: Alliance x Empire Update Adds New PvP Mode


Mobile MMO Alliance x Empire has added in a new PvP mode in the latest update. The update also introduces adorable new companions, new costumes, new special events, and the wheel of fortune rewarding players for every event mission completed.

“In this all-new relay battle mode, player trios go head-to-head in turn-based combat for valuable rewards. Spectating team members can take advantage of their position by using debuffing skills against enemies; “

For more details check out the official website.

Black Desert Launches on PS4 With Celebrity Endorsement


Black Desert is here and it has some celebrity chops behind it.

Launch day is here for Black Desert on the Playstation 4 and Pearl Abyss is breaking out the celebrity collaborations. Actress Megan Fox has talked about her love of Black Desert in previous interviews and has worked with Pearl Abyss to create a teaser trailer for today’s launch.

“Launching on the PlayStation 4 marks an important milestone for our company and the game’s continued expansion into new territories, fulfilling player needs for a strong MMORPG on console system,” said Robin Jung, Chief Executive Officer of Pearl Abyss. “We’re launching on a strong note and will maintain a steady drumbeat of regular content expansions to make Black Desert the best action MMORPG available in the world.”

Black Desert is launching with three starter packs from the standard ($29.99), Deluxe ($49.99), and Ultimate ($99.99). Six classes are available at launch with more to be added in future updates. Pearl Abyss has also launched a content creator partnership where interested parties can sign up and be rewarded for promoting Black Desert.

More information on Black Desert can be found at the official website.

Netmarble Posts Q2 2019 Fiscal Results


Netmarble has posted its Q2 2019 financials and the results are a mixed bag. Company sales rose 10.2% over last year to $459.2 million while operating profit plummeted 46.6% to $29 million and net profit dropped 42% to $33.2 million.

“We have been focusing on enhancing our competitiveness by successfully launching new games of various genres in the global market,” said Young-sig Kwon, CEO of Netmarble. He added, “We expect a turnaround in Q3 as new successful titles launched in Q2 will be reflected in full Q3 sales. We also expect the proportion of sales outside of South Korea to continue to increase to 70% in the second half of the year with the launch of Blade & Soul Revolution in Japan, The King of Fighters Allstar in North America, and new games based on our popular franchise games.”

Netmarble’s top performing games include MARVEL Contest of Champions (15%), Lineage 2: Revolution (14%), Blade & Soul Revolution (10%), MARVEL Future Fight (8%), and Seven Deadly Sins: GRAND CROSS (8%) among others. Sales outside of South Korea made up 64% of total revenues and the second half is expected to bring in a number of new titles from YOKAI WATCH: Medal Wars in Japan and Koongya Catchmind in Korea, Blade & Soul Revolution in Japan and THE KING OF FIGHTERS ALLSTAR in North America, along with the Korean launches of its proprietary franchise games, Seven Knights 2, and A3: STILL ALIVE.

Source:

Black Desert Launches Into Head Start On PS4


Good news, everyone!

You Playstation gamers looking to get your hands on Black Desert are finally in luck, as the game has just gone into head start on PS4 before the full launch on August 22. If you want to take part, you can go ahead and pick up one of the starter packs available on the Playstation Store. Black Desert is a buy to play MMO from Pearl Abyss that initially launched on PC and subsequently launched on Xbox One.

PS+ members can get their hands on the starter pack for 10% off, but only if you buy before the game fully launches on the 22.

Rant: The Industry Makes Its Contempt For Consumers Public Once Again


I have to be honest with you folks: The AAA gaming industry has become such a contemptuous ball of greasy slime that I frankly no longer find it believable when companies do shady things and chalk it all up to human error.

I’ve spent the better part of the last six years shouting to the high heavens about how the gaming industry, specifically the AAA sector, has been meticulously and in many ways purposely building an increasingly hostile and bitter relationship with consumers. We’re talking about an industry that brings psychologists on board so they can figure out better ways to subtly manipulate people into spending more money than ever, an industry that is building massive databases of information and artificial intelligence so they can low-key manipulate your behavior all in the name of selling microtransactions. One where companies deliberately introduce problems in order to sell you the solution, where they can use every dirty tactic to get you to pay exponentially more for exponentially less.

Let’s talk about how Respawn is the latest developer to acquire EA’s venom for the public.

All of this hubbub began when Apex Legends released its latest update introducing solo mode and the Iron Crown loot box. The Iron Crown box is special because it costs $7 as opposed to $1 for the normal box, and contains limited time items that will only be available until the event ends on August 27. There are 24 items in the box and you can obtain two boxes by completing challenges. Nothing in the boxes could be bought directly, and you are guaranteed no duplicates. So all in all, you’re looking at being required (as there is no other way to get these items) to spend $140 USD to get everything.

I say required because Respawn is using the tactic where they know fully well that they are pushing this for completionists in the hopes that many will buy the whole set, while giving themselves the plausible deniability of “it’s all optional.” It leads into the Bloodhound’s Raven’s Bite axe, an item that must be purchased directly but can only be purchased once you buy all 24 items, and it costs 3,500 coins. All in all, you’ll need to spend at least $170 in bulk if you want these items. There’s greedy and then there is Electronic Arts greedy.

Naturally the community went in an uproar over the update because consumers don’t like being fleeced, and Respawn’s apology didn’t do a whole lot to assuage criticism by taking the loot box items and placing the skins on the store for individual purchase at $18 a pop.

“With Apex Legends it is very important to us that we don’t sell a competitive advantage. Our goal has not been to squeeze every last dime out of our players, and we have structured the game so that all players benefit from those who choose to spend money – events like Legendary Hunt or Iron Crown exist so that we can continue to invest in creating more free content for all players. This week has been a huge learning experience for us and we’re taking the lessons forward to continue bringing the best possible experience to all of you.”

An EA subsidiary not trying to bleed its customers dry? Sorry, I don’t buy it.

The folks at Respawn aren’t that stupid that they built up this very obvious and blatantly greedy cash event and had absolutely no idea how egregious it would be. Because the overall corporate structure at Respawn doesn’t give a damn if you’re unhappy with the product, just shut your stupid peasant mouth and open up that wallet to give them more money. This is a free to play game, you ungrateful putz, that means that instead of giving $60 up front for a few years of entertainment, you agree to spend hundreds of dollars over the course of a couple of weeks while shutting your trap and not questioning any of the business decisions that are made for you.

But it wouldn’t quite be a rant if I didn’t show you the absolute contempt that some of the Respawn devs have for their players, such as Drew McCoy who took to Reddit to call gamers “dicks” and freeloaders. This is what happens when bullshysters are called out on their schemes, they immediately go on the attack in order to hopefully divert attention away from why people are angry in the first place.

“Hey everyone – found the dick I was talking about. Guess what, I didn’t even read your comment except for the first sentence and last. This kind of garbage doesn’t warrant a reply – but lucky for you I already made a comment about this earlier. Go find it.”

“I think technically I was calling gamers dicks? I dunno. I had a spicy lunch, feelin’ it.”

“There is a wealth of data available on how monetization works in free-to-play games, and we ourselves have run tests by putting skins on sale in the store. The amount of people who spend is crazy low, most of ya’ll are freeloaders (and we love that!) and a change in price doesn’t move the needle.”

Drew goes on to act like the changes are because Respawn is such a benevolent overlord and honestly you freeloaders should be happy that they put the game out for free and are so magnanimous and charitable. Sure, Apex Legends released for free because selling it at a box price would be a financial disaster since the competition is free, and the whole point of releasing free to play is to forego a consistent amount of money up front distributed among 100% of the community in favor of the 15-20% of the community fronting more money and those free players adding more traffic to the servers so those paying players stay more engaged and end up spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars over its lifespan. As opposed to $60 plus maybe some small cosmetic purchases.

Stop asking questions and buy more product.

“Jeez, whats with the conspiracy theories? This event has been quite the success, and I can’t say that any clearer. We’re making changes that will most likely reduce revenue, but we’re doing it because its the right thing to do.”

Nobody tell Jayfresh that he can help avoid being called a liar by not being a liar.

But Respawn’s inability to handle criticism for its anti-consumer business practices is par for the course in the Electronic Arts family and follows in line from the “pride and accomplishment” statement regarding Battlefront II loot boxes to former CEO Patrick Soderlund telling customers that he doesn’t care if they don’t buy Battlefield. Apex Legends is stupidly successful right now, but I’m going to go back to what I said ten years ago: The model is only successful until it isn’t, and the gaming community turns on a dime with games going from overnight successes to overnight abandoned warehouses…overnight. The industry doesn’t turn that fast, and Respawn is

Sure, the developers at Respawn probably think they are invincible right now, but let’s keep one thing in mind: You work for Electronic Arts, a giant with a graveyard larger than a prepubescent Sims player who knows how to remove the pool ladder. Titanfall 2 sold below expectations and Mass Effect took only one game to go from massive success to studio-closing failure.

Game companies are not your friends, I can’t express that statement enough. They aren’t your buds, they don’t have your best interest in mind, and they will turn on you at a moment’s notice.

Otherwise I have no opinion on the matter. Oh, one more note:

“I’ve been in the industry long enough to remember when players weren’t complete ass-hats to developers and it was pretty neat,”

Dear Drew, that era was back when developers like yourself weren’t releasing $200 cosmetic events and formulating your game as cynical slot machines designed to get kids to spend as much of their parent’s money as humanly possible.

MapleStory Explains Server Mergers With Worlds Unite Academy


MapleStory is merging servers and Nexon wants to make sure that you know exactly what is happening. The existing worlds will be reduced to five in the North American region: Scania, Bera, Aurora, Elysium, and the Reboot server.

Maintenance starts late on August 27 and the servers aren’t expected to be back up until some time on August 28. Nexon recommends that you don’t fashion weapons out of cookware and creeping down dark alleys looking for hogs. Instead, you can mow some lawns, build a website, or do some reading. You’ll be limited to fifty characters. If you had purchased character slots that exceed this amount, the cost will be credited to your account. Nexon notes that you have until January 2020 in order to decide which characters are going to be kept, otherwise the game will keep the 50 highest leveled people.

More information can be found at the official website.

Black Desert Adds In Archer Class, New Region, Fairy Follower


Black Desert Online is making big updates this week with a free to play weekend to go along with it.

First among the list of new content is the addition of the archer class. The archer brings his bow to the fight and makes his entrance along with the forest region of Kamasylvia. While you are there, you’ll have the opportunity to pick up your very own fairy companion. The fairy can imbue players with a number of skills including Tingling Breath and Feather Steps to help them along their way.

“The Archer is a highly mobile class capable of shooting enemies while simultaneously dodging their attacks. Even against insurmountable odds, he is able to escape death’s grip. The Archer is able to utilize two weapons right from level 1, including his main Crossbow and the awakening Greatbow, freely switching between the two while casting magic such as Meteor Dive and Winged Strike to defeat his enemies.”

From August 15-18, Xbox Live members will have a chance to play Black Desert free of charge with discounts on the game’s various starter packs.

And finally the game is now available for pre-order on the Playstation store following what has been classed as a successful beta period.

[Mobility] Knights Chronicle Offers New Awakening, New Heroes


Netmarble Corp has announced a new awakening and additional heroes being added into mobile MMO Knights Chronicle in the latest update. Support hero Karen will be able to awaken, receiving a number of passive skills. Karen’s pre-awakening character buffs water/light allies HP recovery while also granting 10% healing over time to the lowest HP ally. No word on stat advantages when dealing with retail store managers.

In addition to Karen, new heroes Eurora and Baskerville have also entered the game along with the following two updates:

  • Auto Repeat – Players can now set the number of rounds when auto-repeating cleared stages
  • Guild Shop – New changes have been added, granting players access to the SSR Hero Ticket

More information on Knights Chronicle can be found at the official website.

Source: Netmarble Press Release

Gamigo Using Negative ArcheAge Reviews To Tease Something New


Gamigo is doing something strange. If you head over to a teaser website that is inexplicably still using the Trion Worlds domain, you’ll find a countdown leading to roughly Monday 8/19 at about 7:40p.m. EST. Since I’m pretty sure that Gamigo isn’t celebrating the end of my court internship, I’m going to assume it’s something related to their games.

The teaser gets even weirder when you read the scrolling testimonials titled “people used to say.” The players are clearly talking about ArcheAge, but even stranger the feedback in a lot of the commentary isn’t positive. It’s actually pretty negative and has to do with the game’s perception as being pay to win or the struggle to find housing.

“The P2W is strong with this one… Really hard to recommend it with something like that weighting down the whole experience.”

“I played when the game first launched. I ended up quitting after a few months because I was unable to build a house.”

“I played this game for about 2 days but gotannoyed that every thing took labor points.”

So clearly this seems to be leading up to an overhaul of some sort with a focus on pleasing the people who quit because the game was too aggressive with its microtransactions and not user friendly in terms of player housing. MassivelyOP noted that earlier this year it was suggested that a monetization overhaul would be coming to the game at some point. Is this that update?

Only time will tell.

[Not Massive] Another Week Of Interesting Steam Releases


It’s that time again. This past week saw roughly 250 new games listed to the Steam store, and odds are a large portion of them are absolute trash. Actually, I can confirm that most of them look like absolute trash considering that out of those that actually came out, I could only find maybe sixteen that appeared to be worth playing, and that’s kinda pushing the envelope of “worth playing.”

As with last week, MMO Fallout has not played the games that are on this list and cannot verify their value. They are simply a list of games that are not obvious shovelware trash, that being hentai puzzle sliders, unity asset flips, RPG maker games, and side scrolling flash titles.

#1: Night & Day

Night & Day is a cute looking puzzle game and a rather interesting concept. You have two characters that are both controlled by the player, each with their own unique abilities. Dark cannot be in Lights…light, otherwise it is destroyed. Dark is also the only one of the two that is strong enough to push boxes. Your goal as the player is to navigate the two sprites in order to get them to their exit doors and complete the level.

Night & Day is out for $8.99 and was developed by Genexsin

#2: Battles For Spain

Battles For Spain is in quite the unique scenario: A turn based strategy game set in the Spanish civil war. Battles For Spain centers around the battles of Guadalajara (1937), Teruel (1937), Mérida (1938), and Ebro (1938). According to the few reviews available, the game is pretty spot on with its history and is a very challenging game. At $26.99 and offering four scenarios with an estimated twelve hours of gameplay, it might be best to see how much replayability you’ll get before dropping some bones on this title.

It’s certainly a bold move for developer Headquarter S.L. considering the last time a video game released with its plot centered on the war, the public (in Spain) went absolutely bonkers. Back in 2007 a real time strategy game called Shadows of War: The Spanish Civil War released and generated huge controversy over allowing players to take the role of the fascists and even win the war. It was released exclusively in Spain and apparently wasn’t very good.

#3: MineRalph

I don’t like MineRalph, and by that I mean if he came to my house and asked if he could borrow my morning Wall Street Journal I’d probably say no. But MineRalph isn’t just about a ball with a really unsettling looking face, it’s about…a ball with a really creepy looking face.

MineRalph is a physics-based puzzle game built on the Unity engine that promises hardcore gameplay for hardcore gamers. If you want the kind of hardcore snobbery that would lead a developer to describe their game as an “homage to a time where video games were allowed to be difficult,” you have come to the right place. Move the ball with your mouse, speed-run, enter into the $1,000 contest. There is also a free demo if you don’t want to plunk down the $15 right off the bat.

#4: Trace of the Past

Trace of the Past probably shouldn’t be on the list, but considering the asking price is $4.24 and frankly the Steam list is desperate for anything, the potential entertainment value provided by a game trying to create a powerful narrative while also clearly being rather poorly translated from Russian to English might make it all worth it. Just read the game’s description to yourself in Yakov Smirnoff’s voice:

Trace of the Past — a first-person horror game, will show you a mystical story of Charles Worren’s life, a child of boarding school for orphans named ” Grief Hill” After some mysterious events in his Childhood, Charles ends up in psychiatric clinic and loses a half of his memories. In 19 years, he finds in his mailbox an envelope with an old photo inside, that shows Charles. The address is that boarding school for orphans ” Grief Hill” But who and what for sent him this photo? The boarding school has been closed for years. Charles decides to find it out and is off to his mysterious past.

What a country!

#5: Third Eye

I like the concept. Third Eye is a hack and slash game set in an area we really don’t see…ever. Indian lore. You take control of Raakh, given the responsibility of guarding the sacred trident. You find yourself up against Shukracharya, one of the Seven Sages, and his demonic armies of evil. Can you save Prithvilok from the forces of evil?

At $14.39, probably.

#6: Rashlander

Despite what its name may imply, Rashlander is not about successfully navigating the inflamed skin of a dermatology patient. Instead this title bills itself as a Lunar Lander Roguelike, Rashlander looks like Lunar Lander on meth. Fly around procedurally generated levels, avoid all sorts of hazards and land on things. Early Steam reviews have praised the game for tight controls, polished gameplay, and Twitch integration. If you enjoy arcade games, you will evidently enjoy Rashlander.

Currently on sale for $3.59 and developed by Ryan Davis.

#7: Age of Wonders: Planetfall

Oddly enough, it’s only been five years since the last Age of Wonders game. Age of Wonders has everything you could want from a sci-fi turn based strategy game: Dinosaur-riding Amazons, cyborg-zombies, and more. Choose from six factions and make your way to victory through conquest, diplomacy, or doomsday technologies. With single player and online multiplayer available, you’ll find plenty to enjoy.

Steam reviews currently show 79% approval among the 713 people who have reviewed it so far. Keep in mind this is a full priced game from the established studio Triumph Studios who had worked on prior Age of Wonders titles and does cost the standard $50.

#8: Metal Wolf Chaos XD

And speaking of established studios, why not bring in a From Software title? Metal Wolf Chaos XD is the re-release and not at all HD version of Metal Wolf Chaos, a very Japanese game that initially came out in 2004 in Japan on the Xbox and absolutely nowhere else. If you somehow missed this game the first time around, well now you can get your hands on it for the low cost of $24.99.

Considering the game only released in Japan the first time around, Metal Wolf Chaos centers around a wonderfully ridiculous and exaggerated (for the time) depiction of US politics:

“The country is in peril as President Michael Wilson defends the nation against a full-scale rebellion led by Vice-President Richard Hawk and the mechanized legions he commands. As the 47th President of the United States, it is your sworn duty to take your country back by any means necessary and end this unjust coup d’etat! Battle in your advanced mech – armed to the teeth – across iconic American landscapes including the Brooklyn Bridge, the Grand Canyon, and the front steps of the White House.”

84% of the 149 current reviews on Steam agree; Metal Wolf Chaos is an essential part of any patriot’s breakfast.

#9: Gunslugs: Rogue Tactics

Also called Gunslugs 3 depending on which part of the Steam store page you’re reading, Gunslugs: Rogue Tactics is a roguelike game released by Orangepixel, a company that really likes putting out Roguelike games. Seriously, they’ve been doing it for roughly four years now. Gunslugs promises more stealth-oriented gameplay than you may have seen from past roguelikes, but with the ability to go in guns-a-blazing if you prefer. Honestly, the choice is up to you.

Gunslugs can be picked up for $13.49 by itself or as part of the Orangepixel collection.

#10: Silver Chains

Looking to get spooked? I know you are. Silver Chains has everything to make you feel uncomfortable; spooky children, ouija boards, people crawling on walls, an abandoned house that might not actually be abandoned (spoiler: It isn’t). Unravel the truth behind these spooky mysteries and do so in a game that is very good looking. It should be, it was developed on the Unreal engine.

Developed by Cracked Head Games and on sale for $21.24, Silver Chains will scare more than just your wallet.

#11: Bad Hombre

Bad Hombre has a certain amount of charm in its stupidity, and the art style looks like someone created a game with today’s politics on the ZX Spectrum or Commodore 64. You evidently play as a drug runner trying to bring drugs into America, and in order to do so you’ll need to bypass the wall, the Pence Fence, and avoid Trump’s tacos from Trump Tower (the best tacos).

It’s a concept that seems just ridiculous enough to fall into the realm of being about something political without actually taking a political stance on it. At $11.99, you may be playing the life story of the developer’s drug supplier.

#12: Legends of Aria

An actual MMO! Legends of Aria is a game that hopes to walk in the footsteps of Ultima Online. A sandbox MMO, Legends of Aria allows you to be what you want, as long as you want to be an adventurer, a crafter, or something else within the confines of the game’s skill system. You can even be a bard. With a skill system, you’ll build your character by using your skills and leveling them up over time. Stake your claim on the land and build a house, become a skilled craftsman and make the best horse chili in all the land (horse chili not actually available), or set forth and become a skilled murderer of other players.

Legends of Aria has a one-off price, currently at $19.79.

#13: Gibbous – A Cthulhu Adventure

Biggous – A Cthulhu Adventure looks like a Double Fine game, or a modern day Lucas RPG. Judging by the trailer, the voice acting is top notch, animations are smooth and very well done, and overall the title feels like a modern day Sam & Max or Monkey Island game, but set in a world with an HP Lovecraft demon. 83% of over one hundred Steam users agree, it’s looking pretty good.

“Crazy cultists. Cthulhu. A talking cat. Gibbous takes you on an expansive, traditionally animated, hand-painted adventure. Play as three protagonists and explore a lushly rendered Lovecraft-inspired world, unraveling ancient conspiracies. A comedy cosmic horror adventure made in Transylvania!”

Now on sale for $17.99.

#14: Cliff Empire

Cliff Empire is a really good looking game with a great aesthetic and an interesting concept. Nuclear war has made the surface of the Earth uninhabitable, and that can only mean one thing: Mole people? No, living on top of mountains. Cliff Empire promises that you’ll be able to set up multiple cities, manage trade between them, and even go down and walk around your cities on foot. Can you sustain life in the aftermath of a brutal nuclear war, or is humanity doomed to failure?

90% of the nearly one thousand reviews agree that this game is definitely worth it, and at $11.99 it won’t be a pain in your wallet. You may recognize developer Lion’s Shade from their Tempest pirate RPG.

#15: Apsulov: End of Gods

You have to hand it to this week’s Steam list, there is quite a diversity of genres. Apsulov is horrifying looking, it bills itself as a future viking horror as you the player wake up in a research facility built to exploit the world of Yggrdrasil. Apsulov piles together Norse mythology and futuristic sci-fi in a head on collision, and the result is pretty freaking terrifying.

A first person action game, Apsulov currently holds a 92% approval rating of 63 users on Steam, and runs for $20.

#16: Room 208

One good thing about the proliferation of certain engines is that even indie games have begun to look very good. In Room 208 you play as Victor Rockford, spiritual medium brought forth to investigate the paranormal activity surrounding Room 1408 Room 208 of a hotel in a small town. Use your wits to get through the game’s numerous puzzles, deal with dynamic spawning enemies, and cower in fear in full 4K support.

Room 208 spawns in at $8.44, so it won’t’ break the bank to check this game out.