Tag: Update

Jagex Hiring For Unreal Engine Title


Jagex is hiring for a new IP, one that appears to be built on the Unreal Engine.

A job listing on Jagex’s corporate website lists New IP hiring a number of positions including game director, product director, senior roles, as well as a lead environment artist. The job listings don’t give a whole lot of hints on what this game might be, however the job listings do make several mentions to knowledge of the Unreal engine including a position for a gameplay programmer that requires Unreal Engine experience as well as experience in networked and MMO games.

Jagex’s next game is up in the air as the company has started and halted development on new titles numerous times in the past (see MechScape, Stellar Dawn, and other vaguely referenced games), but it appears that they are at least in the planning stages of an MMO built on Unreal Engine 4. We’ll see if this one happens to get close enough to release that Jagex gives it a name.

RuneScape Celebrates All-Time High Membership In 2019


Everything’s coming up Glouphrie in RuneScape for 2019.

As RuneScape enters its twentieth year of existence, Jagex is celebrating a successful 2019. RuneScape as a franchise enjoyed the highest membership count of all time with well over a million subscribers while Old School RuneScape achieved its highest daily active players thanks in part to a launch on mobile that has drawn in over 8 million installs, and was also awarded a BAFTA for mobile game of the year and best mobile game at the Develop Star Awards.

In 2019 Jagex hired over 100 new employees as part of a big hiring drive including former EA Development Director Melissa Bachman-Wood joining as VP of Studios, Product Director at Blizzard Entertainment Ryan Ward joining as Executive Producer of RuneScape, and Rob Hendry, previously Head of Studio London at Natural Motion, joining as Executive Producer of Old School RuneScape.

CEO Phil Mansell, aka Mod Pips, stated:

“This level of success only comes with the passion of huge player communities, who engage with our games because of the amazing craft and care from our talented teams. It is thanks to these efforts that we’ve been able to greatly increase our investment in our existing games, new product development and the broader business with more than 100 new hires coming onboard in the last 12 months. This includes senior leaders joining from EA, Blizzard, Activision, Ubisoft, Riot and more, adding more than 250 years of cumulative games industry experience to the Jagex team.”

RuneScape raised over £250 grand in charity with Jagex being voted the Best Places To Work award by Gamesindustry.biz.

More details on RuneScape’s future will be released in the coming months.

Steam Cleaned: Cyber Watch Dev Manipulates Review Scores To Counter Mine


Update 1/17/20: Cyber Watch is still up to its shadiness. Another positive review from a user who created their account on January 15 expressly to play Cyber Watch and nothing else and leave a positive review within 24 hours of creating their account.

In addition, our friend kaushikarathi7 has changed their name and moved from India to Germany.

Original Story:

Cyber Watch’s developer is dumb, they are really dumb, for real. And they just made a fatal mistake.

Cyber Watch is a low quality Unreal shooter that I chatted about just a day or so ago, and I went back on the Steam page today because I wanted to see if anyone else got duped into buying the game and left a review. What I found was even better, three positive reviews two of which contain snarky references to my commentary on the game. Even better, they all come from relatively new accounts with one product. Let’s dive in.

The first review is by a user named bhadana9474, a new account that owns one game and hails from Uttar Pradesh, India which also happens to house Cyber Watch’s developer. Keshav Bhadana, where have I heard that name before? Oh right, he’s listed as a developer for Cyber Watch. I like how he references the developer’s inexperience as “from what I can tell,” as though he only has second hand experience and isn’t actively working on the title.

Now let’s look at review #2:

Another account that only owns one game from Uttar Pradesh, India. What are the odds! Ashish Chaudhary…where have I heard that name before? Okay you know where this is going, Ashish is also a credited developer on Cyber Watch.

Oh my lord, a third account that only owns one game and hails from Uttar Pradesh, India. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? 100% evidently. Kaushika Rathi, where have I heard that name before? Actually this is one is a trick since there is no Kaushika Rathi listed in the developer section. There is however a Kartikay Rathi. Related to the developer? Boy it would be a hell of a coincidence if someone named Rathi from the same area of India just happened to set up a Steam account, only buy Cyber Watch, and leave a positive review within the same time span as the actual developers and after playing ten minutes.

I was born on a day and that day wasn’t yesterday.

Review manipulation is of course grounds for immediate termination, and the attempt to manipulate Cyber Watch’s review score is just as poorly thought out as the game itself. All images referenced above have been archived in order to keep the data sealed fresh for your enjoyment.

Source: Archive, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7

Red Dead Online: Free Roam Events This Week


Red Dead Online has a whole bunch of stuff going on this week for players to take part in including xp bonuses, the latest free aim series, and free roam events for Rank 4 bounty hunters. Bounty Hunters, Traders, and Collectors of at least rank 4 will receive a 25% boost to experience gained while taking part in any rank-specific free roam event in Red Dead Online this week while players of all stripes will be able to redeem a 2,000 experience bonus for each of the specialist roles while completing role activities.

This week’s showcased competitive mode is Last Stand. Just as it sounds, Last Stand pits players against one another in a free-for-all with only one left standing, available for play in the featured showcase. In addition all rifles available via local gunsmiths or the Wheeler catalogue are 30% off. Playstation Plus members can receive a free colorway of the Leavitt Jacket while Twitch Prime members can redeem the polished copper still upgrade, collector’s bag, an extra 10% discount game-wide, and extra gold bars on purchase. Cost for the butcher table, bounty hunter license, and collector’s bag have been discounted five gold bars this week as well.

Source: Rockstar Press Release

NCSoft Files New Trademark For City of Heroes


It has been more than eight years since NCSoft shutdown City of Heroes and unsurprisingly there are still a lot of people who haven’t quite forgiven the developer for its transgressions. As MMO Culture noted this week however, it looks like NCSoft has filed new trademark applications for the City of Heroes brand. Could this mean something new on the horizon for City of Heroes?

Our guess? It might have something to do with the rogue server negotiations that have been going on for some time now. It might also be related to the fact that NCSoft’s trademarks for City of Heroes have all died. The prior trademarks for City of Heroes, Going Rogue, Freedom, etc, have been listed as abandoned for several years now. You see, in order to keep a trademark going you have to show that it is still in active use; a reason to be protecting it.

Since NCSoft has had no interest in the City of Heroes name for nearly a decade now, their lawyer never bothered submitted a notice of continued use. Once a trademark is knocked off for lack of notice, it is unrevivable. You want it back, you’ll need to file a new application. So why does NCSoft suddenly want the trademark back? It could be that they just didn’t notice it had expired, it could be that they are protecting their interest in the names as part of the negotiations with the rogue server teams.

It could just NCSoft wanting to collect its toys so nobody else can play with them. We will have to wait and see.

Source: Trademarkia via MMO Culture

Hero Siege Taken Offline After Hacker Bans Everyone


Let’s start the new year off with a bit of comedy.

Hero Siege servers have been taken offline for a period of time today. The problem? A hacker managed to make his way into the system and ban every account in the game. According to the news post which we have reposted below for your pleasure, this attack has been ongoing for several weeks with the most recent escalation taking down every account.

Hello,

Unfortunately there is a hacker attacking our servers and the person has managed to ban every account in the game. This attack has been going for weeks and has now escalated. We are currently looking for a fix to this and have disabled multiplayer for a while.

We are sorry for the issue.

As of 5:07p.m. EST, the issue appears to have been fixed with the servers brought back online and everyone unbanned.

Source: Steam (Credit to Gonzo for the tip)

Video: Wild Terra 2: New Lands Gameplay Footage


Today’s video comes to us from Wild Terra 2: New Lands. The video shows off gameplay from the upcoming title kicking off with what else but a party killing big infectious rats, followed by skinning them for parts. Yummy.

Wild Terra 2 is currently in alpha testing. For more information, check out the Steam page. The current iteration of Wild Terra is free to play.

Source: Steam

Destiny 2 Updates Credits To Include Everyone Who Worked On Game


And now something heartwarming.

Generally when stories about credits come up, it’s because someone got snubbed and didn’t receive recognition for their work. Games, movies, the press, it happens a lot more than it reasonably should. This week however, we have a story coming out of Bungie regarding Destiny 2 that should warm the hearts of our readers.

Bungie’s Drew Tucker took to Twitter to note that Destiny 2 has received an update which credits everyone who has worked on the game since launch.

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The sentiments were echoed by other Bungie staff including Steve Dolan who apologized that the credits had taken so long and expressed his happiness that the people involved could finally see their names.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Astellia Online: Free Trials & Holiday Event


Astellia Online is hosting a temporary free trial period for you stragglers.

Starting this Friday December 20 and running through January 5, anyone who creates an account on Astellia’s website will be able to check the game out free of charge. It looks like the free trials are only going to be for the weekends, and you’ll need to use the code HAPPYHOLIDAYWEEKENDS in order to qualify. Over the same weekends, all players will enjoy an experience boost as well as drop rate and increased dungeon ticket rate.

Meanwhile players will be able to take part in a holiday event beginning today (Dec. 17) that will open up a new zone where Braga Claus will offer new quests and new rewards.

For more information, check out the official website.

Mobility: Maplestory M Drops New Class Luminous


Maplestory M is once again back with a new class. The Luminous is the latest class to drop on the hit mobile title, a mage class that utilizes a shining rod and orb to battle the forces of evil. Naturally this would not be a new class release without Nexon also running a burning event. Start up your new Luminous character and you’ll receive an additional two levels for every level up until January 13. In addition to the fast level track, you’ll also be able to obtain special rewards for leveling up the Luminous class character.

“An expert Magician, Luminous defeated the Black Mage using a shining rod as his primary weapon and an orb as his secondary weapon. In addition to these tools, the new hero also has a powerful Flash Shower skill, which shoots a concentrated burst of light that can penetrate multiple enemies. However, Luminous’s dark side also emerged as a result of his brush with the Black Mage. Becoming tainted with the antagonists dark power, Luminous now struggles to keep a hold of his light and dark side.”

Not to just cut and run, Maplestory M players can take part in the Happy Holiday event. Earn rewards, obtain winter treasure box keys from enemies, obtain log-in rewards, and more.

Source: Press Release