MMO News |
- Shadow Realms Shaken Up?
- League of Legends Building Dedicated Network
- Steam Battle
- Splash Damage’s Upcoming FPS Dirty Bomb Now Exclusively on Steam
- Mabinogi Duel
- Landmark Winter Update Review
- AbleGamers’ 2014 Reveals Accessible Mainstream GOTY Award
- Corsair Gaming and Team Dignitas Join Forces
- Guild Wars 2: Point of No Return Teaser Trailer Now Available
- Taichi Panda reveals upcoming release in January
| Posted: 06 Jan 2015 03:09 PM PST According to a Kotaku report, Bioware’s upcoming 4v1 MMO Shadow Realms may be undergoing a makeover. While some were worried the game had been cancelled completely, especially due to some recent radio silence and a delayed closed alpha, there’s also word that the game has been overhauled and will now feature a full campaign and may release in 2017. The online servers for the game were shut down this week, but what exactly that means is uncertain until EA or Bioware confirms the rumors. BioWare recently decided to integrate EA’s Origin service, possibly to avoid budget limitations from the parent company. Kotaku’s sources indicate that the recent failure of Dawngate was, at least in part, due to limited funds because the game did not use EA’s internal systems. Though Kotaku’s sources remain private, we caution anyone to take this latest news with a grain of salt until either company offers an official statement on the situation. |
| League of Legends Building Dedicated Network Posted: 06 Jan 2015 02:45 PM PST If you haven’t taken the MOBA gaming scene seriously yet, you might want to pay attention to this: Riot Games is building a direct network for League of Legends traffic in North America. A recent update from the Riot Team included revised roadmap expectations and a Q&A with staff. So why is Riot taking the leap into building its own traffic lane?
Players may expect to see less ping time, packet loss, and disconnects as the network rolls out and more ISPs in the US and Canada get connected. The full network should be finished by the end of March 2015, though some negotiations may still be in place with ISPs by the time it is complete. |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2015 02:13 PM PST Lock and load your own Steampunk-style vehicle and battle in this MMO with endless customization options.  Publisher: Wildwolf Pros: +Thousands of parts to customize with. +Four core vehicle types. +PvE and PvP modes supporting 20+ players in a match.
Overview Steam Battle OverviewSteam Battle is a free to play MMO featuring warfare between four types of vehicles, all with a steampunk theme. Players can upgrade, level, and customize tanks, airships, mechs, and helicopters with over 15 weapon types and over 5,000 parts. The game includes a story mode and PvE battles, in addition to 20+ player PvP that includes classic modes like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Base. Steam Battle Screenshots         Steam Battle Featured Video Full Review Steam Battle ReviewComing Soon… Screenshots Steam Battle ScreenshotsComing Soon… Videos Steam Battle VideosOfficial Trailer System Requirements Steam Battle System RequirementsComing soon… |
| Splash Damage’s Upcoming FPS Dirty Bomb Now Exclusively on Steam Posted: 06 Jan 2015 12:28 PM PST Nexon America has announced a partnership with Valve to bring its PC first-person shooter Dirty Bomb exclusively to the Steam platform. Developed by UK-based Splash Damage, Dirty Bomb is an objective-based shooter set in an bombed-out, futuristic London, where an array of colorful Mercenaries run amok, battling to control what remains of the city's riches. The game's Mercs and asymmetrical team play returns PC FPS gaming to its classic, skill-based route.
Prior to this, Dirty Bomb has been in a limited early beta, but today kicks off its wider closed beta on Steam. Running on dedicated servers, the game now delivers matchmaking, chat and parties, with additional Valve solutions coming soon through the Steamworks program.
For more information on the game, and for the chance to be part of Dirty Bomb's closed beta, please visit http://dirtybomb.nexon.net/. Ed Note: We hear the game is still under NDA, so please be considerate! |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2015 11:07 AM PST Discover a new trading card based on the classic Mabinogi franchise and featuring a no draw system and player-to-player trading!  Publisher: Nexon Pros: +Deck strategy more important due to ‘no draw’ system. +Player to player trading. +Real time and asynchronous PvP.
Overview Mabinogi Duel OverviewMabinogi Duel is a mobile trading card game from Nexon, based on the original Mabinogi IP. Currently scheduled for release in Korea (a Western release is unknown), the game is one of the few to offer actual player-to-player trading of cards. The game also uses a unique “no draw” system, in which all of a player’s deck is accessible to them from the start of the match, rather than relying on a random pull from a deck. Mabinogi Duel will feature a single player tutorial, challenge modes, and both real-time and asynchronous PvP. Mabinogi Duel Screenshots    Mabinogi Duel Featured Video Full Review Mabinogi Duel ReviewComing Soon… Screenshots Mabinogi Duel ScreenshotsComing Soon… Videos Mabinogi Duel VideosReveal Trailer GStar 2014 System Requirements Mabinogi Duel System RequirementsComing soon… |
| Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:55 AM PST By Eric Kandel (Misanthropologist)
After naming Everquest Next and its sister builder of a game, Landmark, our most anticipated game of the year two years running, we decided its time to get serious about coverage. And what better way then focus on the massive changes SOE pushed to close out 2014 with a bang. Director of Development David "Smokejumper" Georgeson (@davegeorgeson)and Senior Producer Terry "Fairan" Michaels (@terryjmichaels) describe it as the largest update delivered on the game since its initial alpha launch. Most notable among its various changes are: the introduction of combat, monsters and loot, the overhaul and expansion of the subterranean cave network, and housing development systems. We’ll tackle each subject in that order. Beginning with combat… well, there’s combat now. There wasn’t before. There were no weapons, no armor, and nothing to fight. That’s all changed. Monsters exist now. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, some immediately recognizable as fantasy mainstays and others a bit more esoteric. These monsters will be most numerous in the new underground, but we’ll get to that later. For now, the main points are this: they spawn in the wild, have behaviors determined by their AI, and will be the main focal point of the new combat systems. As described by Georgeson and Michael, the goal of the experience is to create a "gameplay loop." That is to say, a more action-oriented character, instead of idly wandering a hillside, can equip some basic weapons and armor, find some monsters to kill, get some loot, then use it for upgrades. Whether that comes through equipping it directly, breaking it down for crafting, or trading it with other players is up to the individual monster hunter in question.
That’s the goal, anyways. A fully functioning player economy is still in the works, but the plans for it are there and they’re quite detailed. Expect to hear more about it as the year progresses. Back to combat. On the player side of things, your combat style is dictated first by the weapon set you equip. Presently, there are four sets: a pair of daggers, a sword and shield, a two-handed sword, and… sigh… a wand. For whatever reason, the fairy godmother wand is their first (and right now, only) ranged weapon option. It’s cute. Landmark is a cute game, really. It’s done in that family-friendly cartoon style that’s all the rage these days. It worked for WildStar… right? Right? But I digress. Each weapon set fills its own niche, each of which can easily be guessed at a glance. Equipping the daggers will make you into an elusive rogue, the sword and shield sets you up to be a defensive phalanx fighter, the two-handed sword will make you into an aggressive barbarian smash-and-slasher. The wand will make you… a wand person. I’m sorry, I know I should be letting this go, but I’m a crotchety old nerd, and I’m not quite sure how this little pewpew stick fits into the rest of the list. While my personal preference would be to round out this list of iconic archetypes with the quintessential ranger or marksman, I could accept the wizard thing if it was at least a staff. A staff with lightning and fire, maybe. What we have instead is a wand that shoots unidentifiable particles of some kind, generic magic missile type stuff. It’s not even -bad-, it’s just not -as good- as the rest of the lineup. Our expectations are too high to settle for not as good at this point. My pedantry aside, the combat looks good. More importantly, the combat looks like it -feels- good. It’s dynamic and reflex-oriented, so the generally satisfying sights and sounds that accompany it serve as the rightful cherry on top. The dagger-wielder weaves in and out of combat, the sword-and-board guy will have on-command blocking. Greatsword guy can wind up big hits that would make a young George Foreman proud. The wand guy can… do wand things. The important thing here is that combat is not simply tacked on as an afterthought, it’s a fully developed and practically standalone feature. It doesn’t stand alone, though, because the gearing process does involve the rest of the game. Adding a great deal of complexity to the experience is the fact that all weapons and armor can be customized with elements and effects, with an emphasis on synergies between them, to allow for uniquely tailored playstyles. And that’s "elements" in the broad sense. Poison is an element. Shadow is an element. They have interesting effects.
This blooms into a nearly limitless range of possibilities when you consider the fact that the new cave system, now deep underground, is best tackled by teams. The options for intriguing team strategy are high, the odds of "faceless Stormtrooper clones" are low. To further encourage this co-op approach to spelunking, loot is easily obtained and completely individualized. Anyone who contributes to a fight is eligible. Terry Michaels said it best in the stream, I think: "We want seeing other people to be a positive experience."
It’s a laudable goal, appreciable even by diehard hermits like me. I may not want to spend all my time with you, but it’s good to know that when I’m elbow-deep in monster guts, biting off way more than I can chew, seeing another player deep in the underground will be cause for relief, not worry. This sense of community is clearly a centerpiece of the team’s vision for the game, and it shows nowhere more than in the housing design. The amount of new systems implemented to dazzle, awe, and otherwise blow your friends’ minds. Remote switches and proximity triggers would be impressive in any game, but the dizzying number of conditions they can be used with and set to catapults them into the realm of the truly staggering. Want a strobing light show? No problem, that’s easy. How about a functioning trap door that drops into a pit of fire? No problem. Want it triggered by a lamp on the wall? Can do. The list of possible inventions goes on for quite some time, up to and including player-devised perpetual motion machines. Landmark remains a work in progress, but it’s an intriguing work in progress. The year ahead should be very interesting as the game implements its plan for economy and achievement systems. |
| AbleGamers’ 2014 Reveals Accessible Mainstream GOTY Award Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:36 AM PST The year of 2014 was full of many big new releases, numerous sequels, and some exceptional independent titles; our staff of accessibility experts faced an exceedingly difficult choice. We found many games failed to meet the standards of accessibility for the inclusion of everyone, but a few games shined out from the darkness. The annual AbleGamers’ Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year award aims to highlight excellence in accessible game design. It is awarded to developers that make intentional choices to include accessibility in their games. After countless emails and many hours of debate, the AbleGamers team came away with a short list of eight games. These are the games we recognized as accessible titles that narrowly missed achieving the top spot.
For the first time ever, two independent developers demonstrated equally impressive accessibility in terms of finished product and research into what helps gamers with disabilities be included without sacrificing any features. The 2014 AbleGamers Accessible Mainstream Indie Game of the Year goes to… Always Sometimes Monsters, by Vagabond Dog and This War of Mine by 11 Bit Studios Always Sometimes Monsters is a game of choices, much like the choice Vagabond Dog made to keep a focus on accessible game design. Game play is never action-based, allowing the player to follow the story and complete objectives at their own pace. Color never plays into core gameplay elements without other descriptors. The game is entirely text based with fantastically created closed captions. Vagabond has created a world that allows players to follow a story they create from their own choices, and does not let anything stand in the way of accessible options for players to enjoy Always Sometimes Monsters. The team at 11 Bit Studios makes the full experience of the atrocities of war accessible by careful consideration of controls and theme. Allowing the game to be controlled only by the mouse creates an amazingly accessible PC title while being very tense. 11 Bit Studios dedicates a conscious effort to a colorblind friendly art style that only increases their game’s style. Audio accessibility is carefully considered by the team, turning footsteps into visual information and sticking to their game’s theme. This War of Mine is a somber tale, with careful consideration to features that allow anyone to witness that experience. We could not choose between these two games. Even with one game being mostly text based, the other a point and click, and both more accessible than action games by default, they still deserve applause for doing accessibility the right way. And as much as we wanted to split the awards with every game that showed promising accessibility, we knew there could be only one. After all the internal debate, the dust settled, and one game showed itself to be different than all the rest despite being found exclusively on the most unfriendly console for those with mobility impairments. The 2014 AbleGamers’ Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year: Bayonetta 2 Bayonetta 2 pulls out all the stops for accessible game design while staying true to their creative vision, revitalizing a genre known for inaccessibility, on a system inherently inaccessible, but ultimately making a near perfect example of game accessibility. This game allows players to choose from a plethora of options with the WiiU GamePad, Pro Controller, the GamePad’s touch screen, or in any combination that is most comfortable for the player. Some might say this is a visual masterpiece with astonishing graphics, top tier subtitles, and a visual style carefully crafted to not impede the enjoyment of the game for those with colorblindness. Bayonetta 2 stands out among other accessible mainstream games by paying careful attention to user friendly game experience. The inclusion of a one-button combat mode creates an experience other character action titles should implement. As a proof of concept, this game demonstrates that accessibility can be implemented into a mainstream AAA game without harming any of the gameplay. Popular titles such as Shadow of Mordor could easily implement one-button mode for those who need such accessibility while leaving a complicated controls for those who prefer those methods, and still award players with a top-notch game that is accessible to everyone. Multiple control schemes interchangeably allow combat to be as streamlined as possible without degrading any of the overarching game play design choices. Touch and motion controls are optional, quick time events are of minimal impact to the game play thanks to the one-button mode, and yet still allows for more experienced players to set up challenges they deem appropriate to tackle. Bayonetta 2 is not a style of game that should be accessible, but PlatinumGames took extra steps to make it that way, which is worth praise. The process of choosing our game of the year winners was a difficult task. Many new titles demonstrated many new innovations, while other games completely missed the mark. AbleGamers is encouraged by the work done so far in the accessible gaming movement, but there is still work to be done. If you want to know how to make your games more accessible, visit includification.com for more information on how you can design the most inclusive games possible, open your game to a huge new audience, and possibly win next year's AbleGamers Accessible Mainstream Game of the Year award |
| Corsair Gaming and Team Dignitas Join Forces Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:34 AM PST Corsair today announced a partnership with eSports organization Team Dignitas to collaborate on the next generation of Corsair Gaming products. Dignitas will combine their competitive gaming experience with Corsair's expertise in precision PC peripherals to design products that outfit gamers with a competitive edge. As part of this partnership, Team Dignitas will exclusively use Corsair Gaming PC peripherals in practice and tournaments. "With the 2015 season starting, our teams could not be better prepared with Corsair Gaming," said Michael O'Dell, owner of Team Dignitas. "We have high expectations for performance both in practice and during competitive play and for that, we trust Corsair Gaming for its high quality and precision." "Our partnership with Team Dignitas is based on the principle that PC gamers need pro-level equipment for all levels of play—from casual to competitive," said Lauren Premo, eSports and Gaming Partnership Manager of Corsair. "We are proud to support Team Dignitas as they embark on their 2015 season." "We wanted to work with a brand that makes professional-grade eSports products that can keep up with our level of competitive play," said Alberto "Crumbzz" Rengifo, Team Captain of Dignitas's League of Legends team. "The opportunity to help form the future of PC peripherals alongside a strong brand like Corsair was something we just couldn't pass up." Team Dignitas is best known for their League of Legends team that will compete in the upcoming North American Season 5 League Championship Series. The team also represented North America in the Season 2 World Championship. Together, Corsair and Team Dignitas will design upcoming keyboards, mice, headsets, mouse mats, and PC components in the Corsair Gaming product line. For more information on Corsair and Dignitas's new partnership, please visit: Corsairgaming.com. |
| Guild Wars 2: Point of No Return Teaser Trailer Now Available Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:32 AM PST With Glint's egg still missing, Tyria's heroes must rally their allies and prepare the pact fleet as they begin to launch an assault against Mordremoth. In this finale to Living World Season 2 players will face a decisive moment, reaching "a point of no return." To learn more about the Living World of Guild Wars 2, visit: https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/ |
| Taichi Panda reveals upcoming release in January Posted: 06 Jan 2015 09:31 AM PST Snail released new info regarding the anticipated launch upcoming action dungeon crawler for mobile, Taichi Panda. Snail has stated that the game will be available for iOS in the month of January, with a specific release date pending. In the same announcement, Snail revealed Taichi Panda's role in its booth demonstration at the 2015 International CES in Las Vegas. Taichi Panda will be featured as a demo to showcase Snail's new gaming hardware, offering an early hands-on before release. Along with the announcement, Snail released a new gameplay trailer covering the 3 playable classes of Taichi Panda. For more info, visit http://panda.snail.com/en/ |
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