Tuesday, December 8, 2015

MMO News

MMO News

Vainglory Crowns Liberation X Winners of Autumn 2015 Finals

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 05:53 PM PST

Super Evil Megacorp, the developer of the multiplayer online battle arena game (MOBA) built for touch screens, Vainglory, today honored team Liberation X as the winners of the Autumn 2015 Live Finals which took place over the weekend at the eSports Arena in Santa Ana, CA. The EU finals will take place from December 11-13 at Europe's largest eSports arena, MCK Katowice in Poland, featuring teams including G2 eSports and SK Gaming. The global Autumn Season prizepool is over $200,000, making this the biggest mobile eSports season to date.

This weekend's Autumn Season Finals featured the top eight North American teams competing for prize money and the title of Autumn 2015 North American Champion. More than 650 team applied for the Qualifiers in September, and the top 128 teams in each region made the tournament bracket. The eight teams competing in Santa Ana were VON Menace, Liberation X, Nemesis Hydra, Nemesis Titan, Vertigo Black, and Gankstars Vega.

Since launching on the App Store only a year ago, Vainglory has generated wide critical acclaim (averaging a 4.5/5 star user review on iOS and 4/5 on Android), built a massive community (1M+ unique views on Twitch in the month of September alone!), and has spawned competitive tournaments all around the world, from Europe to Asia and beyond. The Vainglory World Invitationals in July reached more than 1 million views.

The post Vainglory Crowns Liberation X Winners of Autumn 2015 Finals appeared first on MMOHuts.

WildStar Announces Protostar’s Gala Winterfest Extravaganza

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 04:08 PM PST

NCSOFT® and Carbine Studios™ announced today that WildStar's Protostar Gala Winterfest Extravaganza will take place this year from December 16, 2015 to January 1, 2016 at Protostar's  SuperMall-in-the-Sky. Winterfest, a seasonal shopping tradition on Planet Nexus, will offer up outrageous deals on coveted in-game items and present players with a multitude of new content including costumes, housing items, public events, daily quests and more!

During Winterfest, WildStar fans can peruse the greatest shopping catalog ever created, spending NCoin, Omnibits and even ColdCash, a unique and limited-time currency which can be earned during Winterfest and used to buy exclusive holiday items.

Throughout the festivities, both the SuperMall-in-the-Sky and Nexus' capital cities will be decked out in Winterfest dressing, giving players a fun and festive environment to shop in. Players are also encouraged to deck the halls of their personal housing plots in the finest Winterfest holiday décor to earn even more holiday rewards.

To learn more about Winterfest, visit: this page.

The post WildStar Announces Protostar's Gala Winterfest Extravaganza appeared first on MMOHuts.

Kal Online Begins Revolution Event

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 03:37 PM PST

Kal Online has launched its Revolution event, a special event that runs from December 10 through January 7.

The event’s goal is to give away valuable enchanted items to everyone, including Golden and Heavenly Executioner armor and weapons. These items come enchanted already, so players just need to choose their set and get back to slaying monsters.

Daily items will also be handed out. More details are available on Kal Online’s website.

The post Kal Online Begins Revolution Event appeared first on MMOHuts.

Brawlhalla PS4 Announcement Trailer

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 03:18 PM PST

Brawlhalla announces that it’s on its way to PlayStation 4 in 2016.

The post Brawlhalla PS4 Announcement Trailer appeared first on MMOHuts.

Paragon

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 03:08 PM PST

The post Paragon appeared first on MMOHuts.

Operation Frostline comes to EVE Online

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 02:56 PM PST

Today brought the largest release for EVE Online in 2015, which includes an evolution of EVE's epic sci-fi storyline. Named after a new and engaging series of events happening throughout the New Eden universe, Operation Frostline sets the stage for the massive Spring 2016 EVE Online: Citadel expansion, which will reconstruct the very foundations of the famous sci-fi universe and transform the sandbox game design it is built on.

The deadly mercenary faction known as Mordu's Legion, having recently liberated Outer Ring Excavations (ORE) stations, now calls on pilots across the universe to raid the Serpentis Corporation's vaults and pillage their valuable troves of implants, blueprints, PLEX, SKINs, and more before they can get their defenses back online.

Today's release also brings 13 new ships, the largest introduction in a release in years. Command Destroyers make their debut, altering the battle meta with area-of-effect Micro Jump Field Generators pulling all nearby sub-capital ships with them as they leap 100 kilometers in the direction they are heading. Also unveiled is the Endurance, a nimble ice-mining frigate designed to travel into deep space and harvest precious ice ore from shattered wormholes and the most lucrative null-security regions.  Four new Navy Electronic Warfare Frigates deliver powerful support to fast moving gangs and Tech II Logistics Frigates provide crucial restorative power for the shields and armor of their fleetmates.

Several significant graphical updates were also added to EVE Online, including: a running kill-mark tally of PvP victories on each ship, accumulated rust and dust on hulls, stunning new shield and armor damage effects, gorgeous engine effects for all ships, subtle yet vibrant changes to the nebulae and starfields, new ship SKINs, beta-versions of new orbital and first-person camera controls, module effect overhauls for smartbombs, e-war modules, cynosaural fields and more.

The EVE Universe thrives on change, especially from the players as they scheme and cajole, collaborate and command, and perish and conquer. It wouldn't be an EVE release without shifting the conflict metagame a bit further by challenging the shifting tactics of the players before they get too comfortable. Today's changes include even more module changes, new energy neutralizer variations, falloff for remote repairers, and new missile tracking disruptors. An exponential alteration to the size of grids will have far-reaching combat implications and set the stage for the massive structures coming in EVE Online: Citadel.

Altogether, additions alter the boundaries of EVE-as-it-has-been for a new future with unique new tactical considerations and rejuvenated graphical beauty.

Full patch notes and information on other improvements can be found here.

The post Operation Frostline comes to EVE Online appeared first on MMOHuts.

Gumi and Colopl Press Event Recap – Phantom of the Kill and More!

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 02:22 PM PST

Last week Gumi and Colopl put on a press event in San Francisco's Blackbird Bar to showcase some of their upcoming and newly released games – here's a rundown of what I got my hands on:

Phantom of the Kill Hands-On Impressions

Phantom of the Kill is an anime styled SRPG (Strategy Role Playing Game) that has enjoyed some success since it's Japanese-exclusive release over a year ago. This coming Winter, Phantom of the Kill will be released globally, for free, on the Android and iOS platforms for all SRPG fans to enjoy. Boasting impressive art and classic SRPG gameplay, I think it will enjoy some success in the West if it passes the microtransaction sniff-test upon release.

For the most part, Phantom of the Kill is a basic SRPG with the usual character collecting, unit building, weapon upgrades and statistics, and a dramatic story campaign. The game features some killer art direction and character designs alongside a game mechanic that allows you to recruit another players' unit commander as one of your own for an engagement.

Like any SRPG, each battle and event takes place on a gridline battlefield with five or six characters in the player's unit squaring off against several opposing enemies. The player's unit always goes first in Phantom of the Kill, which strips away some tactical situations like preemptive strikes or ambushes. Movement, support, and attacks are outlined with the usual blue, green, and red tiles. You can zoom in and out on the battlefield and 'swipe' around for a better look at the terrain, but the terrain and camera don't really impact gameplay beyond the movement phases. Combat results are largely dictated by accuracy and damage stats alongside the rock/paper/scissors triangle of sword/axe/spear classed characters (though there are also archers, gunners, and priests who sort of sit outside of the main combat triangle).

Combat itself is done with the touch of a button – you either attack or don't depending on how you think you'll fare. The battle animations play out on their own and generally look alright, and they can be sped up if you're pressed for time. As mentioned before, there are some SRPG features missing that would really improve the game's depth, such as character-exclusive skill/ability progression, a weather system that affects gameplay, position-based coordinated attacks or bonuses, or a metagame that makes you care about your characters beyond their stats (a la Fire Emblem's various sidequest systems).

The artistic direction and character designs in Phantom of the Kill are wonderful – many talented artists contributed to the game and the artist's attributions can be seen when viewing a character or design from the main game menu. Although the art quality is not completely uniform, no one character, menu, or background looks poor in comparison to the others. The in-game models and terrain detail on the other hand leave something to be desired; they pale in comparison to their artwork counterparts and often look flat. Unlocking new characters and seeing their art variations will probably be a driving force for players to keep engaged with the game. Though I am not sure if it was an artistic or budget constraint, the game doesn't include any voice acting beyond the original Japanese casting – this may be a turn off for some people, though I imagine the target audience isn't the type to mind much.

The main progression in Phantom of the Kill is handled by the storyline, which I'm told is darker and more dramatic than in the original Japanese release. Upgrading your character and weapons will determine your power curve to help you progress further. The main story is comprised of missions following a 3-star objective system alongside character dialogue while weapons follow a rarity system and characters use a combination of both a five-star system and prestige-like leveling system between stars. Though characters and weapons are unlocked by completing story missions and by spending Zenny (this game's gold), the fastest way of unlocking characters is to use the premium currency, Lazuli. The fastest way of unlocking more powerful weapons is to fuse your existing ones together lottery-style or by following a recipe.

The Lazuli currency can be both bought with real money as well as earned from difficult missions and daily event driven quests. Though the prices for Lazuli have yet to be determined, Lazuli seems to be the primary way of unlocking lots of powerful and rare characters at once; depending how players react to this upon release will probably determine how large of a playerbase Phantom of the Kill can muster in the longer term.

In a quick interview with Executive Producer Jun Imaizumi and COO Takeshi Sankawa I found out that the addition of male characters to the game was prompted by the upcoming international release – before, the game featured females exclusively. Alongside this change came some alterations to the story – "it's basically a prequel as a result of this change," noted Jun Imaizumi. When asked if cross-region recruiting of unit commanders would be possible he responded, "We would love to see that, but at this point that would be a technical challenge that needs to be reconciled between the two versions of the game." After mulling this over for a few moments I asked if other changes were possible for the future, such as the addition of another campaign or weather that affects combat. Both Jun and Takeshi responded positively to this idea saying, 'It depends on the community. Right now, the international version is a close copy of the original barring a few promotional features and the story, but we would like to add more features in the future for either version if there's fan demand.'

From my brief time with the game, Phantom of the Kill seems to lack some of the tactical depth that other SRPGs have that make them go from 'good' to 'great;' nonetheless, I think it will do well. If you enjoy anime-styled SRPGs, definitely give this one a shot when it drops this winter.

Phantom of the Kill Media

Downtown Showdown Hands-On Impressions

DowntownShowdown_TitleScreen

Downtown Showdown is a fresh take on the city-building genre. With a clean art style and touch-friendly interface, it brings real-time PVP to the table, which is a pretty interesting twist on what is otherwise a mostly solitary pastime. Featuring two competing factions in an over-the-top world of televised battles and monsters, Downtown Showdown may give the mobile city building incumbents a run for their money.

City building games on mobile are pretty well understood at this point – tap coins and resources to collect them, show your city off to your friends, defend it against other players, etc. For single player purposes, Downtown Showdown isn't an exception to these conventions, but multiplayer is (apparently) where it's at now. Downtown Showdown features two factions – The Bill Corporation and Zack Gold Inc. Upon starting the game you join one of these factions, and this decides which team you 'fight' for in head-to-head city building competitions, whose city you can take on, and who you'll be defending your personal city against. The two factions vary in style a bit; Bill's faction features a more traditional look while Zack's is more cutting-edge and techie. This matters little however, but what does matter is your weekly performance in representing your faction in Showdown Mode and on the leaderboards for weekly bonuses.

DowntownShowdown_screenshot_city

Participating in Showdown Mode, this game's PVP, is probably best left until after you've built up your personal city a little and understand which buildings allow you to recruit city protectors and attackers, and also how building placements affect your city's population and happiness levels. In Showdown Mode you use your personal city as a 'deck' builder; the buildings you've acquired in single-player dictate which ones you can bring into Showdown Mode. That is, once you've built a cool park or unique restaurant in your solo game then you can bring it into as many Showdown matches as you want, and the original building is (thankfully) at no risk of being lost during the match. Showdown Mode itself takes place on a fresh level with the goal of making the people in the new city as happy as possible; whomever makes the people happier wins.

Since both players are placing buildings at the same time the map becomes a hectic mash of roads, schools, businesses, and homes rather quickly. To give yourself an edge over your opponent you can recruit attackers to sabotage your opponent's side of the city – like burglars, graffiti artists, and monsters. Not everything can be done at once though; the aforementioned deck you've built is dealt to you over the course of the 10-minute round so there's a 'long-game' to focus on and possibly holding out for key cards if you didn't balance your deck well enough. Should you win a match you'll be rewarded with Star Medals, which are a valuable currency for unlocking more real estate to expand your personal city as well as jump your score up on the weekly leaderboards. Star medals can also be earned by playing normally, but the fastest way to acquire them is to play Showdown Mode.

DowntownShowdown_screenshot_Roulette

Hardening your personal city and making it the best it can be is the main long-term 'mode' in Downtown Showdown. Like in other city building games you'll need to defend it against others, and you can do this by erecting buildings that allow you to recruit defensive characters. Your friends can also help you protect your city from pillagers, and earn themselves some Star Medals in the process, by putting out fires or helping you clean your city up. As such, you can also raid other cities and earn resources, which will then help you strengthen your city. There are hundreds of buildings and variations to choose from when building your city, and these buildings are progressively unlocked over time and by spending in-game coins in the shop or the 'Gotcha!' lottery game.

DowntownShowdown_screenshot_shop

Downtown Showdown does have building timers which can be shortened by using earned/purchased Gems, but at this stage it seems like the timers aren't much of a hindrance as you can always play Showdown Mode or invade another player's city. Always having a mode to play is a strength that will benefit Downtown Showdown in the long run.

When you really get a city going it looks great on pretty much any screen, and the Showdown Mode is certainly a welcome addition to the city-building genre. Right now it's looking like Downtown Showdown will be a solid game on release, so be sure to give it a shot this January on either iOS or Android.

Downtown Showdown Media

Rune Story – A Quick Update

It's been nearly two months since Rune Story released, so we decided to do a quick check-in and see how the game is doing. Apparently, players are tearing through the new content and are really enjoying the new character updates.

Colopl_RuneStory_4

Since its release back in October there have been several holiday themed events and even a new area released. Dida Island (a.k.a. Island #5) is the first of many new areas released post-launch, and it features lots of dangerous traps and valuable crystal weapon runes that allow players to enhanced their weapons. The two major holiday updates, Halloween and Thanksgiving, introduced several new characters, events, and special Gotcha! (lottery) prizes. Though they aren't linked to any particular holiday, high level missions and events have been coming out regularly alongside the bi-weekly (that's every two weeks) character reveals.

Colopl_RuneStory_1

Christmas is coming, and word from Alisa Kurt, one of Colopl's game designers, is that a pretty significant addition to quests will be revealed soon and some really nice "surprises" will be popping up – so keep your eyes peeled.

That sums it up for this press event! Keep an eye out as we continue to expand on our Mobile gaming coverage going forward.

Since Rune Story is the only game in this article that is already out, you can try it for yourself by clicking the Official Site button below:

The post Gumi and Colopl Press Event Recap – Phantom of the Kill and More! appeared first on MMOHuts.

WEBZEN Spreads Christmas Cheer

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 01:57 PM PST

WEBZEN, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play games, is pleased to announce that multiple titles in its current line-up are celebrating Christmastime with special seasonal events, along with a brand new content update for ELOA.

From December 8th until December 29th, the entire WEBZEN.com portal will be celebrating the holiday season together with players. As part of the WEBZEN family, players are invited to enjoy fantastic events made just for this very special month of the year.

Christmas is a time of giving, and in line with this spirit, WEBZEN.com is kicking off a 3 week attendance check event for all players. Once players log in to the website and click the link on the event page, they will receive an Event Coin which will allow them to unwrap a gift, and be in with a chance to get some cool in-game items.

Each of WEBZEN's games will be running in-game Christmas events to celebrate the holiday season with players.

WEBZEN is also giving away many more bonus goods for its games with the Wcoin Attack Event, and to top it all off, players can also benefit from up to 25% bonus Wcoin when topping up, for a very limited time.

In addition to these events, ELOA: Elite Lord of Alliance today released its latest content update in conjunction with an increased level cap for characters. Eight fields of a new territory called "Brimstone Mine", a new dungeon called "Abandoned Mine", an increased level cap of 35 and many more features are introduced in this new update.

The ELOA team is also organizing a Q&A event with the ELOA developer. Interested players will be able to post any questions on the official ELOA website: http://eloa.webzen.com/

More information on WEBZEN's Christmas events is now available on the official website at: http://webzen.com/events/Christmas2015

The post WEBZEN Spreads Christmas Cheer appeared first on MMOHuts.

Heroes Tactics Gets Featured on Google Play

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 01:36 PM PST

Camex Games, developer of Heroes Tactics: Mythiventures, an addicting and unique mobile RPG strategy game, is proud to announce that Heroes Tactics: Mythiventures is now featured on Google Play™ as one of the best new Android games and was recently featured on the App®Store during the Thanksgiving holiday and Black Friday.

With over 250,000 downloads since the launch of the game, Heroes Tactics: Mythiventures will continue to be updated with new content including Chapters 7 and 8 featuring new quests, heroes, monsters, and of course loot! Also coming soon is the new Guild Hero Exchange feature that will allow Guild members to borrow rare hero characters from other Guild members!

The post Heroes Tactics Gets Featured on Google Play appeared first on MMOHuts.

37Games Will Launch Fusion War In Late December

Posted: 08 Dec 2015 01:05 PM PST

37Games's first 3D Mobile FPS Fusion War will be released for Google Play and Apple Store globally in late December. Fusion War is developed by Tencent.

In Fusion War, players will fight the war between the evil organization Pi Corp. and Titan to save the human race. Unravel Pi Corp.'s nefarious plot to take over the world by cooperating with allies and resisting Pi Corp.'s army of mercenaries. Experience a first person shooter with an intense story line that combines movie-like cut scenes with simulated battlefields. Fight against players from all over the world in PvP mode to improve your combat skills! Use superior firearms to hunt elite enemies and help win the war.

Fusion War has already launched in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South East Asia on Google Play!

Free Download: http://app.appsflyer.com/com.game37.kl?pid=fn&c=XX

The post 37Games Will Launch Fusion War In Late December appeared first on MMOHuts.
Posted by
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...