All Posts by Szark

Funcom has sent out the latest edition of Clan of Conan, the official Age of Conan newsletter.

Check your inbox! The latest edition of the Clan of Conan newsletter is now available! You can also find a live version here.

Phew! The game is out of the door and the world of Hyboria has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of eager adventurers. But our work is not over, Funcom will now shift into top gear in order to enhance, improve and add to the game over the next few weeks, months and even years!

In this edition of the Clan of Conan newsletter we look into what sort of enhancements and content you can expect to hit Age of Conan in the next few weeks and months. Remember, we're working relentlessly on updating the game as often as possible, and what we have listed in the newsletter is but a part of what we're doing to the game these days.

Read more here.

The Dark Age of Camelot Grab Bag returns this week to answer a variety of questions from the game's players.

Q. Are there any plans to update the Market Explorer searching options? As it is now, searches with more than 1 attribute does not narrow down the search but rather expand it (example: Strength and Parry will not yield items with only Strength and Parry)

A. With a strong nod and a quick glance at the burning light bulb above him the Bearded Wonder says: Yes, updating the Market Explorer is on our schedule plan and we have someone slated to work on that soon. It’s a natural follow-up to what we are doing in Housing currently in 1.94.

Q. Will we be forced to pick only 1 realm per account for the new origins server or will we be able to play all 3 realms per account?

A. I stood in line to wait for a moment to speak with the very busy Bearded Wonder: The current plan is to only allow 1 realm per account.

Read more here.

IGG has announced the start of the Closed Beta, and the availability of a new patch  for Myth War II Online.

The Closed Beta Test for Myth War II Online has begun since 04:30 June 13(GMT-5)! IGG has released a new complete manual patch which is available on its official website.

Read more here.

IGG has announced that the Zu Online Promoter System, which rewards players for inviting friends to play, is now available.

The Promoter System for Zu Online is now available, and can help all gamers’ dreams come true! Just sign up to become a member of the Zu Promoter System and then invite friends to play Zu Online or other IGG games.

Register for an account and become a member of the Zu Promoter System today!

Read more here.

NCsoft answers questions about PvP in Tabula Rasa and previews the release notes for Deployment 10 in their regular Feedback Friday feature.

Hey Everyone,

Deployment 9 just recently got a new build with several bug fixes and is making its way towards the live servers soon. Please make sure to get any last minute testing in this weekend and to use the Feedback Form. For this week’s Feedback Friday, we’ll address a question from our Feedback Form and give you several Patch Note Previews for Deployment 10.

Q: Why are you making TR a PvP MMO? The new Wargame testmap on PTS and the balancing of the abilities tend to prove that this is the way it is headed, why?!?

A: PvP has never been and is not going to be the only direction we want TR to take. It is true that a lot of changes and additions have been made with PvP in mind and the Wargame is a good example, but in this case for instance, it is mainly because we had the systems mostly in place already and could reuse part of it in that map. The PvE aspect of the Clan Owned Control Point system needs more work done to it before we can have you test it. But it is going to be a big part of the COCP system. Another example is the attention we bring to developing instances and the storylines in general. We hope that some of you enjoyed Velon Hollow on PTS and the stories told in that instance. We have wonderful writers working with us and we will be counting on them to continue dazzling you with their narrative talents. So PvP is an important aspect but Tabula Rasa has tons of stories and plenty more to come that tie it into an obvious PvE world.

Read more here.

The folks at Pirates of the Burning Sea are calling on players to help test changes made to ship outfitting on the PotBS test sever.

As you may have already seen in the patch notes, there are several tweaks to ships and outfitting in the new 1.5 patch that is currently on Testbed. We would love to hear your feedback on these changes before they hit the live servers.

How do you get hold of these items and ships to test them out, you cry? Well, we will be in-game at Irish Point on Testbed on Sunday, June 15th from 3.30pm to 5.30pm Pacific Time to hand out items and ships. Meet us on the docks with your character and we will kit you out and give you a link to a feedback forum that you can use to tell us your thoughts.

See you there!

Read more here.

Smartcell has prepared an overview of the Advent of Azrael Event, one of the events that was added with last week's game update.

Wednesday, June 12th marked the version 0.8.7.0 update for Shadow of Legend. A couple of new instances and events were introduced, one of which is called, “Advent of Azrael.”

Azrael, one of the Seven Sons of Sin, is bent on destroying Agnes, leaving the lands desolate and barren. Union and Chaos have never faced a threat as such before, especially one so close to their main cities! Protect your loved ones and defend the main city!

What: Advent of Azrael Event

When: Everyday, 7:00pm PST

Where: In the fields outside of Phynas and Greyrock Castle

Rules:

1. Player beware! Azrael is a Demon God, so it will be very VERY strong. Grouping with other players, or playing with your guild is the surest way you can ensure the demon’s defeat.
2. Once Azrael is slain, huge rewards will be available for the picking. The rewards will appear in a nearby area. However, if Azrael is not slain by 10:00 pm PST, the rewards will not appear.

Good luck surviving!

Read more here.

HappyMMO has announced that they will begin a series of new events with the next update for Elf Online.

A series of new events will be released soon in the next update with changes as bugs fixed and new element added. Let’s get a quick view of what a brand new Elf Online (http://elf.happymmo.com) has.

Happy Carnival: Happy Carnival is consisted of a series of such events as the carnival, treasure box fall and hatch the golden egg. Players could take part in the game in a relaxed way with lots of rewards and experience waiting for them.

1. Carnival

When the carnival begins, players could go to the guide in each city- Carefree village, Wulong Village and Dragon City to apply for joining the carnival. You will get some quests from the guide when you apply for participation. Every 10 quests is a round, for each quest you finished, Exp and coins will be granted. When you finish up to 6 quests in a round, you will be granted quest credits, with the credits, you may exchange golden eggs.

Requirement: Solo or team, each participant should above level 20.

Rewards: For each round, players will be rewarded 1 happy fruit, after using it you will get 1000 SP. Furthermore, there is some possibility to gain extra rewards as common eggs for teleport and treasure boxes.

Read more here.

IGG has announced the opening of the Wonderland Online In-game Item Mall.

IGG has announced that they will be opening the official Wonderland Online In-game Item Mall on June 3rd.

The Wonderland Online In-game Item Mall will be formally opened at 3:00 am, June 3rd. Players should first purchase Point Cards at their official site (http://wl.igg.com/shop/google.php ) and then they can use them to buy various items from the In-game Item Mall, including Remote Controls, Critical Weapons, 2x EXP Cards and Amity Jelly. Players can also obtain top gear and items by playing small games in the Item Mall. Besides, WLO officials will be holding a series of events later to help players familiarize themselves with the Item Mall.

Besides, Players and guilds who have participated in the Wonderland Online Alpha Test will receive Item Mall Points as a reward after the Item Mall opens.

Read more here.

IGG has announced the details of their Olympic Games Event being held on the game's newest server.

IGG has announced the details of the Zu Online Olympic Games, which will be held in their newly released server—Ghost. Participants will have the opportunity to make their Olympic dreams come true, as well as the chance to win top equipment and genuine 2008 Beijing Olympic Tickets.

Sign up to participate, fight for your guild and yourself, and earn the chance to win a ticket for the real 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as well as top equipment in the game!

Read more here.

The folks at DragonRaja have announced that they will be holding a Battle Royal PVP Event starting today, June 13th.

Battle Royal PVP Event!

This event will be a free-for-all PK Tournament. No groups, no friends only enemies! Remember no one can be trusted! You must fight to survive, or die trying; all players of all levels and all classes are allowed into this event. To take part in this event simply head to the OX quiz map before 10:00am on Fridays and 10pm on Saturdays.

This event will be held every Friday and Saturday starting today Friday the 13 until we have finished 10 rounds, each round will have 1 winner the last man women or child alive will win 1000 Fame and will be entered into the final matches!

The final matches will compose of the 10 winners from the 10 rounds who will fight to be known as the Battle Royal Champion and will be given a g5 mantle (effect will be based on characters class) and 2000 Fame!

 

Read more here.

The Lord of the Rings Online Lorebook has been updated with an entry for Badennas, an NPC that can aide in the purchase of housing.

As new housing settlements spring up around the communities of Eriador, agents are needed to make potential residents aware of these new neighborhoods. One such advocate is Badennas, an Elf who dwells in the community of Duillond in Ered Luin.

Badennas has delayed her departure from Middle-earth twice out of love for the lands she calls home. She has taken on many responsibilities for the good of her neighbors, including the procurement of materials needed to build more housing.

Read more here.

The Champions Online official site has been updated with a profile  and concept art of the villain Mind Slayer.

Stacy Turner thought any place had to be better than home. Her old man was such a drag! When they weren't fighting, he was devising new and more restrictive punishments in an effort to "get her on the right track."

She didn't see any reason to stay in school either – classes were boring and the teachers were stupid, and she wasn't learning anything she actually needed to know. So one night after yet another fight with her father, Stacy packed a bag, snuck out her bedroom window and struck out on a life of adventure.

Life on the streets of Chicago was a lot harder than she'd thought it would be. But Stacy did what she had to do, and bit by bit she scratched and clawed her way toward survival.

Read more here.

MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh recently spend some time in Hello Kitty Online, and to day we posted her thoughts on the game. While she was there she took a few screens of her exploits in Sanrioland.

See all them all here.

MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh has been spending her time delving into the dark depths of the Hello Kitty Online Beta in recent weeks to bring us an in-depth look at this cute MMO based on the popular Hello Kitty franchise.

Hello Kitty Online. So cute you could puke. Yes? No? That was what I went out to discover as I entered Sanrioland, created my little avatar dressed in a plain tanktop and shorts, and named her. Not too many choices in faces and hair so I quickly settled on one and braced myself to be overwhelmed by “cute.”

It was. Overwhelmingly cute. What can I say? Hello Kitty and her friends – Badtz-Maru, My Melody, Purin, Pochaco, Keroppi, ad nauseum is all about cute. Their motto is “Bring Happiness to the World” and they surely try. The User Interface is simple – so simple it took me a while to figure it out – the green check icon means “Yes” dummy… The entire game can be navigated via mouse clicks and indeed, movement is done by mouse-click.

Created by Sanrio Digital and based in Hong Kong, Hello Kitty in Asia is targeted towards the “Office Ladies” – women in their twenties to their thirties, most who have never played an MMOG in their life. In the US, the demographic that Hello Kitty appeals to shifts downwards to the younger players in their teens. Players will also find that Hello Kitty Online is not just an MMOG, but an integrated social space, with blogs and mini-games that you can access directly from the game.

Read more here.

EverQuest II producer Bruce "Froech" Ferguson has posted a producer's letter detailing the upcoming EQ2 events and activities planned for the summer of 2008.

The summer of 2008 will be an exciting time for all of us! Coming in the next update ‘Gathering Tempest’ is the first of multiple live events designed to give players an opportunity to become involved in the storyline leading to the next expansion. The live event, called ”Void Storms Part 1: The Invasion”, will offer you the opportunity to investigate the coming of these so called “Void Storms” as they spill across Norrath and disrupt the world. Also included in the same update, we’re releasing a Heroic version of a zone familiar to many of you… ’Runnyeye’. A completely invigorated experience awaits adventurers who have what it takes to take on the new challenges!

At the same time, we’ve got several things happening in the online trading card game Legends of Norrath that should attract your attention. We are offering the chance to have your own photo as your player character painted into a LoN card that everyone will get, along with a new and quite challenging quest to fight the Shadow Beast. There are two new loot cards to win, if you can beat the beast!

Read more here.

Lockpick Entertainment has announced that Dreamlords The Reawakening, their free to play MMORTS will launch on Wednesday June 18.

In a not entirely surprising move, Swedish online game developer Lockpick Entertainment today announced that their anticipated Free-2-Play MMORTS game Dreamlords The Reawakening will launch on Wednesday June 18 (this year that is).

A long, hot and intense summer lies ahead…

The waiting is coming to an end and after the physical move of the servers earlier this week the team is ready to release their love child together with the community.

“We’re really happy to release The Reawakening now and I know that it is highly anticipated from the Dreamlords community. Drawing on experience from the development of our previous game Dreamlords but also through feedback and suggestions from our much devoted community, I’m convinced we’ve created the game we initially set out to produce last fall”, said David Rosén CEO and Executive Producer. “The Reawakening is in every perspective a game by gamers – for gamers and now I can only hope the players will have as much fun playing it as we’ve had developing it.”

A follow-up to last year’s acclaimed MMORTS debut title from Swedish Lockpick Entertainment, Dreamlords The Reawakening blends the immensely popular RTS and RPG genres. The Reawakening is set in a ravaged world where each player control a Dreamlord, a celestial warlord, in their quest to restore order and peace.

Dreamlords – The Reawakening is a Free-2-Play MMORTS that will be available at www.dreamlords.com from Wednesday June 18, 2008.

Read more here.

EA Mythic has announced that they are hiring for new positions in their customer service department.

Find out what it's like to be on the other side of WAAAGH! and be a part of an exciting, casual, and fun gaming studio. Imagine a career where you can spend your days in your flip flops, chatting with Greenskins and Elves! EA Mythic wants YOU to become part of our team as a Customer Service Representative.

Read more here.

The most recent Devlog from the folks at Pirates of the Burning Sea looks at the art of item balancing, and some of the changes that will be made in version 1.5 of the game.

Since moving from the content department to design, I’ve been tasked with maintaining balance among the various outfittings available for your ship or avatar. As a result, I’ve modified the majority of items in the game to one degree or another. Most of these changes are minor, but they are also far-reaching. In this devlog, I’d like to explain why I made these changes and how they’re going to improve your game experience.

Balancing all the hundreds of items in our game was a daunting task. To get a handle on it, I had to break the process down into discreet goals. We have a formula for evaluating items by assigning a point value, and my first goal was to identify those that had values well outside of the range for their level. While some players may reap the benefits of these items, they have a number of damaging effects on the game as a whole.

The most obvious problem is that it’s no fun to be sunk by a player simply because they have managed to stack a number of overpowered pieces of outfitting to achieve absurd stat bonuses. These items tend to generate a “golden path” so that you must have them equipped in order to be competitive in PvP. The consequence of these “must have” items is that all other items become “must not have.” Outfitting your ship is not so much about making choices based on strategy or play-style as it is about discovering and obtaining those few select pieces of gear. Instead, we’d much prefer that all items in your level band are useful. There should be an endless number of interesting and powerful combinations when outfitting your ship, not a single “golden path.”

Read more here.

Gamasutra has taken an interesting and in-depth look the Activision Blizzard merger, its affect on their gaming titles, and on the games industry.

The surprise announcement of the impending merger of Activision and Vivendi Games that was announced in December 2007 caused shockwaves throughout the industry that are still being felt now, in mid-2008, as the deal rolls towards completion.

The prospective company (still pending approval for its existence from stockholders and various government agencies) has made even further waves with other recent moves, such upcoming CEO Bobby Kotick floating concepts such as Blizzard being used to push Activision franchises such as Guitar Hero into Asian markets and the decision to leave the Entertainment Software Association (and as a result not taking part in this year's E3).

Read more here.