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And loving it.
I know there's a gabamillion Chanters, but who cares. I love it.
See you guys on Israphel. (Asmodian side, of course!)
Many of you have been curious to learn what the names of the Aion servers will be at launch. We've listed the server names below along with their associated time zones. The servers are aligned to those time zones (e.g. affecting fortresses) so that players on the East Coast as well as those on the West Coast can have blocks of game time to play during each server's prime time. Daylight saving will apply at launch.
Before the start of preselection (which begins September 18, 2009), we will also give our fans from the Oceanic region the chance to take part in an online community poll where you can indicate what server you'd pick unofficially if you want to play with your friends and neighbors. We hope to show instant results in the poll so that you can see which server provides you the best chance to meet them.
We are going to post a similar community poll for roleplayers. We have decided not to officially tag servers as roleplaying servers and enforce specific rules on them. However, we do believe that roleplayers are an essential part of our community, and we support their initiative to claim their own unofficial roleplaying server. Aion gives you the ability to create your own chat channel, and we are already seeing a lot of roleplaying groups out there who are defining their own rules and building up their own communities. Take your time to organize your group before the poll goes live, and then pick the server that would give you the best chance to find players with the same roleplaying interests.
We are looking forward to seeing you in Atreia on one of these servers at launch!
North America:
[West] Siel GMT-8/ PST
[West] Israphel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Nezekan GMT-8 / PST
[West] Zikel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Vaizel GMT-8 / PST
[West] Triniel GMT-8 / PST
[East] Kaisinel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Lumiel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Yustiel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Marchutan GMT-5 / EST
[East] Ariel GMT-5 / EST
[East] Azphel GMT-5 / EST
Europe:
[ENG] Spatalos
[ENG] Telemachus
[ENG] Castor
[ENG] Perento
[ENG] Gorgos
[GER] Kromede
[GER] Thor
[GER] Votan
[GER] Balder
[FRA] Urtem
[FRA] Vidar
[FRA] Suthran
I can't help myself. I love Hutts. They're something about them that's so damn seksi:
http://www.onelastcontinue.com/10953/gamescom-2009-dc-universe-online-impressions/
If you feel burned about Cryptic's "City of Champions Online," then keep your fingers crossed for "DC Universe Online"!
Source: One Last Continue
Ahhh yeah! No hobo look for me!
Back at Gamescom, we were able to meet with Wes Yanagi of Sony Online Entertainment in order to take a look at the upcoming cross platform MMO DC Universe Online for PlayStation 3 and PC.DC Universe Online, Yanagi told us, was designed to be a fast-paced MMO experience from the very beginning of the development process, more in line with the action-style of God of War instead of World of Warcraft’s grind-heavy hotkey system. As he walked us through the character creation process, it was obvious that there’s a great amount of variation with which to customize your character; not only with regards to their appearance, but also how their powers manifest themselves in-game. When creating your avatar you have to select three variables to define your superhero characteristics in order to stand out from your fellow players.
- Power: This dictates, rather obviously, what type of superpower your hero will specialize in. Will your hero have super-strength like Doomsday, or will they be able to fire out rays of cosmic energy from his bare hands?
- Source: Where will your hero, or heroine, source their powers from? Could it be in the form of a ring like the Green Lantern, or a secret magical power conjured from the depths of Hell? That’s up to you to decide!
- Movement Power: This one’s fairly obvious. You can decide to fly like Superman, be athletic like Batman or run with superhuman speed like The Flash, among other options.
Another interesting feature with regards to your appearance comes in the form of dynamic co-ordination between your costume and the loot you acquire. When you collect a piece of equipment which would benefit your character; be it a new cowl, material or weapon, it’s automatically configured to match the rest of your outfit. The reasoning behind this, Yanagi tells us, is due to every character under level fifty in World of Warcraft having that ‘hobo’ look due to mismatching tunics and other equipped items. When you replace a piece of your costume with a newer acquisition, the older item is automatically stored in your lair, meaning at any point in the game, you can instantly relive what would essentially be your Golden or Silver Age if you so desire.
After you create your character, unique as they are in the DC Universe, you next need to choose your affiliation. If your personal aim is to one day become an honored member of the Justice League, you might shack up with the heroes. On the other hand, if your desires are more keyed towards personal gain and destruction, the Legion of Doom is probably better for you. Of course, you won’t start out as a member of one of these groups; instead, the higher you progress toward the level cap, the more superhero/villain co-op missions your respective agency will have you participate in. Basically, until you prove your worth to them as a credible asset, then it’s just going to be player factions for you.
The controls for the PlayStation 3 version can be mapped to either a DualShock 3, which was the demonstrated control method on hand here, or you can plug in a USB keyboard and mouse. This is a good feature, as there aren’t many titles on consoles that support the mouse/keyboard combination; not only that, but we were also informed the PC release will also have DualShock 3 support. It all sounds pretty impressive when you consider that it allows people to be able to play the way that feels most comfortable to them on either platform – if you’ve never played an MMO before, the Dual Shock option might be better, while more seasoned PC veterans might prefer to use the mouse/keyboard layout. For the DualShock layout, your abilities (like the aforementioned God of War) are mapped to the controller’s face buttons, with the L2 and R2 triggers switching between offensive and defensive layouts respectively. The currently selected mode, be it defensive or offensive, appears on your HUD at the bottom of the screen; this allows you to chain up your actions, switching back and forth between offensive and defensive actions, in order to kick some severe butt.
Missions take place either as a ‘case’ or ‘caper’ depending on your alignment, and the demonstration shown at Gamescom took place in S.T.A.R. Labs with the Joker and Harley Quinn giving the player character a mission to complete. It seemed that a virus of sorts had been unleashed during some form of experiment and ended up infecting the scientists who needed to be taken out as a result. As we watched Wes plow through enemy after enemy, it became clear that DCUO has certainly nailed the combat aspect for an adaptation of the DC Comics license. When Solomon Grundy, Lex Luthor and Bizarro turned up to help his player character take down a large mutant boss, it was certainly an interesting moment. The Joker then gave another mission to Wes; he was tasked to deliver the item to a specific drop off point in what’s known as a ‘FedEx’ mission. Delivery missions in most MMOs are relatively easy, but when Hal Jordan (the Green Lantern, for those of our readers who aren’t up with the current DC lingo) turns up to try and stop you, you know it’s not going to be a walk in the park. Needless to say, Mr. Luthor made short work of Hal and that was it for the end of the mission.
We knew going in that the game was still in the pre-alpha phase; despite this, the level of detail within the title was really quite impressive. If it weren’t for the fact that the game is clearly not finished, the visuals were looking good enough for it to even release tomorrow. Wrapping up our time with Yanagi, we had a couple more questions to ask him regarding DC Universe Online. Most importantly, we made sure to check in and see whether or not the title will be subscription-based or free to play like so many seem to be doing lately. In his response we were given a very strong impression that they are leaning towards the expansion-pack business model, as opposed to the traditional subscription fee although such matters hadn’t been solidified at that point over at Sony Online Entertainment. In another, albeit unsurprising, move the game will feature completely platform-open servers; this means the servers will be cross-compatible between the PS3 and PC versions, no matter where you play. Whilst this is all well and good, Yanagi neglected to further elaborate on the means through which the game will be making its money. Whether it ends up with a Free Realms-esque microtransaction service or a more Guild Wars-inspired system of free play supported by numerous paid expansions, we’ll do our best to keep you updated as time goes by.
APB beta "weeks not months away"
APB, the cops-and-robbers MMO by Crackdown creators Realtime Worlds, will go into closed beta testing within "weeks", a spokesman told Eurogamer at last weekend's Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.
"We're weeks rather than months away from starting closed beta," community officer Chris Collins told our Tom after showing him an extensive demo of, according to Tom, "slick" gameplay.
APB beta registration is open if you want to stand a chance of trying out some open-world multiplayer driving, shooting, thieving and customising.
APB is due for release on PC "early" next year, with console versions under consideration but unconfirmed for release (as is so often the case with MMOs). EA is handling publishing duties. The game won't require a subscription to play.
You can read more about it in our E3 preview - or wait a couple of days for Tom's full report on the PAX demo, including an unexpected dose of the hot Mark Rein action we know you all like so much.
Letter from Aion Producer Brian Knox on Open Beta
September 3, 2009 2:07 PMHello!
Welcome to the Open Beta Test for Aion in both Europe and North America.Below you will find a list of the major changes and additions to Aion since you last participated in our Closed Beta Test. We have done our best to provide a comprehensive list of changes. The Open Beta brings the game content up to the 1.5 patch that is available in Korea; the same updates that were made to the Korean live servers are being implemented here, as well. While there may be some differences when comparing the official NA/EU notes to fan site translations of Korea's official notes, the game content is the same.
Not only does Open Beta bring a number of game improvements and additions, you'll also notice that we had a major terminology overhaul to complete our effort of Westernizing the game. Many skills and items have changed since the Closed Beta Test and should be a welcome surprise as you explore the world.
While we feel the Open Beta version will provide a complete experience, we wanted to note that this is not our final update before launch. Our launch version is in internal testing, and it will continue to flesh out the 1.5 update with the help of your feedback and experiences in Open Beta.Please remember this is an Open Beta Test, and while our goal is to provide you with a flawless Aion experience, there are behind-the-scenes infrastructure tests happening to prepare for launch. One very important area that will affect everyone is that we will be balancing races as folks rush to log into the servers. As a result, you may get a "This race cannot be created" message because that server is starting to become unbalanced. It's important to us that we try and keep a balance of the races during the Open Beta of Aion. If you come across this message, please feel free to try another server or wait until the server balance has tipped back.
Another hot topic has been our Web site and whether we will be bringing over some of the services that Korea has provided to their community. The short answer is yes! Just like the PowerWiki, we will be bringing some of these services to our own site. We hope to begin rolling them out in the coming weeks.
Overall, we are very excited for Open Beta - it is a culmination of a lot of effort and the feedback of our community. For example, one of the most requested features during Closed Beta testing was a suggestion to use the left mouse button to change the camera. We also added more content both in the persistent game world and in instanced dungeons. You'll see this change and many others were added in this game update, including:1. New Areas: Theobomos (Elysea) and Brusthonin (Asmodae)
2. New Instances!
3. Over 40 new default faces have been added to character creation.
4. Increased PvPvE rewards
5. UI changes (click-to-move has been disabled by default)
6. New items!
7. New skills + increased balance
8. Tons of new quests.
9. Advanced Stigma Stone System
10. Chat Channels
a. Class
b. Region
c. Looking For Group
d. LanguagesFind a full list of patch notes here.
With this update there is a lot of great content and a very fun world to explore, and we hope that during Open Beta you will experience the magic that is Aion.
Open Beta starts 9 a.m. PDT (5 p.m. BST, 6 p.m. CEST) on Sunday, September 6th.
Brian Knox
Producer, Aion
Sass: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19717481652&sid=1&pageNo=1
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Herky jerky, but still sekasi!
WOWOWWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWWOWOWOW.
Soooo hot. SO FUCKIN' HOT. I cannot wait for this.
Open beta client now available for download!
August 27, 2009 4:56 PMFollowing our recent announcement regarding the commencement of Aion's open beta, we have taken steps to ensure a smooth setup and preparation process for all participants. While our Launcher will incrementally update your client, the new and patched Aion open beta client has been distributed to a select few partners around the web to prepare for our open beta test. To get your hands on it, you may visit FilePlanet or download it from GamersHell (available later this week).
We have also added a new option that the Aion community has long anticipated: downloading the full open beta client via our BitTorrent tracker (md5 checksum). We have even arranged for a torrent patch for those of you who already have the closed beta client installed but want to get prepared for open beta!
As added extra spice, FilePlanet will--in addition to distributing the client--be giving away a load of open beta keys starting on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. Get on the starting line if you do not have an eligible Aion account already! Eligible accounts include any previous closed beta participants and those who have preordered or prepurchased Aion.
Remember to update your Aion game password if your Aion account was created prior to July 29, 2009.
Aion's Open Beta, Pre-Select and Headstart Programs
August 27, 2009 8:56 AMWithin the next four weeks, we will treat European and North American gamers to two opportunities to jump into the world of Aion and explore Atreia as Asmodian or Elyos characters ahead of its release in Europe on 25nd September and North America 22th September. Aion's Open Beta Test featuring version 1.5 will take place 6-13th September and will include numerous Western enhancements, including improvements to Aion's innovative character customization with a host of Western styles, as well as new zones, instances, skills, quests and continued game balancing and improvements. Open Beta will retain a level cap for both Elyos and Asmodians characters at 30 allowing players to focus on getting to the same level so they can explore the lands of Atreia together, as well as the Abyss.
Players who have pre-ordered Aion will be treated to a Pre-Select and a two-day Headstart period giving them the opportunity to explore, organize and progress through the game prior to the official launch. Pre-Select will take place on 18th September, while Aion's Headstart will begin 20th September. Players can still participate in the Aion's Pre-Select and Headstart programs by pre-ordering the game through several participating online and brick-and-mortar retailers.
Saus: http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/content/view/380/1/
MWLL Weekly Update XX - August 09/03
MWLL news Written by AoP Sunday, 23 August 2009 Welcome to the 20th Weekly Update by the team of MechWarrior: Living Legends, a Crysis total conversion modification, which covers the activities of the third week of August of 2009.
This week's update features more texture work on the Clans' war machinery: the Mad Cat MKII has received its textures. In addition, we're presenting to you some of those things that will make MWLL Maps appear to be populated and fill them with life - some of the new level assets. As usual, several screenshots from the weekly playtest conclude this update.
Textures done: Mad Cat MKII
Last week, you've seen the Clans' Mad Cat/Timberwolf and Vulture at this place. This week, we've got the Timberwolf's bigger brother for you: the Mad Cat MKII in all its shiny new glory.
New level assets
Filling huge maps like those you'll find in MWLL is not an easy job. Level assets certainly have their fair share in creating a map's atmosphere. New ones are being added constantly and the two screenshots below show some of the most recent additions. Also, don't let the shots confuse you: they're being shown on SA_Extremity, but there's good chance you might encounter some of these on other maps, too.
Playtest Impressions
Again, here are a few pictures from this week's playtest.
I keep checking back at MekTek, but it seems that they're still working on upgrading their servers in anticipation of the traffic they expect to receive when they finally do put up MW4 for free. Here's the latest (kinda' old still) news about the process:
Mechwarrior4 FREE Release UpdateSo, let us continue to be patient, and if you want, go donate!
Posted by Vam, Saturday, 15 August 2009 06:57 Comments(0), Read all Well folks its certainly time for an update regarding the the FREE release of Mechwarrior4 recently announced. I figured it would be worth mentioning considering this is the weekend of GENCON 2009 where all of the major players in the Mechwarrior and BattleTech world are expected to converge on Indianapolis this weekend. We have been receiving a wealth of requests for information regarding this release from gamers both young and old. As a game fan community development site such as MekTek, receiving such honor to release a million dollar product developed by Microsoft may be one thing but delivering on this release successfully is another. Currently, MekTek is working around the clock on pretty much everything in preparation for this free release. There will be a second media blitz when the release is ready as both MekTek and the release partners want to ensure the word travels far and wide regarding the official release. Also expect to see more info regarding partner developments around this time on BattleTech.com.
The reason we did not re-package the ISOs of Mechwarrior4 and release the game as is right after the release of the announcement is because we simply were not prepared. The news and announcement of the FREE release happened very quickly and was dropped in our lap almost as quickly as it was dropped in yours. Since the announcement, we have been diligently preparing for the release of Mechwarrior4 which has all of the digital protection mechanisms removed. Along with this development we have also been working on our MekMatch software. For those of you not familiar, MekMatch is a reverse engineered protocol developed for match making services in Mechwarrior4 by MekTek. This service was developed after Microsoft terminated the Zonematch service which officially supported Mechwarrior4 multiplayer. Our MekMatch software needed a serious overhaul to handle the amount of traffic we expect on our servers when the game is released. MekTek also plans to include MekPak3.1 with the free release of Mechwarrior4 which includes an additional 100+ new battlemechs, dozens of new weapons, maps, and other content developed by MekTek. The distribution will come as a single file self-installable which will be initially downloadable via torrent trackers and later provided in multi part volumes, ISO. Finally, MekTek is also releasing a new application which has been in development since this announcement which provides the community with the latest patches and software from MekTek. This software will greatly simplify the patching process of Mechwarrior4 and allow MekTek to push updates, such as our MekPak4, to the Mechwarrior4 community much easier than in the past.
The unfortunate aspect of all this great news is that all of these new developments could have been ironed out before the announcement but they were not. Our partners felt an initial announcement was necessary and so did we. We plan to release Mechwarrior4 for FREE when developments are completed and considered stable. We are also waiting on legal paper work from lawyers and as anyone out there that has worked in the professional industry knows, something of this magnitude takes time on all fronts. MekTek is not receiving any financial support from the partners regarding this release and obviously no one can quit their daytime job to get the job done faster either. The release has entered beta status and will be delivered to the world very shortly. MekTek is supported through donations from our community and thus far we have received 50% of our goal to cover server infrastructure costs. We hope the community will continue to support us during this very busy time to ensure we have the best possible hardware in place for this release.
Thanks for supporting us folks, while we work hard on something new and shiny, for everyone, for FREE!
http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/news/20090821_310015.html
Some images of note:
The Tailor (that you transform into a la JEM, but equipping a Sewing Kit.)
And my fave, the Sabotender (though, this one isn't as cute as the old ones):
After reading all those Famitsu articles drooling over the leaked gameplay footage, I'm really really looking forward to getting my hands on FFXIV. I plan on dropping everything--and I mean everything--to play it, and yes, I'll even sacrifice my little Elvaan WHM for the cause.
Ahhh, here's to rumours of the OB taking place in September being true!
Saus: ZAM
As Hiromichi Tanaka, producer of Final Fantasy XIV, hacked his way through a demonstration of a "Puk Extermination" Guildleve quest, Famitsu flanked him with some questions about their presentation and what it says about the state of the upcoming MMO.
Read on to see the full story and discuss it in the ZAM forums.
In the gameplay videos, we saw some people fighting dodos and others fighting puks. It turns out that the full scope of the quest requires one to defeat dodos until puks appear. Tanaka states that this is just one of the many ways they will incorporate puzzle-solving elements into Guildleve quests. Also, while there may be an expansive area to explore, later builds of the game will display your targets on the map, so finding those puks that need exterminating will be much easier. As an alpha version, the demo at Gamescom did not include this feature yet.
When the interviewer remarked on how beautiful the graphics were, Tanaka took the opportunity to give some hints about how powerful they will become. It turns out the background scenery was heavily compressed for the demo, and will be greatly improved to the point where individual trees will be rendered far into the distance.
At this point, Tanaka begins attacking some dodos and moves on to discuss the battle system. In Final Fantasy XI, the player would select the attack command and enter an Auto-Attack mode. To spice up the flow of battle, Final Fantasy XIV will require players to select commands each time they attack, and the combination of commands they choose will determine the technique they use. This will put all new emphasis on strategy and keep players engaged in battle.
Action Commands, as Tanaka calls them, are lined up along the bottom of the screen as icons. Those who are grumbling about a passing resemblance to World of Warcraft will be happy to know the layout is tentative and certainly subject to change. The current setup has players selecting an ability from the from the bottom which then appears as a command in your gauge. There are two gauges - one for the left hand and one for the right hand. For example, the character that Tanaka was controlling had a shield in his left hand, so the left-handed gauge had shield commands registered to it.
To activate an ability, the player needs to store up their "Action Gauge." The strength and accuracy of a technique can be further increased by storing up the "Power Gauge." The "TP Gauge" also makes a return, which when full will alter the effects of your technique in a variety of ways. The TP gauge will increase when the player attacks or is attacked by an enemy. During this explanation, Tanaka unleashes Red Lotus Blade with a grin, much to the delight of the interviewer, who immediately recognizes the sword technique.
Magic will be used the same way - through Action Commands - but will only be available if you are equipped with a weapon that allows their use. Swords give sword-based abilities and staves will give magic-based abilities. Also, there are skills that cannot be used until you have acquired enough skill in a particular weapon. In total, you can line up 10 commands in the bar of icons along the bottom. However, in future versions Tanaka states they intend to include a macro system, so players can customize and combine their favorite abilities to their liking.
Another bit of customization, to which players are responding positively, is the ability to drag-and-drop the various info boxes around the screen. There are default positions for each piece of the UI, such as Action Commands, player status, chat box and party status. These will all be movable, and the chat log will be fully adjustable as well. The camera position will have options as well, although the main position will be an over-the-should third person perspective. Tanaka expects there to be three different camera angle to choose from in the final version.
When asked why they decided to go with this battle system, Tanaka explained that first and foremost they wanted to get players more active in battle, which the auto-attack system discouraged. Final Fantasy XI focused on each job having a clear role, with players designing parties around combining those roles. However, in Final Fantasy XIV, they wanted to develop a system where players could easily enjoy the game alone, with a friend, with three people or more. The system is built around the concept of meeting each player's own playstyle.
Tucked in next to the Action Commands, the interviewer noticed a smiley face, which Tanaka revealed was a set of emoticons. In Final Fantasy XI, players were limited to creating emotes through text, but Final Fantasy XIV will provide a set of graphical smileys for users to express themselves. In addition, there are the motions that we all saw displayed in the video at Gamescom. According to Tanaka, these were created through the use of motion-capture technology. However, capturing facial expressions proved too difficult, so the developers ended up designing those manually. Unfortunately, players cannot use full-body emotes during battle at this stage.
At this point, Tanaka finishes up his quest and warps back to the starting point of the Guildleve and moves towards the Aetheryte. Although prevalent in the demo, transportation via Aetheryte will not be so common in the actual game. The majority of their use will be involved with the Guildleve system, as players need to travel to the site of the quest and back again. However, like the user interface, a lot can change before the final game is complete. Tanaka says the game is likely only 40-50% complete at this stage, and the demo cut out basically any elements that were not essential to displaying the Guildleve system. The main focus of the presentation at Gamescom was to show players how Guildleve worked, and how it delivered quests that were enjoyable and light on time. However, this is not to say things will be all fun and games. While the quests shown to players took only 15 minutes of their time, there will many more quests with varying levels of difficulty and time requirements. In addition, there will be hordes of other monsters roaming the countryside that will be sure to make completing your intended task a little trickier.
Tanaka admits that showing off an incomplete game can draw criticism from disappointed players, but he hopes that others may show praise for how far Final Fantasy XIV has come. Currently, the most advanced portion of the game is the graphics, so there are many areas that many completely change before the release date. The idea is that Square Enix will showcase new portions of the game as they continue development, allowing players to experience individual content before a complete beta is put together. While in Germany this meant a playable demo at Gamescom, there may be a playable version that users sign up to try out in Japan, more like, as Tanaka put it, a giant focus group. Players will be added gradually, and once the game is polished enough, and there is a solid base of users, they will initiate an open beta.
Whatever the shape it will take, Tanaka uses his closing words to assure fans everywhere that everyone will get a chance to play a demo of the game, saying, "The fruits of our labor are finally coming to bear, and the development team is working hard to get the game ready. We're planning to let everyone get a shot at a playable version like we have done here in Germany, so please look forward to it."
Source: Famitsu
Since I'll NEVAH defect, it was kinda' cool to watch. Can't wait to kill them on my Goblin Priest.
Just a little something to whet your appetizzles! (I didn't' see no sexy Hutts though.)
Part 1: (Cinematic Dialogue & Bounty Hunter)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbQT8Jdc_RA
Part 2: (Smuggler & Sith Warrior)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRETcv6NUnE
Part 3: (Flash Points & The Choices You Make)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQhBdMGFDOw
Part 4: (Team Work & Lewtz!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h0EWkMtyQs
Someone come mop up my slobber!
And you can check it out at FilePlanet:
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/champions-online/beta/?_cmpid=fp191
See for yourself if the game is truly innovative, or simply City of Champions!
