Lord of the Rings trailer of the Mines of Moria Waterworks.
Monthly Archives: November 2008
World of Warcraft: Wrath Of The Lich King Midnight Store Openings
Blizzard Entertainment announces midnight store openings across Europe for the launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today a series of European events for the upcoming launch of Wrath of the Lich King, the latest expansion to its highly acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), World of Warcraft. At midnight on the 13th of November, 2008, key retailers will open their doors to players wanting to be the first to purchase and play the next installment in the World of Warcraft series.
“We’ve been looking forward to these launch events all year,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “This is one of the few opportunities we get to meet with players in person, and we can’t wait to celebrate the release of Wrath of the Lich King with them.”
Here in the UK, the launch event will take place at HMV in London at 150 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1DJ, with doors opening at 00:01 on the night of the 12th/13th. As well as being among the first to acquire the expansion, attendees will have an opportunity to meet with COO Paul Sams and associate producer Lee Sparks, who will be present to welcome players and sign their copies. Similar launch events will be held internationally in North America, Taipei, and Seoul. Full details on the specific locations and plans for each of these events can be found at www.wow-europe.com/midnight.
Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the standard edition of the game as well as the limited Collector’s Edition, which contains The Art of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King hardback book; Frosty, an exclusive in-game frost wyrm pet; a behind-the-scenes DVD; the official soundtrack containing 21 tracks; an exclusive mouse pad displaying a map of the newly opened continent of Northrend; and two World of Warcraft Trading Card Game starter decks with two exclusive cards available only in the Collector’s Edition.
For those unable to attend the official launch events, hundreds of stores across Europe will open at midnight to celebrate the launch. Players should check with local retailers for their midnight opening plans.
The January 2007 launch of the first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, saw thousands of players attend the European midnight opening events. The Burning Crusade went on to sell nearly 2.4 million copies worldwide within its first 24 hours of availability, and approximately 3.5 million within its first month.
With more than 11 million players worldwide, World of Warcraft has become the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game to date. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King sends players to the cold, forbidding continent of Northrend, where the fearsome Lich King Arthas Menethil, last seen in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, works from his secluded citadel to bring all of Azeroth under his twisted dominion. Players will battle the Lich King’s undead army from the shores of Howling Fjord and Borean Tundra to the seat of his unholy power in Icecrown Glacier. In addition, players will be able to advance characters to level 80 and gain powerful new abilities while exploring several new zones and dungeons. The expansion also introduces a number of exciting new features, including an achievement system, expanded player-vs.-player combat options such as siege weapons and destructible buildings, and the game’s first Hero class — the necromantic death knight.
Tabula Rasa: feedback friday: 10/31/2008
First, what is better than blasting some Bane with your trusty shotty? How about blasting some Bane with your trusty shotty in a first person view? With a FPS view, you can finally get all up-close and personal with your favorite lobster. Just wear your bib because things get pretty messy.
Ever wonder why you couldn’t use scopes? I wondered the same thing. Say goodbye to click zooming into over the shoulder cameras. Weapon scopes are on the way! Blast Bane from the comfort of your hiding spot with increased zooming and visibility. Try to click zoom other weapons like the Series 3 rocket launcher. It’s fun, but maybe not so much for the guy you are aiming at.
There is nothing better than walking around in a hulking mass of metal and firepower. That is, unless you are sitting in the cockpit of one. Yes, that is right! Click zoom yourself into a cockpit of walking death and lay waste to your foes. Try not to step on your squad. (No screen shots yet, though. Ed).
We all hope that these upcoming changes make TR more fun and immersive for you. Now go crack some skulls and bring me more candy!
“Atta” Glance
* New camera system
* FPS mode
* Weapon scopes
* Mech cockpit view
* Increased camera distance from character (some love to the support classes)
Darkfall: October 31st Update Part 2
Ok now for the Darkfall community update:
As you know weve been conducting the first phases of the Darkfall beta, specifically the hardware configuration testing. This is where we test that Darkfall runs on most hardware configurations without problems, and we also test the absolute basics. Weve been putting the testers through the motions: they download the client, log in, patch, create a character, enter the game and run around long enough to make sure that theyre not experiencing any weirdness and that everything is running smoothly. All this needs to be done so that in the next phases of testing a greater number of testers wont experience any problems with the basics and so they can focus on other important testing. These have turned out to be very productive and useful testing phases. During this time weve addressed various hardware compatibility problems, compatibility issues with programs running simultaneously with Darkfall, we identified and corrected some patcher issues, some login server problems, and various small issues around the game world. At the same time, its business as usual with our internal testing.
Let me give you an idea of whats been happening during these first testing phases: Right now, the entire Darkfall world is up on its servers. Its being kept up most of the time. Weve been running a methodical and functional testing environment. We started the hardware testing with the minimum of options enabled. Since then weve been enabling and disabling features needed to be tested. This is done so that we have the minimum noise in case something happens on the server side and we need to isolate it. Weve been wiping characters as often as once a day, usually within 2-3 days. This is because were not testing character development yet, and weve been making some optimizations in the way that things are stored. Weve been enabling features gradually and were to the point where most are enabled. Some of the things we still have deactivated are mobs outside the starting areas, most of the dungeons, most of the clan city building locations. Another thing worth mentioning is that during testing, testers have options and tools available to them that they wont have during the retail stage of Darkfall.
Our goal during this testing phase is that the important things work perfectly as we move all the way down to the polish during the subsequent testing phases. The game had always been in a state to be run in its entirety, but this would have been a huge waste of resources and would have hindered this early testing. This is where Darkfall differs from other MMOs. We could have easilly had it running full featured if this was a railroad game, but its not. Darkfall is a sandbox game and there are infinite paths that players can follow. This is not some quest driven game where you could go through the motions quest after quest until youre ready to actually play a few months down the road. You actually play Darkfall from day one. So as you understand, theres no single path of testing. Player behavior in Darkfall varies wildly and we need to try and predict all eventualities.
This is what has been happening until today. The reason were mentioning all this is to familiarize those of you who arent in the beta already with our testing philosophy, and to catch the community up with whats been going on.
Moving along, and were about two weeks behind schedule announcing this, but were going to start opening up the beta to more and more testers on or around November 10th to coincide with the next phases of our server deployment. We will be enabling a lot of the features we currently have disabled as needed and dictated by our testing needs. Again I must stress that this beta periods purpose is for us to get Darkfall ready for release so weve been operating under strict directives. Having said that, I cant help mentioning, that even in this current stage of testing, the game is a lot of fun and we hope to see all of you enjoying it while helping us test during these next phases.
Thanks for reading
Source: Official Darkfall forum.
Angels Online: New Expansion City OverviewÂPalm Base
Located to the northwest of Eden, there is a large blue sea where Angels begin their adventure in the Lost Atlantis. The Lost Atlantis offers players 13 distinct, charming field scenes. After players get to know more about the new expansion, they will find more attractive underwater scenes.
Today, the Angels Online team from IGG has been kind enough to take some time to give a brief introduction about the new city Palm Base.
Palm Base Overview
Located in the middle of the southern part of Puqi Island, it is a new base surrounded by oceans and islands. Coco trees are lush and green here. The blue coastline extends to the boundary of Puqi Island. Some shells are scattered along the beach and shine in the warm sunlight. They look like stars in the sky. Players can also find some giant crabs and Color Whelks near the coast.
Built by excellent scientists from the Iron Castle, the base is outstanding because of its defense and attack abilities. It is divided into 5 parts, including four special parts for the four factions around the base and a part for commerce and sightseeing in the middle. The northern area for the Shadow faction is evil and imposing. The eastern one for the Steel faction is impressive due to its defensive abilities and high-tech feel. The southern one for the Breeze faction flourishes with a sense of vitality everywhere. Respectable knights go the rounds in the western area for the Aurora faction.
In the middle of the base, there are four faction totems and officers from the Holy Battlefield. Many Angels come from a great distances to gather here and prepare for their underwater exploration.
As one of the most important maps in the new expansion, Palm Base is a transfer station which symbolizes the harmonious blend of the four factions. Players can find a Trainer, Repairman, Pet Master, Healing Seller and other NPCs in the base. Whats more, players can accept primary quests from their factions NPCs.
To see the pictures of the new Base and surroundings, please visit the Angels Online Screenshot Gallery.
7Million: Deep Silver releases new details about 7Million
Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, published new background information on their free to play urban MMO 7Million. The latest addition to the official website will provide a closer look into one of the three factions controlling Paradise City and introduce some of the movers and shakers players may meet.
Paradise City, a bustling metropolis where our story unfolds, is controlled by three major factions that have divvied up the city’s many districts amongst them. The first faction to be presented is the Cúram, a clandestine brotherhood dating back to the time when the city was founded. Known for never letting the truth get in the way of telling a good tale this group of fierce individualists is shrouded in countless legends some of which are actually true! The website portrait provides information on the philosophy, structure, and status of the Cúram, as well as presenting some of their members. Details about the other two major factions in Paradise City will follow soon.
7Million is a free massively multiplayer online game, set in a modern world full of life, glamour, and spectacular heists. The freely explorable setting of Paradise City serves as a background for numerous thrilling missions, and as a meeting point for gamers from all over the world who meet and team up here with their individually created characters.
RuneScape PVP Review
by Michael Justice, Onrpg Writer
Runescape is pretty much an obligatory game for anyone venturing the MMORPG universe. There are plenty of people who have started from Runescape and then expanded their horizons to many other MMORPGs. Those people, however, usually never come back as they compare their current MMORPG to Runescape and laugh at how simple or basic it used to be. One thing many people fail to realize is that Runescape ages wonderfully. The Jagex team is constantly working to bring their players new and exciting updates and new players are always joining. This means that if you leave for three years and come back, you’re going to be overwhelmed at how much they have added, as well as how much the community has changed. My position was just that; a Runescape veteran coming back after an immense amount of time to find that the game has been completely renovated. That 5.80 dollars I payed for certainly took me for a ride to the past.
PvP
In the olden days of Runescape, there were times when I used to chat over the phone with my friend as we ganged up on people and such. Well apparently, all of that has changed. Runescape’s PvP system has changed greatly over the years in more ways than one. While that may be true, it is merely all in the past, and I am sure people are wondering about the current state of Runescape PvP. Well fear not, for I have spent a great amount of time exploring the newfound PvP system.
Firstly, the old wilderness system still remains with some minor changes. These are oh-so slight and such, like having to cross a Wilderness ditch. Combat levels still apply somewhat, however, you will quickly come to find that it is completely devoid of life. Perhaps there were some brave souls that actually did still PvP in the wilderness before the latest PvP update, however, as far as I could see, it was empty. Instead, everyone is now playing on the PvP worlds which is the latest and greatest PvP update that Jagex could come up with, in my opinion.
PvP worlds incorporate a system of free-roaming PvP in nearly all of the Runescape world. There are of course, hotspots where plenty of people hang out, such as Lumbridge. Then there is the possibility you could run into anyone at any time in the world and have a fight to the death! Combat level restrictions do apply in PvP worlds, however, so the level 130’s don’t gang up on the level 24s. The PvP world drop system includes many factors. You can acquire items that help you through future battles if you kill a player, such as food, potions and such. The rate at which these drop as well as the quality of the item increase as you stay alive longer or kill more people. There is also an item value system which incorporates the value of the items you have on hand and puts it at risk to increase the drop rate and quality rate. In short, it is like playing a game of poker with your account, only you’re slashing swords instead of drawing cards.
From what I can gather, the community seems to be somewhat pleased with the latest update. They used to be angry at Jagex for changing their beloved PvP system so much, however, the PvP world addition has given them the strength to forgive Jagex somewhat. My experiences with the Runescape community were not so pleasant, as expected. I did run in to a couple of very old friends which gave me a bit of hope, yet it was very hard to make new friends for… obvious reasons. I did meet some nice fellows with which we participated in the slaughtering of countless people over and over again, which was extremely invigorating. It reminded me of the good old days of Runescape, back when everyone wore adamant armor and wore rune longswords.
Other features
By now, if you’re still reading this review, I have hopefully taken you into a nostalgia whirlwind. Runescape was great, and it still is, however, if you are going to reactivate your member’s account there’s probably some stuff you should know so you aren’t blindsided by all of the new things you’ll see.
Many new skills have been added since you’ve probably been on last. Perhaps 5-10 depending on how long you’ve been gone. I know it took me 8 hours to barely unlock these skills or get started on them. Runescape’s skill system is what basically creates the game, you won’t want to miss out on the new ones if you’re going to join. I would take a couple of hours just to explore them for a bit, maybe skill up the ones you take a liking to. My favorite has personally been the new Summoning they have just added. It was always a dream of mine for Runescape to have summoning.
Various other things have been added besides skills. Obviously, the first thing you will notice is the new HD version they have. I can not express my surprise enough at how they can create these amazing visuals in a browser-based game. Other things you might notice are things like the new Event description on the server selection. Some servers are dedicated for events such as Tournaments at the Duel Arena and such. There is also another great feature which is called the Great Exchange which has greatly increased Runescape’s economy. It is similar to an auction house of sorts, I’ll just leave it at that.
There is just too much else to explain. This entire review is focused on PvP, however, PvP is simply one element of Runescape, there is an entire other world out there waiting for people to explore it.
Summary
Runescape has become more advanced yet again. Their latest update which includes world-wide PvP has only bolstered Runescape’s frame. I believe Runescape will continue to grow and become a safehouse to people looking to get into the MMORPG world. If you used to play Runescape as a member or such, I would go ahead and reactivate and if you never were a member, I would go ahead and become one, just to explore the rest of Runescape, because you sure missed out on a lot back then. The main thing, though, is that you should just go back to Runescape simply to check up on things. It’s good to go back and reminisce. It sounds a bit cheesy, but I treasure the time I spend catching up on old MMORPGs. It’s great to have some memories and it is just as great if not better to make new ones.
Final Fantasy XI Review
By Mary Garcia, Onrpg Writer
Final Fantasy XI is Square-Enixs first title in the MMORPG market. First released in 2002, the game has since been released to North America on Windows (October, 2003), Playstation 2 console (March, 2004), and Xbox 360 (April, 2006). European releases followed, with languages in English, French, and German. As of 2008, four expansions have been released. Square-Enixs latest feature is the chance to try the game free for 14 days, no credit card required. Early September some major improvements in gameplay were released, reinventing several features which allow for great new experiences.
Improved Gameplay:
New subscribers have the chance to choose between five races; Hume, Elvaan, Tarutaru, Galka (male only), and Mithra (female only). Once a race has been selected, players can choose from six initial jobs; Warrior, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage. The player then gets to choose which nation to reside in; The Republic of Bastok, The Kingdom of San DOria, or The Federation of Windurst.
At first, the controls and menus may seem confusing and can take some figuring out. Fortunately, for the PC client, the game has gamepad support, which can be configured in the Final Fantasy XI settings. Users also have the options of changing their keyboard layouts between numeric and compact (the latter being for keyboards without numeric pads, usually laptops).
With four expansions released to date, a new player may feel there is a lot of catching up to do. Fortunately, the development team has since adjusted several gameplay elements to help new players. Characters can now seek a tutorial non-playable character in any of the three nations to obtain helpful information. With the tutorial NPCs advice, adventurers can learn to navigate the towns, use the auction houses, and perform special weapon skills in battle.
Possibly the greatest addition from the development team is the Level Sync feature. New players and old players alike can now enjoy adventuring and leveling together regardless of their level difference. With this new feature, a level 75 character can now have his level synced to his level 15 buddy. In addition to this feature, equipment scaling was also introduced. Instead of being unable to equip armor in a level restricted setting, players will now have their equipment scaled down proportionately to their synced level. The equipment scaling also takes effect in level restricted areas (such as the Promyvions and PsoXja from the Chains of Promathia expansion). With these major features, new players will have an easier and more enjoyable time in the world of Vanadiel.
Graphics and Sound:
For the seasoned MMORPGer, the graphics in Final Fantasy XI may feel lacking, especially when compared with newer games. For a six year old game, however, the overall look is pleasing. PC and Xbox 360 users get a nice, clean, crisp look. PlayStation 2, unfortunately, is the weakest of the platforms. Some users may experience color bleeding depending on their TVs or cables. The text in the menus and chat logs may also seem too blurry. In certain brightly lit areas, the color will display too brightly.
The music in Final Fantasy XI is excellent. Except for a few scores which can become annoying after listening to them repeatedly, the music gets the right mood going. Epic battles become more engaging, and sad storyline cut-scenes become more emotional. For those that are uninterested in the games music, it can be turned off in the configuration.
Personal Recommendation:
Although Final Fantasy XI is almost into its seventh year, it is still enjoying much success. With the 14-day trial download now available, this title is definitely worth trying out.
Pros:
Level Sync feature and tutorial NPCs make starting out easier
Gamepad support
Windowed mode
Cons:
Controls & Menus may seem overwhelming at first
PlayStation 2 client may be difficult to obtain
Some music tracks repetetive