Yearly Archives: 2008

Beyond Protocol Back Story 2

Done already eh? So, what’d you think about Schaeffer and his “we are not alone” theory? I bet they never mentioned that at the academy! There’s never been any evidence to prove it one way or the other, and considering how much has happened since then, I doubt there ever will be. That is, unless we suddenly spot some little green men screaming, we did it! Anyways, here’s the second one. When I said I needed to dig these out, I wasn’t kiddin. Still haven’t found the rest… Sure I could have you read the digital versions, but those things’ve been copied, erased, recovered, translated and retranslated so many times, I don’t trust em. Hard copies may be a dying art form, but I think real pages add to that “connection” the elders are looking for. Enjoy…

Excerpts from the personal log of Captain Halidaes Jones

October 29th, 362 TE
We have about 49 hours before we reach orbit above this planet we are all eager to call our new home. I find I’m reliving many old memories. Some lost in time, some suppressed, and others torn away by the struggles of life in space. Now, with the possibility of life on solid ground, to see things I have only dreamed about, like oceans and sunsets, it is as if my life until now has only been a pretense to this moment. Even something as simple as writing the date conjures memories, memories of my childhood and my great grandfather.

I couldn’t have been much more than a 6 year old twig of a girl sitting beside her oldest living relative. I called him “greatpa” but everyone else called him “Admiral.” I didn’t know until much later what that meant. He was a stout and silent man, but it seemed as though his eyes could see beyond the stars, and know what was waiting for us out there. I had just learned about the calendar and how to write the date, my teacher told me that “TE” had been decided on generations ago. So I asked the Admiral what it meant. He told me about what had happened to earth, and how those that could, left, and then humanity was scattered to space. There was some kind of meeting on Neptune about a new calendar, and he sat in as a cadet. They coined the phrase “Terra Exeunt”, loosely meaning “when they left earth” but decided to keep the old monthly calendar as a reminder. I couldn’t fathom all that he told me, the magnitude, the tragedy and the need to be press on, but looking at it from a distance, this new world; somehow it feels as though we’re putting an end to the past and carving a new future.

November 1st, 362 TE
We have finally landed! Here we are on this beautiful and untouched planet. I couldn’t help but be completely awestruck as the first few colonial buildings went up. Hours later, the construction and expeditionary teams were bathed in a gorgeous sunset over an enormous blue ocean, the likes of which, not even my dreams could rival. The reaction seemed to be the same for all that saw it. Many of us are the fifth generation of our family on that ship, putting us seven or eight generations from the survivors of earth. I don’t think that any of us believed our elders stories of earth, and I don’t think we could have!

There are, as was expected, some who refuse to leave the ship for now, but I don’t think their loved ones will allow them to play the recluse for much longer. We have months of long range data, but after only two days on this planet, I feel like I’ve experienced an entirely new life, separate from the cold generational ship that brought me here. Most will want to share this experience with their whole family. Maybe it’s just because I’m the Captain, but I feel like all of the five thousand plus souls on board that ship are my family, and once the surveys and expeditionary teams are done, I’ll make every effort to get everyone off of that dark and cramped ship!

February 10th, 363 TE
Colonization of the planet we now call Avoid is going well. I can’t believe that name stuck… I used it once offhandedly and nearly a month later, they were holding general elections to make that the official name of the system. When I brought it up, it was something corny like “we came here to avoid the clutches of the void.” Eric Furrows, my second in command, told me how lyric it was because apparently “a-something” can mean “not-something”, like “asymmetric”, so, this planet is “not a void”, it’s an “Avoid”… At the time I wasn’t in the mood for an English lesson, but apparently it was not wasted on the populous.

February 16th, 363 TE
Today was a great day! We finally completed and fired up the planet wide hyperband monitoring system, a technology created on Neptune to help communicate across the stars. It uses some kind of inverse tachyon beam to communicate at greater distances, and with less lag than normal light. Kathy Duncan, my technical advisor has tried to explain it several times, along with the reasons we couldn’t use it in space… Twittering on with jargon… I just don’t care as long as it finally works! When we turned it on we were picking up transmissions from all around the celestial neighborhood: Cursa, Dremsho and Grumium are just three off of the top of my head that we were able to communicate with. It looks like the other colonial ships were a success as well! Once again humanity is out of the shadows and populating the Galaxy!

May 27th, 363 TE
I suppose I’ve been too excited to notice it until now, but apparently for the past few months, there have been rumors flying about Pluto. It’s common knowledge that it left orbit centuries ago, but what I haven’t heard until recently is that the astronomers and scientists say it’s not where it should be, based on all of the data collected after The Nova. Chatter on the hyperbands and local news stations tend to be variations of three scenarios. Some say the tiny planet was completely destroyed somehow. I’ve heard: by a comet, another planet, or the inhabitants. Others say that it went too far into deep space for any of our instruments to pick it up, but that’s a lackluster story that I only get from the scientists and skeptics. And last, my favorite version, some say it’s now a giant ship, technologically superior to the rest of humanity, but whether it’s a paradise, or a slave colony is up to the story teller. As far as I’m concerned, these are all just unfounded rumors and I’m just hoping for peace and unity for the time being!

-Halidaes Jones, 301 – 406 TE

Global MU Online: Halloween

All Mutizens can enjoy these ghoulish events:

Invasion of the Nibelungs: This Halloween, the dead will surface on the continent of MU and will march across the land reeking havoc. These dead warriors, the Nibelungs, carry unimaginable amounts of treasure and will bleed weapons, armor, Moonstone pendants, rings, jewels and more when you hit them hard enough!

: MUAhAHAHAhahahaha… A ghoulish 5XP event starts on October 28th – November 4th. This is the perfect opportunity for existing MUtizens to level up and create the deadliest character to roam the continent of MU. New players are welcome in on the action also.

Red Stone: Halloween

October 31st
Halloween event: GMs will scatter gifts throughout the world

Halloween Celebration: On October 31st all Prandelians can score in-game candy in honor of Halloween and a three hour portal item that will increase their drop rate if they pick up the right treat! Join the ghoulish fun on October 31st and your treat may be a rare drop item!

Sword of the New World: Halloween

Spooky Halloween Quest: Join the Land of the Dead from October 28th – November 4th and embark on a spooky Halloween quest! Befriend a ghost and slay pumpkins to earn chilling rewards.

Semana De Los Muertos: Fight off evil ghosts and demons who are trying to take over the New World from October 28th – November 5th. Players can enter various portals in different parts of the New World and defend their families against these undead villains.

War Rock: Halloween

Halloween sale, until 11/3: players will be able to purchase several items in the GamersFirst marketplace for 50% off. Premium discounts will still apply on top of the half off sale price.
Sale items: G36, Famas, AI_AW, PSG, P90, MP5K, Winchester, TMP9, MP7, Medic Box (PX), and Super Master (PX) items in the Marketplace.

Bloc map “Halloween Bloc”
For the holiday this map has been changed into a night map. There will be skeletons, spiders and floating ghost pumpkins. (Until Nov 6th)

Warhammer Online: Things that go Bump in the Night

The darkness draws in on the most feared night of the year.

Witching Night approaches and all across the Old World, evil creatures awake to wreak mayhem. The twin moons bathe the land in pale light as this is the only time all year when they are both waxing full. The brave – or the foolhardy – hunt the twisted abominations that are called by the celestial confluence but will you be hunter or hunted?

From October 30th until the 3rd November, you will be able to take part in the deadly festivities of Witching Night. Fight in special Public Quests, unlock new rewards and look out for power hidden in dark places.

Fly For Fun: Halloween Event

Halloween is traditionally favorable to the most macabre tricks, and monsters are likely to take advantage of it in their eternal struggle against the adventurers. The magical world of the free-to-play MMORPG FlyFF is no exception, and from the 28th of October to the 11th of November, many events will be held to delight the European players!

An enigmatic young woman dressed in red appeared today in the city of Flarine, telling a terrifying story to the adventurers who are willing to listen. What kind of curse haunts Madrigal? The warriors will have a lot of work, because in addition to this new quest, the rumor says that the terrifying Jack-O-Lantern would return soon on Madrigal with his Pumpkin Army…

New challenges await the FlyFF players from the 28th of October to the 11th of November, and to complete the festival, the towns of Madrigal have been covered with pumpkins while all monsters began releasing strange boxes full of treats…or tricks! Many other surprises are expected during this period, and it is advisable to fighters of all levels to arm themselves if they want to go out on the evening of Halloween…

Aion enters Open Beta November 11th

The Aion team in Korea has announced that Aion will be entering Open Beta in Korea on November 11th. This is exciting news for us as well! Since the game has entered its next phase in Korea, we thought we’d take a few minutes to explain the status of Aion in the west. We are currently in the process of localizing and culturalizing the game for the western market in order to reach the same level of quality that the game provides for the western world, and are in heavy planning for our testing phases in North America and Europe. We are taking the utmost care in the localization process and we’re dedicated to releasing the very best product in NCsoft West territories. With the ball now rolling, expect to hear much more, and see much more out of Aion in the coming months.

We’ve got some new assets we’d like to make available to you. There are two new videos (one CG and one gameplay) that are now ready for downloading from our press FTP site. We also have some spectacular wallpaper art which you are welcome to make available to your readers. Please let us know if you have any questions.

La Tale announces newest chapter

OGPlanet, a publisher of innovative massively multiplayer online games, has introduced extensive additions to La Tale, its 2D side-scrolling MMORPG. In the game’s newest chapter, the world of La Tale has opened up even further with the addition of 11 new zones. Among the new zones are the icy Snowfield, the mysterious Dark Forest, and the beautiful Crystal Mine. Two new instance dungeons, The Moon of the 16th Day and the Pyramid Treasure Vault, will challenge players to utilize their hard-earned skills.

One of the most-anticipated new additions to La Tale is the introduction of pets. Pets are now available for purchase, as well as various accessories to increase pets’ stats. La Tale has also introduced Enchanting and Upgrade systems that will enable players to improve their characters’ gear, and a Beauty Shop featuring customizable hairstyles and facial features.

“This update is the first of many new chapters to La Tale,” said Ross Park, La Tale producer. “One of the most rewarding and exciting parts of working on an MMO is the ability to constantly improve and add to the game, and we’re looking forward to setting the OGPlanet community loose on the abundant new content in La Tale.”

While OGPlanet put the finishing touches on the new La Tale content, players did not have any shortage of in-game activities. On Oct. 25, the winners of the La Tale World Tour contest faced off in the Paper-Scissors-Rock Off, an epic battle to determine once and for all who was the master of finger combat. Plus, on Halloween and Nov. 1, players will compete in La Tale’s unique Beast Bingo Event.