Monthly Archives: November 2010

Fallout 3

Vault-Tec engineers have worked around the clock on an interactive reproduction of Wasteland life for you to enjoy from the comfort of your own vault. Included is an expansive world, unique combat, shockingly realistic visuals, tons of player choice, and an incredible cast of dynamic characters. Every minute is a fight for survival against the terrors of the outside world – radiation, Super Mutants, and hostile mutated creatures. From Vault-Tec, America’s First Choice in Post Nuclear Simulation.

 

Story:

Vault 101 – Jewel of the Wastes. For 200 years, Vault 101 has faithfully served the surviving residents of Washington DC and its environs, now known as the Capital Wasteland. Though the global atomic war of 2077 left the US all but destroyed, the residents of Vault 101 enjoy a life free from the constant stress of the outside world. Giant Insects, Raiders, Slavers, and yes, even Super Mutants are all no match for superior Vault-Tec engineering. Yet one fateful morning, you awake to find that your father has defied the Overseer and left the comfort and security afforded by Vault 101 for reasons unknown. Leaving the only home you’ve ever known, you emerge from the Vault into the harsh Wasteland sun to search for your father, and the truth.

 

Key Features:

Limitless Freedom! – Take in the sights and sounds of the vast Capital Wasteland! See the great monuments of the United States lying in post-apocalyptic ruin! You make the choices that define you and change the world. Just keep an eye on your Rad Meter!

Experience S.P.E.C.I.A.L.! – Vault-Tec engineers bring you the latest in human ability simulation – the SPECIAL Character System! Utilizing new breakthroughs in points-based ability representation, SPECIAL affords unlimited customization of your character. Also included are dozens of unique skills and perks to choose from, each with a dazzling variety of effects!

Fantastic New Views! – The wizards at Vault-Tec have done it again! No longer constrained to just one view, experience the world from 1st or 3rd person perspective. Customize your view with the touch of a button!

The Power of Choice! – Feeling like a dastardly villain today, or a Good Samaritan? Pick a side or walk the line, as every situation can be dealt with in many different ways. Talk out your problems in a civilized fashion, or just flash your Plasma Rifle.

Blast ‘Em Away With V.A.T.S.! – Even the odds in combat with the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System for your Pip-Boy Model 3000! V.A.T.S. allows you to pause time in combat, target specific body parts on your target, queue up attacks, and let Vault-Tec take out your aggression for you. Rain death and destruction in an all-new cinematic presentation.

Mind-Blowing Artificial Intelligence! – At Vault-Tec, we realize that the key to reviving civilization after a global nuclear war is people. Our best minds pooled their efforts to produce an advanced version of Radiant AI, America’s First Choice in Human Interaction Simulation. Facial expressions, gestures, unique dialog, and lifelike behavior are brought together with stunning results by the latest in Vault-Tec technology.   

Eye-Popping Prettiness!* – Witness the harsh realities of nuclear fallout rendered like never before in modern super-deluxe HD graphics. From the barren Wasteland, to the danger-filled offices and metro tunnels of DC, to the hideous rotten flesh of a mutant’s face.

 

The Old Republic will “never be profitable” says Bigpoint CEO

The Old Republic will “never be profitable” says Bigpoint CEO

by Jonathan (Ardua) Doyle OnRPG Journalist,

 

In case you have not heard the news, on Thursday at the London Games Conference, Bigpoint CEO Heiko Hubertz went on record as having claimed that EA-Biowares upcoming The Old Republic MMO will never turn a profit.

 

Star Wars The Old Republic @ OnRPG

 

“If you look at Star Wars from EA and BioWare, they estimated a development budget of over $100m,” he explained.

 

“This is an online game for many million of subscribers, so the publisher does not understand that a subscription model is not the future.”

 

“With micro-transactions maybe I see the game having a chance but I don’t think that EA or BioWare will ever be profitable with this game. Ever.”

 

Bigpoint, for reference, is developing free-to-play MMO’s using licenses such as Battlestar Galactica and The Mummy, and Hubertz has insisted that developing games for a single format or device is a mistake.

 

Only time will tell if The Old Republic replaces APB as the industries largest and most painful failure.

Battlestar Galactica Online

As hardcore Battlestar Galactica fans the OnRPG crew couldn’t wait to get their chubby fingers on this game. Even though the server we joined offered a 50% xp bonus for the Cylon faction we couldn’t join the toasters and opted to join the humans.

The game litterally drops you straight into the piloting seat of a Viper and 20 seconds into it you’re shooting training drones to smithereens. Starbucks is coaching you and pretty soon you’re shooting more threatening targets than just drones!

All Points Bulletin Won’t Be Saved By Codemastes

All Points Bulletin Won’t Be Saved By Codemastes

 

Whether you love or are of the same opinion as me on APB it’s likely you’re interested what will happen with the game now that Real Time Worlds has shut down service. Rumors were circulating for the past few weeks now that the game will be saved by another developer purchasing it.

 

 

All Points Bulletin Might Be saved!

 

 

The most likely candidate on the rumor list recently was fellow British developer and publisher Codemasters. This has now officially been quashed as David Solari the Online General Manager of Codemasters explained to Eurogamer “We have not picked up APB. I can answer you definitively,” he said, “we haven’t picked that up.”

 

Solari previously spoke to Eurogamer to voice his opinion that its highly likely that assets of APB will be picked up, if not the game itself as a whole then certainly elements of it, like the games highly advanced character customization feature.

 

Next developer on the rumor list to save APB is Epic, we’re still waiting for an official word from them.

Combine Magic Formation Feature in Dragon’s Call

Combine Magic Formation Feature in Dragon’s Call

 

The enticing new feature of Dragon’s Call – Combine Magic Formation will go live on Thursday, Nov 11th. Although the highly anticipated new expansion Sacred Wings is not yet released, a series of new features seem to have foretold the drastic updates it may bring in. Combine Magic Formation is the first piece of flavor cheese cake for players.

 

It is said that its huge rewards and luck elements will surely bring them amazing thrills. Just like the branch backstory of Sacred Wings mentioned – Only the God of Freedom knows the amount of the huge mysterious power underneath this Formation.

 

Though it had partly destroyed by those ugly dark offenders before the StilLand History, the Magic Formation is still known as the power origin of Wind Pursuers.

 

 

Dragon's Call Combine Magic Feature

 

 

Guide on how to use the Magic Formation


1. Go smash the monsters to get “Spirit Core” and purchase “Magic Scroll” directly from the Gem Store.
2. Put the “Spirit Core” and “Magic Scroll” into those two slots in the middle of Combine Magic Formation interface.
3. Click the “Generate” button. The magic items (prepare a tissue to wipe your drooling) will appear in the top of the Formation.
4. Select an item that you want to get from this Formation.
5. Put all your most valuable Gems (You know I’m kidding, I’ll put one for a try) into the slots in the bottom to increase your success rate.
6. Click “Start Magic Formation”, and pray to God you’re the one.

World of the Living Dead

World of the Living Dead is a massively-multiplayer zombie game which features strategy gameplay and life or death resource management in a huge sandbox world using a modified OpenStreetMaps interface. Scavenge for food and weapons. Risk staying close to the zombie-infested cities where the pickings are rich but the competition is fierce. Attack other players for supplies or form factions to rid your area of the zombie menace. Choose how you want to deal with the apocalypse and develop your characters as they learn how to survive.

Preview: CosmicBreak – Mechanized Penguins Must Die!

Preview: CosmicBreak – Mechanized Penguins Must Die!
By Michael Sagoe (mikedot), OnRPG Journalist

Everybody loves mechs. Whether big or small, they hold a special place in most of our hearts as rad tools of destruction. Now with Cyberstep’s latest title reaching the English speaking market, gamers can enjoy all the awesome-ness that mechs have to offer for free. Cosmic Break (CB) is a massive multiplayer online third person shooter featuring (you guessed it): Mechs! Players can participate in small-scale battles or massive wars for up to 60 players. You can also customize your mechs with up to 300 parts and team up with other players in three different unions. CB also features PvE options with mission and quest modes.

 

When I first started out, I selected a land type as my starting mech and gave it a quick paint job using a blue and orange color scheme. Next, a cut scene came up showing the guardians of the three available unions (BRD, WIZ and DOS) as they bickered with each other on who should welcome the new guy (the new guy being me.) The tutorial started shortly afterwards and controls were really easy to get used to. I squared off with a generic looking baddy robot and completed the tutorial in less in five minutes.

 

Cosmic Break Three Guardians

The three guardians

 

Back to the three guardians, I was told that I had to join one of their unions before continuing on. The BRD union was all about courage, the DOS union was based on power, and the WIZ union was all for wisdom (if you’re a Legend of Zelda fan, this will all sound awfully familiar to you, won’t it?) Anyway, I already decided beforehand that I wanted to go with the BRD union, because come on… Did Link, the Hero of Time ever defeat evil using power or wisdom? I don’t think so!

 

Once I joined the BRD union, I had to complete another tutorial that goes over the game’s mission mode. After that, I was free to do whatever I pleased, or so it seemed as there was an ongoing tutorial that I would have to complete in order to advance the game’s mini-story episodes. Ignoring the extended tutorial for now, I skimmed through my available mechs and then jumped right into PvP.

 

My first match was a 15 vs. 15 union battle with BRD against DOS. Since it was the first match for everyone in the room as well, there was no real strategy or tactics planned with me and my teammates and so we all jumped into the fray.  I figured that my starting land type mech would be my best bet for winning. Sadly, that wasn’t the case. When the first match started, I ran into enemy lines blindly and attempted to Rambo my way to victory. It was a really big mistake that ended up costing my team a whole bunch of BP (Build Points that determine the cost of your mech and how many points you will loose when defeated.)

 

Cosmic Break Chaotic Warfare

Chaotic warfare

 

It became very clear that teamwork is essential to winning, so I started barking orders at my teammates using radio shortcut commands. I don’t consider myself much of a tactician when comes to giving orders, but it would seem that some of my advice helped as my union managed to make a huge turn around with 5000 BP left.

The pacing of each battle I fought varied from slow to fast paced, mostly depending on the mech I was using. Land units were my top pick as they had the fastest land movement for me to weave in and out of combat. I also did pretty well with Air units and was able to pick off enemy land units with ease. There was also Artillery and Support units available, but I didn’t bother with them since I couldn’t afford them.

 

Afterwards, I checked out the quest mode. It’s mode where you get to romp around with up to five players to explore planets for treasure. I didn’t team up with anybody during quest mode, but I was able to manage on my own. Making my way through quest mode areas was pretty simple: Attack some random monsters on the field, find some items, defeat a sub-boss monster, get the key and move on to the next area. Rinse and repeat until you reach the end. Areas did get progressively tougher as I went along, though. I managed to reach an artic territory before getting defeated by robotic wildlife.

 

Cosmic Break Killer Robot Penguins

Killer robo pengiuns

 

CyberStep advertised Cosmic Break  with “Moe Mecha Action”, and there sure is plenty of that. Besides all the robo mechs you can pilot, there are also a bunch of anime-like characters in mech suits you can play, like Crimrose, Jinku Hu, Lily Rain, and more. Most moe mechs are pretty weak at first, but will grow stronger when players level them up using the cartridge system.

 

Cosmic Break Crimrose battling more robitic wildlife

Crimrose battling more robotic wildlife

 

A lot of events were happening during testing, such as the Ghost Tree events held in quest mode. It was a great opportunity for players to get a hold of some extra in-game money to try out more of the available mechs, weapons, items and whatnot. My only gripe about the events was the timing. Typically, events started around 8PM PST, so for me these events started at 11PM EST. I only ever got to participate in one event because of the bad timing, so I’m hoping that CyberStep will pick some better event times when public service hits. Another gripe I had was with the horrendous lag that occurred during events. All players on the server channel would have to suffer through it and the aftermath lag when events ended was even worse.

 

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing Cosmic Break’s open beta and I can’t wait for it to go public with the promise of more mechs, more parts and more everything. I’m also crossing my fingers that more players will join to balance out the unions a bit more. Currently, the WIZ union has the highest population in the game, outranking my BRD union 3 to 1. Since the WIZ union had the highest population: WIZ members can control more shuffle room matches at a time and earn 100+ Cosmo Points (CP) a game, making it almost impossible for BRD and DOS to catch up. The balance of population may not happen when public service hits, but I sure hope it does.