Yearly Archives: 2012

Snail CEO Shi Hai Brings Black Gold and Age of Wushu to GDC 2012

Snail CEO Shi Hai Brings Black Gold and Age of Wushu Clips to GDC 2012

 

 

The 2012 Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) was held this week in Austin, Texas. The annual conference is one of the video game industry’s largest, attracting representatives from several thousand developers to learn and share the latest in game design and development.

 

 

Snail Game CEO Shi Hai was among those who delivered speeches at the conference. He addressed the theme “Breaking New Ground in the MMO Genre” and introduced Snail Game and its unique company culture. It was also an exposition of the one-of-a-kind combat system of flagship product Age of Wushu. The speech closed with a clip of Snail Game’s upcoming steam punk MMORPG, Black Gold.

 

 

 

Mr. Shi showed what makes Age of Wushu stand out from other MMOs, namely flying skills and the elements that require strategy and an eye for the enemy’s movements. Age of Wushu’s combat system is rich but intuitive and gives players control of blocking, parrying, and other elements typically automated in MMOs. This means that battles are not necessarily won on the basis of who has higher stats, much less better gear, but instead by a player’s skill. Age of Wushu’s unique overt-feint-block combat system requires players to keep a keen eye on the enemy’s movements so that he or she knows which movements to use to counter them in a sort of rock-paper-scissors arrangement that reflects real kung fu fighting. For instance, a feint can overcome a block, a block can overcome an overt attack, and an overt attack can overcome a feint. Inner energy, or “chi,” also comes into play in a variety of interesting ways.

 

 

Snail Game’s CEO stressed that as most MMOs are grounded in fantasy-oriented gameplay, the ability to fight in mid-air or fly about is rarely an option, much less a system. This makes for an essentially two-dimensional combat system, even when the characters are three-dimensionally rendered. In Age of Wushu, flying skills add a whole new dimension to MMO gameplay and reflect the traditional mythology of Chinese wuxia culture.

 

 

Mr. Shi gave an in-depth introduction to the wuxia worldview that informs Age of Wushu. Players can choose to learn hundreds of martial arts sets and equip and organize them as they see fit. Skills are learned not through level advancement, much less “kill 10, gather 10” quests, but through the game’s unique system of skill cultivation. Characters continue to work, adventure, and wander about even when players have signed off, adding a high degree of spontaneity to the overall gaming experience.

 

 

The speech ended with a look at upcoming steampunk MMO Black Gold, which will be Snail Game’s focus in 2013. The clip showed two factions locked in battle, the struggles between their various races, and of course steampunk machinery and huge monsters.

 

 

As Snail Game’s major production in 2013, Black Gold will continue to show off the company’s creative spirit. The game pits a steam-based faction against a magic faction in a struggle for a mysterious resource after which the game is named. Players can don heavy mech armor or shapeshift to become formidable beast masters in this epic struggle.

HAWKEN Closed Beta Dates Announced

HAWKEN Closed Beta Dates Announced

 

Hawken

 

Meteor Entertainment announces the closed beta dates for HAWKEN.  HAWKEN is the free-to-play, first-person mech shooter developed by Adhesive Games. The game enters its initial closed beta on October 26th until the 29th.

 

 

“The team has worked tirelessly to launch closed beta. Thanks to the awesome community, we learned a great deal from the Alpha 2 feedback,” said Khang Le, Creative Director and Co-founder of Adhesive Games. Le goes on to exclaim, ”We’re super excited about opening the gate and having a larger fan base playing HAWKEN for the very first time! I can’t wait to see how the general audience receives the game and all the crazy tactics they come up to dominate on the HAWKEN battlefield.”

 

Hawken

 

“HAWKEN’s Alpha 2 testing was great. We broke a lot of things and that’s good. The more that we find wrong now; the smoother open beta will go,” explains CEO of Meteor Entertainment Mark Long. “We scaled up an order of magnitude in daily players and the server ping was so good we had players on the West Coast of the United States joining the United Kingdom servers. We cannot wait to see what happens as more players join in on closed beta.”

 

 

HAWKEN is one of the most anticipated games of 2012. It is helping usher in the next generation of AAA quality, free to play games. HAWKEN has won more than 20 awards since June of 2012 and is the recipient of much media praise. Greater than all of this has been the positive feedback from the fans that were lucky enough to be a part of the Alpha 2 testing. Don’t miss your chance to get in on the action early too! Register today at www.playhawken.com/enlist for a chance to be invited to closed beta.

OnRPG Shotgun News 10/12: EVE, LoL, Knight Age, and Much More!

OnRPG Shotgun News 10/12: EVE, LoL, Knight Age, and Much More!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

EVE Retribution Video Introduces Expansion

A new video from the CCP headquarters highlights what the many development teams in the studio are working on towards the upcoming release of EVE’s expansion Retribution. The expansion is expected to release in early December. Keep your chocolate close.

 

 

 

League of Legends: Most Played Game In The World?

A new infographic released by Riot Games claims that League of Legends is the most played game in the world. It has 12 million players worldwide on a daily basis, that goes up to 32 million when you look monthly. That is just 2 million less than the population of Canada. More than 90% of those players are male. And there are a shocking 75 deaths in the game per second.

 

 

Zombeer Launches on Steam Greenlight

Zombeer, Zombies & Beer is a new first person survival horror comedy shooter for the over 18 crowd. And now you can play it thanks to Steam Greenlight. Anyone who helps the Greenlight efforts with an upvote and registers on the site will get a place in the credits. Release is planned for consoles, Mac and PC later this year.

 

 

Knight Age Update Adds Seige Warfare

Joymax has announced that an update coming next week will add Seige Warfare to Knight Age. It is a huge pvp battle and being billed as the most intense pvp experience in Knight Age so far. They will take place only once a week on Sundays and the leaders of Orders must apply at an NPC to take part.

 

 

Pockie Pirates Announces Mid October Update

Clashes of Marineford is the name of the update coming to Pockie Pirates. It will expand on the adventures of Luffy and friends with all new challenges. There will also be All Blue Crew members to recruit.

OnRPG/MMOHuts @ New York Comic Con 2012 – Day 1

OnRPG/MMOHuts @ New York Comic Con 2012 – Day 1

Covered by Michael Sagoe (mikedot) and Isaac Sagoe (Afromania)

 

 

My brother and I have been waiting for this event all year and it’s finally here! New York Comic Con is the largest pop culture convention on the East Coast, and we managed to get some last minute sign ups to the event.

 

 

After getting our hotel reservations set up and ready, we set out from Jersey City to New York via subway, and walked several blocks up to the Javits Center.

 

 

Getting press passes was completely changed up from last year, with no on-site registration. Everything had to be registered beforehand, which was a much better system since we were able to get our passes without hassle.

 

 

We showed up to the convention a bit earlier, so we had to sit around for well over an hour before getting in, along with a whole crowd of 4-day ticket holders. The wait was maddening!

 

 

Even though it was a bit earlier, we already got our first sights of some of the crazies and cosplayers. One guy in costume walks past us to get in the waiting line, and I responded to him by saying “Mr. Karate?” The cosplay guy was totally pleased as I was the first one to recognize the character from the King of Fighters series.

 

 

After chatting with the guy and his Akuma looking friend for a while, it was time to head in. We started heading for the World Cyber Games booth to check in for our World of Tanks interview, but to my surprise, there was also a Snail Games booth showcasing Age of Wushu right across from the WCG booth!

 

 

I was very eager to give Age of Wushu a try for the very first time, but spending my time at that booth would have to wait.

 

 

We got our World of Tanks interview with a very cute PR girl, and we had to do a second re-take for it, because during our first take, the microphone wasn’t close enough and we could barely hear anyone’s voice due to how freaking loud the Age of Wushu booth was. Still, we managed to get the footage we needed and we’ll have an interview video ready by the time Comic-Con ends.

 

 

Next up: The Snail Games booth. Now I totally wasn’t expecting this company to show up with a booth at Comic-Con, but I was very excited to see Age of Wushu up close. I wanted to get a sneak into the private booth and get a quick interview on the game…

 

 

…and that’s what I did.

 

 

The guys were friendly and willing to let us into their private booth on such a short notice (probably because the interviewers that were scheduled to show up around the time we asked didn’t show up… but whatever!)

 

 

I did the interview without any preparation or anything, but I managed to ask some pretty decent questions, and some not so decent questions… We’ll also have some footage of this interview sometime after Comic-Con ends.

 

 

After that interview, I wanted to get some hands-on time Age of Wushu, but instead I decided to walk around and find some more crazy cosplayers.

 

 

Just for something non-MMO related: I found the PlayStation booth, along with a playable demo for Playstation All-Stars Battle Royale. Now this game was a hell of a lot of fun. I’ve been wondering how this game would stack up to Super Smash Bros., and I would say that the game is deep and engaging enough to stand well on its own. After playing one round, I was hooked. I spent most of the remaining day playing it, up to the point where even one of the guys at the Sony booth said that I had enough.

 

 

After that, I went back to the Snail Games booth to try out Age of Wushu. I was mainly looking to get a feel for the game’s combat system, which the developers say is based on a Rock-Paper-Scissors system, but after trying it I think Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock sounds more appropriate.

 

 

After running into some more crazy cosplayers, we ended our day at the IGN Theater with a performance by Ben Folds Five.

 

 

That’s all for day 1 @ NYCC. Keep checking OnRPG and MMOHuts for further coverage of the show!

Turbo Tours Tokyo Game Show 2012

Turbo Tours Tokyo Game Show 2012

By Brendan O’Brien (TurboGoneWild), OnRPG Guest Writer

 

 

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is Japan’s version of E3.  The format of TGS is to reserve the first two days for industry insiders to conduct business.  The third and fourth days are open to the general public.  A little advice… if you are ever planning to attend this show, you must find some way to get access to the first or second day.  Otherwise, you are in for a ton of mayhem, huge crowds and never ending lines. The Experience:  I could see the lines forming around the Makuhari Convention center from my hotel window around 6:00 am, Saturday September 23rd (the first public day).  Looking down from the 48th floor, I was amazed to see all the people.

 

 

 

Fortunately I was able to do most of my meetings and interviews on the first business day, but I thought it would be fun to join the mosh pit… once again… on Sunday, the last day of the show. Since I had already purchased my ticket online (1,000 Yen or about $12.70) I thought I was clever to wait till after lunch to enter the convention center.  What a mistake!  Humid, rainy and still very crowded, I was ushered through a series of lines before getting access to the tradeshow floor.  Although it only took about an hour to get in, it seemed like a lifetime. According to the show organizers (CESA – Computer Entertainment Supplier’s Association), there were nearly a quarter million visitors at TGS 2012 which set a new attendance records (the actual number is 223,753).  Similar to E3 in the US, there was quite a bit to look at.  The booths were interesting too. Here’s some highlights of the show:

 

 

 

 

Most of the games presented at TGS are developed for mobile or hand held devices and the fact that GREE had the biggest booth, is a clear indicator of where their target market is. While walking around the packed trade show, I felt completely out of my element.  I had never seen or heard of many of the games and many of the big players in the video game industry you might expect were not even there like Nintendo and XBox. There is huge a difference in how the Japanese “consume” their gaming compared with the US.  This probably stems from the fact that a great deal of their time is spent commuting on trains.

 

Of course there were a few big publishers showing off new retail titles, but many of those titles will only be released in Japan.   A few of the stand out titles were:

Namco Bandai    –  Macross 30
Square Enix   – Hitman Absolution, the Realm Reborne – Launch of Final Fantasy XIV, and Black Ops 2 (which Square Enix is publishing in Japan)
Capcom    –  Monster Hunter 4, Resident Evil 6, Ace Attorney 5
SEGA    –  Yakuza 5,  Phantasy Star Online 2

Bottom line… I recommend that everyone should find a way to attend the Tokyo Game Show at least once in your life.  The journey to and from the event itself is a life changing experience.  Although I was not blown away with new announcements or surprised with any new title releases, this is perhaps the most unique show I have ever attended.

 

If you are able to make it to the Tokyo Game Show next year, here is some information and a couple pieces of advice you may find helpful:

#1    The TOKYO GAME SHOW 2013 is scheduled to be held at Makuhari Messe from Thursday, September 19 to Sunday, September 22, 2013.

#2    TOKYO GAME SHOW official website: http://tgs.cesa.or.jp/english

#3    Buy your ticket online before going to Japan (make two copies).

#4    Try to get access to one of the business days.  It is a little more expensive, but well worth it.

#5    Note:  The weather is normally hot and very humid in Tokyo/Chiba during September.

#6    Travel light, dress in cool clothing and bring an umbrella.

#7    Good idea to get a map of the Japanese Rail & Subway system in English before you leave

#8     There are two hotels that connect directly to the Makuhari convention center – The New Otani (very nice and a little expensive) and The APA hotel.  I have stayed at both and actually prefer the APA hotel.  It is reasonably priced and there is an Internet Café on the 48th floor that overlooks the entire area.

#9    There is a three-story video game arcade next to the Makuhari train station.

#10    Try to get tickets to a Sumo Wrestling match while you are in Japan.  It is/was one of the highlights of my trip.   Oosumo Ticket Center <ticket-oosumo@pia.co.jp>

Dark Blood Launches Cave of the Abyss

Dark Blood Launches Cave of the Abyss

 

 

Halloween is in the air and to get everyone in the mood, Dark Blood, the electrifying new live hardcore free-to-play arcade fighting MMO (that’s a mouthful!), has just released Cave of the Abyss, a thrilling Asura dungeon with epic rewards for those that top the brand new Dungeon Rank. Valuable prizes await including a Champion of the Week flying flag above the winning character to let everyone know who is top dog, a boosted drop rate, and a way cool ride a la Ghostrider.  To find out more about these killer mounts, check out the new Dark Blood Rides Guide.  This latest content update also includes an event quest that introduces a curious visitor to Elwood.  Players ‘dye-ing’ to know who the special guest is should talk to Alonzo for an adventure to remember.

 

“Dark Blood continues to receive rave reviews from the Steam community, and is seeking upvotes to get greenlit for the platform. You can play Dark Blood for free and if you like what you see, you can vote yes to get Dark Blood on Steam!

Jagex Brings Carnage Racing to Facebook this November

Jagex Brings Carnage Racing to Facebook this November

 

 

Jagex today unveiled the first details of their latest title, Carnage Racing, which will be released exclusively on Facebook in November 2012. Carnage Racing has been developed by the company’s recently established Californian studio and marks the RuneScape developer’s first foray into social media gaming. Featuring platform defining 3D graphics, Carnage Racing aims to take multiplayer Facebook gaming to a new level in graphical fidelity.

 

 

Carnage Racing offers racing fans a fast-paced experience, complete with a wide variety of vehicles, weapons, warps, boosts and tricks to test even the most experienced gamer race after race. With every completed contest, players collect experience points and game currency which can be traded-in for new vehicles, more powerful weaponry and special features which could propel players to the front of the grid. Regardless of whether you prefer racing head to head with up to seven friends, an achievement player looking to top the fastest times table, or even a single player looking to test your skills against the games AI, there is something in Carnage Racing for everyone.

 

 

Arash Amini, Carnage Racing Producer said, “Carnage Racing perfectly blends arcade style gameplay mechanics with AAA graphics to give racing fans a Facebook gaming experience like no other. With a vast array of customisation, upgrades and an army of waiting competitors, Carnage Racing is set to change the way people think about racing games on Facebook.”

 

 

The game has been developed by Jagex’s newly created Californian studio, staffed by the team of Midnight Club series veterans, who bring a wealth of experience in the racing genre and promises to bring high-quality multiplayer racing to the world’s largest social network for the first time.

 

 

Commenting on the announcement, Rob Ollett, Jagex’s VP of 3rd Party Publishing said, “Carnage Racing is set to bring the development quality of AAA gaming to Facebook by presenting racing fans with a truly compelling and unbeatable multiplayer racing experience. With Carnage Racing, we are determined to offer a console-like experience which capitalises on Facebook’s vast network to match player’s race after race, in what promises to be the best 3D racer on Facebook.”

Carnage Racing Online

Carnage Racing offers racing fans a fast-paced experience, complete with a wide variety of vehicles, weapons, warps, boosts and tricks to test even the most experienced gamer race after race. With every completed contest, players collect experience points and game currency which can be traded-in for new vehicles, more powerful weaponry and special features which could propel players to the front of the grid. Regardless of whether you prefer racing head to head with up to seven friends, an achievement player looking to top the fastest times table, or even a single player looking to test your skills against the game’s AI, there is something in Carnage Racing for everyone.

The Lost Titans

The Lost Titans is a broswer-based MMORPG that puts you in control of a hero seeking to find out what caused the disappearance of the titan of Aristos, Hyperion. You’ll travel along fantastic lands, wrought from myths and legends, and engage fierce monsters. Along the way, you’ll discover mysteries behind the titan’s disappearance, and the sinister plot to destroy Aristos. Join up with others in an epic storyline, or fight against them in fast-paced PvP battles.

 

 

Features

 

Fully 3D world: Playable right in your browser, The Lost Titans will amaze you with the depth of graphical power it can display.

 

Incredible storyline: Follow along a trail of intrigue, as you seek to find out what happened to Hyperion and his nemesis Ophion. Battle against a variety of foes on your path to the truth.

 

Skill-based gameplay: Fast paced action and critical use of your character’s skills will see you go far in your quest. Develop your abilities and learn to use them effectively!

 

No subscriptions: Play for free wherever you want, whenever you want! The Lost Titans will be playable in any browser, so you can take the action with you!