Monthly Archives: May 2013

DUST 514 Launch Heralds New Era of First-Person Shooters

DUST 514

 

CCP Games, the leading independent developer of massively multiplayer games, today launched DUST 514®, the world’s first free-to-play, multiplayer first-person shooter on a console. The battle for dominance of the EVE Universe escalates to new heights today as DUST mercenaries forge their paths to fame and fortune in a PlayStation ®3 exclusive.

 
Launch is only the beginning of the journey for DUST 514 players. As with CCP’s first game, EVE Online®, DUST 514 is an ever-evolving game as a service, built on the technical foundation and experience CCP has gathered over the past decade. New features, content, and upgrades are planned for years to come, beginning with an update in June and additional major releases throughout 2013. All updates to DUST 514 come at no cost, truly keeping the game free-to-play for all players.

 

DUST 514

 

DUST 514 has been forged by the willpower and skills of the players who have joined us on the journey to launch, and the talent and determination of our development teams around the world,” said CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson. “We are now poised for the next phase of development of DUST 514 and the EVE Universe. We are off to a fantastic start, and ahead is the opportunity to expand even further what games can become. After a decade of preparing for this moment, we will at last see the emerging society of DUST players begin to fight gun-and-grenade for planetary dominance, alongside their EVE Online brethren. For all we have done so far, our best moments are yet to come.”

 

DUST 514 is a new breed of first-person shooter, which in addition to tight gunplay features a path to unlimited dropsuit fittings and customization options, taking the player to new dimensions of character progression. The end result is a unique tactical advantage that will allow mercenaries to push DUST 514 beyond the bounds set by the game’s creators, and arm them with the ability to impact their war on a galactic scale.

 

DUST 514

 

DUST 514 is also fully integrated with the notorious sci-fi setting of EVE Online, a massive game universe that recently surpassed a half-million subscribers worldwide and which has been growing and expanding for a decade. Together, DUST 514 and EVE Online offer a combined sandbox of unprecedented intergalactic scale, with the outcome of ground battles impacting the persistent universe of EVE and shifting the tide of war for legions of participants. Mercenaries can gain advantage by coordinating with starship pilots in EVE Online, calling in devastating orbital strikes against opposing squads.

 

The fortunes of DUST 514 players will rise and fall as they align themselves with like-minded warriors to make their mark across the EVE Universe. Players join forces with their fellow DUST mercenaries and EVE Online capsuleers to form player-run corporations and alliances, conquer planets and solar systems one battle at a time, and claim their own pieces of New Eden to serve the greater good – or their own ambitions!

 

DUST 514

Coinciding with the launch of DUST 514, CCP will be offering three new item bundles on the PSN Store and the Sony Entertainment Network Store:

  • Mercenary Pack – An updated version of the popular open beta bundle that includes 40,000 Aurum to spend in-game, a 30-day skill booster (+50%), and exclusive gear.  ($19.99 / £15.99 / €19.99)
  • Veteran Pack – Comes with dropsuits, boosters, 100,000 Aurum, a permanent Blood Raider Acolyte vehicle, a deadly sniper rifle, and more. ($49.99 / £39.99 / €49.99)
  • Elite Pack – The ultimate in mercenary preparedness, the Elite Pack offers 200,000 Aurum, boosters, four dropsuits, multiple weapons, a permanent light attack vehicle, and a collection of Heavy Assault Vehicles. ($99.99 / £84.99 / €99.99)

 

The uprising of DUST 514’s mercenaries has begun, and their impact will leave New Eden forever altered.

OnRPG Shotgun News 5/14: DCUO, Dust 514, LoL, and much more!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), ONRPG Empress

DCUO Origin Crisis DLC Now Available

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The highly anticipated 7th DLC pack for DCUO is now available. Origin Crisis sends players to alternate realities and introduces the newest powerset; Quantum. In addition there is new solo content, new raids, and new gear. It is available free via the in game marketplace or the DCUO website.

 

Dust 514 Launch Day

The Playstation 3 shooter based in the EVE universe has been in beta for some time now, and teased even longer but at last it is available to all as Dust 514 goes live today.

 

League of Legends Spotlights Ashe

Ashe, the Frost Archer is the subject of the newest champion spotlight video from Riot Games. The 6 and a half minute long video can be seen below and goes through each of her attacks before showing her in action.

UK’s First eSports Bar Set to Open Next Month

Only the third of it’s kind in Europe, Meltdown London is planning to open on June 1st. It is the first eSports bar in the UK and players will be able to watch live eSports events and get access to PCs in weekly bar tournaments for Starcraft 2, LoL, and Street Fighter 4. The bar is at 342 Caledonian Road in central London.

 

Wargaming.net Sponsors an EducationCenter

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A new education center will be opening in Europe’s biggest tank museum in Bovington, England all thanks to a little help from Wargaming. The studio donated a grant of £80,000 to turn a previously unused room in the TankMuseum into a state of the art classroom.

 

Bluehole Rumored to be Recruiting for TERA Sequel

It has been rumored that Bluehole, the studio behind TERA is looking to fill several positions for development on a sequel to TERA. Though it is believed it will be a full fledged TERA 2 none of the job listings indicate they are in fact for TERA 2 so as ever until there is more information we remain on the edge of our seats.

 

AbleGamers Teams With ECA

The Entertainment Consumer Association (ECA) and AbleGamers have announced the formation of the AbleGamers Game Accessibility Chapter. Mark Barlet, President and Founder of the AbleGamers Charity had this to say, “Opening an official AbleGamers chapter of the ECA is wonderful. We feel like the ECA really understands our desire to improve video games by including those with disabilities without harming the creative process. Together, will be able to reach out and educate developers and gamers alike on the importance of including those with disabilities in the wonderful world of videogames.”

Rift Going F2P Next Month

Trion Worlds has announced that Rift will be going free to play starting June 12th. They’re promising no tricks and no traps. There will be the standard three tiered system. The completely free, those who own Rift and those who own Storm Legion/Subscribe. All levels will have complete access to all of the game’s content, including that from the Storm Legion expansion. But those who choose to remain subscribed will get bonuses like an always on 10% Mount Speed bonus and 15% Currency bonus along with other boosts and summons. Those who have previously purchased Rift or Storm Legion will not loose anything they already have. And most importantly the Rift in game store will be expanded with mounts, gear, boosts, companion pets, and much more. Trion will be taking to Twitch to cover some topics on the transition so be sure to watch them if there is anything you want to know more about or if you have questions not answered yet. The schedule is as follows:

 

Free-to-play Overview: 1:30PM Pacific Friday May 17

REX, Loyalty, and Gifting: 1:30PM Pacific Friday May 31

Dendrome Preview: 1:30 Pacific Friday June 7

Update 2.3 Empyreal Assault Pacific 1:30 Friday June 14

 

There is also a new developer’s letter on the Rift website which goes into more detail on the thoughts behind the change and what being a new player to Rift means, including the few restrictions like bag space and how many characters you can have. It also talks about the new currency called REX which is purchased with real money and can be traded in game. And it ends with a sneak peek at Updates 2.3 and 2.4. The dev team is also doing an AMA on Reddit starting at 10AM Pacific.

Stick Empires – They’re More than Stick Figures Now

By Jordan Hall(ApocaRUFF), OnRPG Journalist

 

 

Stick Empires is a neat little browser-based real-time strategy game. It is the sequel to the popular Stick Wars and developed by Jason Whitham (CRAZYJAY), Brock White, and Winston Zhang. There are elements from traditional RTS games, but with special twist to make the game unique. Two players are pitted against each other, choosing one of the factions available, and duke it out until one of them falls. All combined, this makes for a great casual gaming experience.

 

 

Customization

Most RTS games do not feature any kind of customization. Stick Empires, however, does. They accomplish this by giving us the Armory, where you can spend Empire Points to purchase customizations for your troops. These customizations range from weapons for melee units, to hats for archers, to colorful bags that your miners can drag around. Empire Points are gained by winning matches or purchasing them for real money.

 

EmpireShop

 

 

Graphics

Contrary to what the name might suggest, Stick Empires has some pretty nice artwork and animations. These are far from basic stick figures with Microsoft Paint backgrounds that I initially thought there would be. The maps are quality artwork and a lot of care went into crafting the “stick” units. It’s hard to be critical about the graphics, because this is the chosen art style for the game. I think the graphics were wonderfully crafted.

 

Units

 

 

Community

Stick Empires has a decently sized community, and there are usually around two-hundred people online at any time. I did not get a chance to judge the helpfulness of the community, however. As the only way to communicate is if you are in a game with someone. Unfortunately, in the majority of my games, my opponent was silent. So while it certaintly does have a healthy community, it’s not a very socialable.

 

 

Controls

Everything in Stick Empires can be done with your mouse, though some task can be done with the keyboard if you like. I found the controls to be smooth and did not have an issue with them. They were designed with convenience in mind and they pulled off an easy control scheme that is comforatable to use. This is in part due to how simple the game is, but also due to good foresight by the developers. No complaints in this area.

 

 

Gameplay

As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, Stick Empires has your typical RTS-style elements. Things such as troop purchasing, upgrades, short-term resource gathering, and quick action. The developers have managed to include the essentials, while keeping them very casual so you can hop on and have a quick game. Although being a very casual experience, there is a lot of room for strategy.

 

In each match, you start with a couple of miners. You can set these up to mine gold in your mines, or pray at your statue for mana. All units requires gold, while only the more advanced units require mana. It’s pretty straight forward that you should invest in more miners early on. Throughout the game you will want to manage your resource gathering to make sure you have the edge over your opponent.

 

Mines

 

You can use your resources to buy units or upgrade units and give them new abilities to use. The first part of the game is usually spent on building up your army and giving them upgrades along the way. You can also build defenses, such as archers on your castle, or a wall around your mine. This is where a lot of the strategy in the game comes in. Should you upgrade a unit, or produce a new one? Maybe it would be better to put a third archer on your walls.

 

BaseUpgrades

 

Combat is what you would expect from an RTS. You can select and control individual or groups of units and direct them to move to certain locations or attack certain targets. There are ranged, melee, and magic units. Some examples on what you can expect are flying ranged units, shield bearing defensive units, and healing cleric units. At the time of writing, there are two factions, Order and Chaos. I have heard that a third faction was in the makings, centered around the elements.

 

Combat

 

 

Conclusion

Stick Empires is fun, fast paced, and easy to get into. But, it does offer a lot of options to bring strategy into the fold. Unfortunately, while it is easy to find a game at even the early hours of the night, you probably wont talk much with your fellow players unless you seek out a discussion forum. It would have been nice to have a chat system that allowed you to talk with other players waiting for a game. Overall, it is a great casual RTS game that can be played in the browser or on facebook.

 

 

Features – 3/5 – There could be more features in the game, but everything in the game was done well.

Customization – 3/5 – I was surprised that there was even customization in the game.

Graphics – 4/5 I enjoyed the artstyle.

Community – 2/5 Large but silent and hard to interact with unless you seek out a forum.

Controls – 5/5 – Done very well for a browser game.

 

Overall: 4/5 – I had fun with this casual RTS, and the fact that it can be played in the browser made the experience all the better.

Atlas Raider First Impressions : A Rock and Rollin’ Adventure Awaits!

By Jerrico Tan (JetSet), OnRPG Journalist

Atlas Raider First Impressions : A Rock and Rollin’ Adventure Awaits!

 

Atlas Raider

 

If you thought dice games were a thing of the past, CrayonPixel begs to disagree otherwise. And so does this writer after getting a first hand experience on their newly launched title, Atlas Raiders.

 

Playable on beta via Zynga.com and Facebook, players unfold an atlas like they would a classic board game and start rolling dices in order to collect thirteen crystal relics while completing missions, fighting monsters and hunting for treasures along the way.



World

 

The game tells its story in an old school yet edgy comic book style with colorful and cartoon-y characters. As players roll the dice, they move closer and closer to their goal, just like they would in Saturday-night board game with friends at home. Bringing this concept into the virtual world may seem hard to fathom at first but you’ll be pleased to see that CrayonPixel added an entire arsenal of spices, mixing classic board game rules with modern social gaming. Needless to say, it’s a neat concoction of ‘old meets new’ in terms of casual gaming.

 

Rolling your dice gives you access to various points in your atlas. You could either encounter an NPC that would provide you with a mission or engage in a battle with a monster, among many things, depending on where your dice rolls takes you. The battle mode is also a game of dice but not entirely because arming yourself with better weapons increases your chances of winning against your enemy. Completing missions unlocks more areas for you to explore and meeting new characters unfolds new story developments every time.


Battle

Missions

 

Because board games are more enjoyable when played with friends, Atlas Raiders lets you visit other friends’ atlases and help each other decipher codes. In doing so, you are rewarded with XPs and Gold Coins for your own adventure and progress. The more friends you have, the more atlases to visit.

 

As of its beta release, Atlas Raider boasts diversity in gaming experience though some of its elements include the usual annoying things players nowadays honestly hate such as  “invite your friends to get more gold” or “wait for thirty minutes before harvest time or pay cash items now”, which is the inevitable social gaming trend of the decade. The idea of rolling the dice to get to your next destination could seem pointless at first but in reality, it’s about knowing what to do with the situation that is given to you (real-life application, anyone?) Crayon Pixel could also exploit the power of social networking and perhaps create a competitive vibe amongst their players apart from focusing on individuality. Still, for a casual game, Atlas Raider possesses an adventurous story arc delivered by awesome visual presentations with a “chop suey” of gaming memorabilia, which both young and old would surely enjoy.

Netmarble Introduces Online Board Game Sensation, Dice Venture

Dice Venture

 

Netmarble.com, a leading worldwide game portal, expands its portfolio with Dice Venture, an online casual board game known internationally as Modoo Marble. The global casual game sensation with more than 5 million players worldwide will kick off a beta test on Wednesday, May 29 in North America. Interested dice rollers can visit www.DiceVenture.com for more information and sign up for the upcoming beta test.

Dice Venture is an online casual board game where players can join friends and family in a classic game with new twists. Players take turns buying and selling properties while traveling around the world for a chance to become billionaire tycoons. Games can be played in either four-player head-to-head mode or in two-on-two team matches, and take about 25 minutes to finish.

 

Dice Venture

“The introduction of Dice Venture to North America marks a significant step toward reaching gamers of all types for Netmarble,” said Jun Park, producer, Netmarble. “Our primary goal is to provide top-quality online games for everybody, and we’re happy to take strides to satisfy the growing casual games market.”

Scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2013 on PC and for iOS/Android following shortly thereafter, Dice Venture will continue its global sensation in the U.S market. Netmarble is now taking applications for the May 29 beta test. Interested players can sign up and find out more information via the game’s official page.

OnRPG Shotgun News 5/13: Defiance, NCSoft Sales, LoTRO, and more!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG’s News Monkey

Defiance Cross Over Mission Goes Live

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Television is making a cross over into the MMO world as Jon Cooper, the main character from SyFy’s Defiance makes an appearance in Trion World’s MMO Defiance. To complete the mission you must seek out Jon Cooper who is looking for Rynn, the female Irathient who leads the Spirit Riders along with her father. Completing the mission from Jon will unlock more objectives and rewards.

 

NCSoft Sales Down From Last Quarter

A recent earnings report from NCSoft shows that sales have declined from Q4 2012 to Q1 2013. But they also point out that they are up compared to this time last year. Guild Wars 2 accounts for 21% of sales and NCSoft’s managing Director, Nah Seong Chan has hinted that the company is planning to address falling Guild Wars 2 sales with an expansion pack. This comes just a few weeks after ArenaNet said they were not working on one at the moment.

 

Wartune Advertising Attracts ESRB

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The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) are looking into the reports that Wartune is falsely advertising itself as having an adult only rating in online ads. As it turns out the free to play game hasn’t been rated by the ESRB at all. An ESRB representative has been in contact with Wartune’s publisher (though which company they contacted is unclear) and let them know they must stop using the AO rating icon in its marketing.

 

Lord of the Rings Update 11 Arrives Today

The highly anticipated Update 11 arrives in LoTRO today. With it arrives a new launcher, improved mounted combat, the new Wildermore region, and much more. The patch notes are available on the official forums but unfortunately the website seems to be down for a short time.

Alliance Warfare

Alliance Warfare is a free-to-play real time strategy game. Set in a land of war where the ancients have abandoned four nations to their own mortal devices, you must build your city, train troops, research technology, and expand your territory to conquer the land – for victory, and for survival.

City of Heroes 9th Anniversary Loregasm

By Meticulous Meta, OnRPG’s Jobless Hero

 

The ninth anniversary of City of Heroes may have been a couple of weeks ago now but good things are still coming from it. As Matt “Formerly Known As Positron” Miller promised right here on OnRPG back in December that he would do a Lore Ask Me Anything every April 28th until the questions stopped coming in. And he is a man of his word. They started taking questions a month ago, and for nearly 2 weeks the Google document was left open for people to leave their questions. It was then taken offline and Matt did his behind the scenes magic, gathering former Paragon Studios developers who have scattered all over the country to help answer the questions he couldn’t.

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Are you on the hunt for some light reading this week? What came from this huge collaborative effort is a massive 25 page document with nearly 130 questions from fans of City of Heroes from all over the world. Not all of them could be answered, finding the right developer to answer certain questions just couldn’t happen in time. But most of them have answers, sometimes by several developers who may have different views on the answers.

 

Reactions from the community have been low key, everyone agrees that six months since the closure it has stirred those strong emotions once again. And I have to admit they stirred a few in me. I didn’t submit any questions this time around, though my partner in crime fighting, Ardua submitted quite a few. For me it wasn’t so much the questions or the answers that made me sad for ParagonCity all over again. It was seeing so many familiar global names. My friends who have scattered across the internet in the six months. Even just familiar faces who I never really played with but I would see everywhere.

 

I’ll finish below with a few of what I think are the best questions and answers. I’d like to thank Hosun, Tim, Sean, John, Vince, Keetsie, Sean Dornan-Fish, and Matt Miller on behalf of the entire City of Heroes community. This was an amazingly awesome endeavor and means more to us than you know. Thank you, and we hope we see you again soon.

Spaulding

Q) What was the deal with Radio/Television? Were they Dimensionless? I thought they were just the mad delusions of my villains, but as Television was the “villain” of Mako week I am wondering if there was more back story/plans with them. (Randy Jarvis)

A) They were not Dimensionless, they were (most likely) evil spirits of the netherworld possessing various inanimate objects, iirc  (Matt)

 

Q) Since Arbiter Sands had hooked up with Mynx romantically were we ever going to see him switch sides and become a hero?

A) It was a possibility that we considered but had nothing set in stone. At the time I had planned on exploring deeper into the Valentine’s Day themes in future Valentine’s Day Tips. (John)


Q) What was going to be the plan for the final incarnate powers and trials? (@Sarrona)

A) There was no “final”, once Omega slot was reached that would be the new “Alpha” slot and 10 more Incarnate levels would appear above it. Getting the first 10 Incarnate powers would have been trivialized so the “new grind” would be the Omega-base tree. And then there was a tree after that, and one after that, etc. (Matt)

 

Q) What was Mender Tesseract?  We’re told she’s from the future and that she’s supposed to be crazy powerful in her own time, but we know little about what she actually was or her powers.

A) Mender Tesseract is ex-Battalion. As Lord Nemesis traveled back in time, he had to make various “stops” to upload into a new body (this is how he got around the whole temporal tether rule). During one of these stops, he convinced the crazy powerful Tesseract that Battalion was bad and doomed to fail, and she should join the winning side when she had the chance. Pulling her out of the Battalion equation was a key part of weakening them to the point where they could be destroyed in the future, should Ouroboros fail at stopping them in the past. In other words “wibbly wobbly, timey wimey… stuff.” (Matt)

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Q) Additionally, what ever became of the rumored Coralax EAT? Since EATs always had fairly large plots centered around them, (more or less,) did that thought process go far enough to have a story developed for it? (@Mako)

A) The large plots is actually one of the things that prevented us from introducing more EATs. We had a ton of ideas, but the sticking point was always a lack of time necessary to both do the powers and the content associated with the EAT that would meet player expectation. I remember working on ideas for a Circle of Thorns PEAT as well as a Devoured PEAT. (John)

B) EAT’s in general were a PITA (pain in the arse) as they required a lot of mission content to be created for them, and only the EAT’s could run that content. I think it was a precedent set by HEAT’s that we ended up following for VEAT’s. There was also a Praetorian EAT that was going to be a redeemed Clockwork. A lot of design and animation for the EAT’s were done, but they still needed art and content. Eventually we were thinking of introducing Purchasable Archetypes, which had no story content tied to them.  (Hosun)

 

Q) Carnival of Light mask. Carnival of Shadows mask. What could have happened if they’d met? Power struggle/carnie civil war, live and let live, ? (Memphis Bill)

A) Hot Vanessa DeVore on Vanessa DeVore action (John)

A) The Carnival of Twilight would have all been insufferable vampire fiction fans. (Tim)

PosiAlly

Q) Kheldian players successfully defeated Arakhn, Requiem and the world take over plot. Given that this is a multi-stellar war fought across vast distances and multiple races, what incentive was there for joined Peacebringers to stay joined and on Earth? (@Ardua)

A) Memphis BBQ. Nothing like it in the entire universe. (Matt)

B) In the Incarnate speculation talk we proposed that “beings who were contributing to the Well’s gestalt” – ie a way to include non-humans, artificials, mystic entities etc who called Earth “home” in some way would find themselves being drawn to it. This was the lore figleaf for why players would stay in areas around Earth, for one. (Tim)

 

Q) Crey Corporation, what were their big plans?  Countess Crey’s backstory had this “fallen hero” angle to it, so were there ever plans to explore more of her larger schemes?

A) Their ultimate plan was to take over the world ala Apple, Amazon, Google, or Microsoft, only slightly more nefariously. (Matt)

A) I wanted Manticore and Julianne to hook up. I also had this notion that she’d become an Incarnate and rival the other heavy hitters in the 50+ realm. (Tim)