Yearly Archives: 2013

Enjin Guild Forum Competition

With a renewal of strong games out and on the way, 2013 is looking to be a good year for MMORPGs. And an even better year to found the MOBA/MMO guild/faction/clan you always wanted to create. But nothing gets a guild off the ground faster than a functional and professional looking forum. Thus I reached out to Enjin, my favorite forum hosting service, to snag our users a chance to show their creativity and win some sweet prizes to unlock the full power of Enjin Forums!

Prizes-

Grand Prize (1 winner): 1 Year Unlimited Plan + 25 Slot Teamspeak 3 Server.

Runner-Up (2 winners): 6 Month Advanced Plan + 10 Slot Teamspeak 3 Server.

For full details check our official forum entry thread!

Get your guild page creation project started now with our 30 Day Advanced Engine Plan: http://tinyurl.com/mzlg85m

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/8 Pt2: World of Warships, Blizzard, Splinters of Ares

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG News Monkey

 

World of Warships to Remove Rising Sun Flag

worldofwarships

Sometime in the future the Japanese Rising Sun Flag will be removed from World of Warships. This comes after an outcry from some in the Asian community that it was culturally insensitive. CatStalker, Community Coordinator on the World of Warships fourms made the brief announcement nearly three weeks ago, but the news is only now becoming a headline as fans call the move into question.

 

Blizzard Rejoins ESA

The Entertainment Software Association, who amongst other things put on the ever important E3 has another member today, Activision Blizzard. They parted ways in 2008, stating “business reasons” were behind the departure. Could this mean that we’re due to see World of Warcraft at E3 next year?

 

Splinters of Ares Hopes to Bring Together MMO and Film

SplintersOfAres

A new transmedia project from industry veterans who have worked on Everquest, Guild Wars, Apollo 13, The DaVinci Code, and much more are working together to create an all new MMO/Movie experience. The team is hoping to raise $1 million to put together a playable demo and trailer for the film. But you won’t find this one on Kickstarter. They’re doing it all through their website.

Vanguard Princess

Vanguard Princess is a 2D fighting game offering up to 4 player combat action within a world of all female anime sprites running the gambit of stereotypes from schoolgirls to haunting spirits. Players can participate in a story mode or go head to head against their friends to test their skills.

Vanguard Princess Review – Girls Without Substance

By Isaac Sagoe (AfroMania), OnRPG Journalist

Vanguard Princess Review

When it comes to fighting games this year, it has been a drought. Other than the release of Injustice: Gods Among Us on the consoles, there has been a lack of games to quench my brawling thirst. This goes double when it comes to fighters on PC. Now I understand that the PC is dominated by MMOs and FPS, but a lot of my best memories of PC gaming were playing crap shareware versions of fighting games like Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat and knock-offs like Body Blows and One Must Fall (true PC gamers will know what I’m talking about and for you kids that don’t: google that *bleep*). With that in mind, it’s very interesting to hear of an ex-Capcom developer by the name of Tomoaki Sugeno (Suge9) tried his hand at bringing a fighter to the PC. Thus, we have been bestowed with Vanguard Princess, a 2D fighter about pixelated women that want to go all highlander on each other.

Vanguard Princess 1

Right off the bat,  Vanguard Princess’ opening menu reveals a lack of modes. The start menu only gives players the choice of story mode (which is really an arcade mode) and 2-on-2 versus. With the control options available, players only have the option to use a keyboard or a  game controller, with both giving you the ability to configure your button layout.  There’s no option that allows players to adjust the video resolution so they can’t customize the game to fit their monitor’s resolution, and the fact that you’ll have to press F4 to go into full-screen mode and Alt + Enter to return to window mode is just inconvenient. And on top off that, the menu does not offer an escape key, which I am pretty sure is standard for almost every PC program, unless pressing the ESC key to exit a program is going out of style.

Vanguard Princess 2

Jumping into the story mode, players have the choice between ten characters, as well as five assist characters that aid you in battle. They all fit under the standard generic anime female stereotypes. I had a choice between the casual Japanese schoolgirl, the conservative Japanese girl, the underage ten year olds and everybody’s favorite: The overly revealing sexy chicks (all of them ranging differently on the pixelated bouncing cleavage scale). The character sprites are clean in design and well animated, but I felt that they are a little too big, almost to the point that they take up the entire screen. While playing a match, the camera felt so up close to the characters that when combined with some of the animated backgrounds with bright color palettes, the lack of contrast would make it hard to follow the action. There were times in matches where my eyes lost track of my character for just a second, and that can be enough to cost you the whole match. Mix that in with some flashy rainbow pop special effects and you have a game where button mashing can be the best option when squinting through the blinding mayhem.

Vanguard Princess 3

Even though Vanguard Princess characters come with their own unique playstyles, their differences are only there to mask the standard quarter-circles and charge moves found in every standard 2D fighter. This is not to say that familiarity is a bad thing, as fighting game fans will get a hang of the controls fairly quickly. There is diversity to be found when your have a pick of strikers, zoners and your up-close grapplers. Players are also aided by assisting characters that can deal damage, give you defense buffs, and grant you some vitality.  My issues with the core gameplay is that the move sets lack depth for players to really dive in, explore and experiment like you see in games such as Guilty Gear, BlazeBlu, and JoJo’s Bizarre adventure.  I also found out that the game’s practice mode could only be activated through the game’s versus mode.

Vanguard Princess 4

Overall, Vanguard Princess is a bare bones fighter that lacks a lot basic essentials to be a tournament worthy game. Suge9’s visuals were the strongest element in a game with its polished character design, but it feels like the product was going by a standard anime requirement sheet, which makes it feel plain and uninspiring. Its overall presentation misses that “WOW” factor that makes fighting games enjoyable to play & watch. In the end, it feels like the  developer took the lazy route by not having a proper option settings or an exit button within the game’s starting menu. Even with its five dollar price tag, it’s really difficult to warrant a purchase with so much missing from its surface. With better used fighting games that you can find in a bargain bin, Vanguard Princess should spend more in the gym before stepping into the ring.

Vanguard Princess 5

DDO: Shadowfell Conspiracy – New Dungeon!

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Today, Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots from the upcoming expansion for Dungeons & Dragons Online Shadowfell Conspiracy!

These new screenshots depict A Lesson in Deception, a new dungeon in DDO’s upcoming expansion. Someone is trying to unite all of the criminals of Wheloon and achieve unrivaled power. Travel through the twisting back alleys of this dangerous prison city, pose as a new recruit, and discover the hidden mastermind behind this newly-unified gang.

 

Dungeons & Dragons Online

Shadowfell Conspiracy launches August 19, and you can find additional details and prepurchase information for the expansion on DDO.com.

OnRPG Shotgun News 7/8 Pt1: Neverwinter, WoW, Guncraft, and more!

By Shannon Doyle (Leliah), OnRPG European News Editor

 

Neverwinter Unveils Campaign System

Malabog Castle

As part of the upcoming summer update to Neverwinter players will get to use an all new UI for a brand new Campaign System. In it players will find projects they’ll have to complete to unlock new areas of the new Sharandar area, get new passive powers for their characters and more. This will also be the way to gain access to the MalabogCastle dungeon. The Fury of the Feywild is expected to launch sometime this summer, so keep your eyes peeled.

 

World of Warcraft to Experiment with Microtransactions

Deep on the World of Warcraft forums, hidden on page 9 of an 86 page long discussion Jonathan Brown, World of Warcraft Senior community rep (aka Zarhym) broke the news that Blizzard is experimenting with a way allow players to make purchases within the game, microtransactions. This has sparked a huge debate and even a hashtag campaign #NOWOWCASHSHOP

 

Pockie Pirates Celebrates First Anniversary

pockie_pirates

Pockie Pirates is celebrating one year of being live! With it the level cap has been raised, two new maps have been added on top of some awesome new shiny gear. And if you’ve been away a while you can log in to get some special rewards. Congratulations on your first year!

 

Guncraft Introduces Twitch Integration

Using Twitch’s Software Development kit Exacto Game Studio has integrated Twitch streaming into Guncraft. This means no software will be needed to stream matches, something that is slowly becoming an industry standard for shooters.