Yearly Archives: 2014

PAX Prime 2014 – Where have the MMORPGs gone?

By Blair Nishkian (Tagspeech)

 

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All around the world, developers, press, and gaming enthusiasts are charged up for a very special time of year – a time of year when thousands of people cram themselves into arenas, mill about in packs, listen to lectures, watch presentations, and collect souvenirs. It’s convention season. This is the time of year when the whole of the gaming industry puts on their best hat, gathers at a snazzy show, and does their best to dazzle anyone and everyone that will take a look.

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For the past ten years, these sorts of conventions have only gained in size and popularity, their growth on par with the relative growth of the gaming industry’s role in the world economy. But what drew all of this money into the industry to begin with? MMORPGs, of course. The blazing success of World of Warcraft and its transformation of Blizzard from a respected Art House studio into an economic elder god drew every executive and business major in from a worldwide radius. There was blood in the water. They’d built themselves what seemed to be a perpetual-motion machine of profit.

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But after MMORPG project after MMORPG project tried and failed to compete in the literally impossible MMORPG market, publishers despaired. They had not yet toppled their hated foe, on account of not really seeming to understand the nature of the genre, or even the finite nature of the amount of people willing to pay for and play those types of games. Then, along came free-to-play, DLC, and microtransactions. That was when the whole ordeal became a veritable feeding frenzy of profit-driven game development, and it began what some would call a dark age in gaming. Nothing anyone did seemed to be about the games themselves anymore. Immersion, storytelling, and simple fun-factor took a backseat to digital content with price tags, the next big MMORPG cash cow, and five-dollar DLC installments that really didn’t cost anyone much of anything to make (but it’ll cost you plenty).

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When will it end? Well, there’s hope on the horizon. Convention season is like a barometer for the general climate of the gaming industry. And right now, the winds of change are blowing. It seems that the MMORPG slaughter, that long, hopeless war in which publishers sent hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars down the drain in an attempt to dethrone WoW, leaving the charred, laid-off corpses of so many innocent game designers and starry-eyed devs strewn across a hellish, blasted landscape – ahem – it seems that era is coming to a close. It would seem that, in fact, publishers and executives with dollar-signs for eyes are finally realizing that WoW is impossible to kill or compete with, and that there are other, more lucrative and certain enterprises to be tapping into.

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These days, as a member of the press, it’s impossible to only book MMORPG meetings at these conventions and still fill a full daily schedule. In fact, as many of my personal interviews and online press events might lead you to believe, a huge part of the MMORPG sector is shifting over to small, indie, crowdsourced projects that just don’t have the money to waste on stupendous, AAA marketing schemes at convention centers. It would seem, in fact, that the bloodlust is receding, now fully-occupying the realm of dedicated competitive multiplayer games, single-player games with squad-based multiplayer features, and basically anything that can be monetized through the use of a ‘booster pack’ gear purchasing system. The gaming gods have spoken – MMORPGs shall henceforth be sandbox affairs, with voxels maybe, and probably some player-driven rules about realms and individual worlds. We all asked for it, and for better or worse, we’re probably going to get it.

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In ten years, are we going to be seeing these small, humble independent MMORPG titles blasting their presence out off the top of skyscrapers and shooting T-shirt cannons at a convention center? Are they going to be the juggernauts of tomorrow? Who can say. It doesn’t seem likely. The MMORPG is and always was a genre about community, and quite honestly, insular, clique-ish interaction between individuals of the community. At their best, they’re a tight-knight tribe of escapists allied closely with the developers that actually shape and maintain the world they inhabit. With the earlier and earlier involvement of players with the development process of these games, the line between player and developer is being blurred.

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In MMORPGs, it’s not about the hype or the marketing or the hooplah – MMORPG gamers want a reliable, immerisve, stable world to escape into. They want to know their holdings and their investment will be safe. Huge, expensive titles aren’t conducive to that. Small, easily-controlled and monitored development cycles are. It’s highly unlikely that the MMORPG of tomorrow will have much to do with fancy, over-the-top marketing campaigns and convention shows, because the MMORPG is poised to become something entirely separate from traditional gaming.

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We’re quite possibly beginning to see the divergence between video game and virtual reality or metaverse creation. One is an entity designed to entertain and delight, to test reflexes or provide a brain exercise, while the other is explicitly designed to be a kind of new, digital frontier for world-weary people to escape into. That’s what they were in the 90’s, and that’s what they’re becoming again – this time, in ways far more intricate and strange than ever before. Minecraft really changed the way we look at sandboxes. The MMORPG of the next decade or so is going to be a strange, wondrous beast. They will most certainly differentiate themselves from simple ‘online games.’

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They will, by virtue of their very nature and the nature of those who seek them out and design them, become something entirely new – something that just won’t have time for conventions. They will, in their own strange way, become like virtual city-states, walled off from the rest of the world, and entirely self-sustaining within their own select genre, swapping players amongst one-another, and perhaps even one day setting up rules of emigration and immigration between titles. It’s a brave new world for gaming. The holy grail of total immersion and VR simulation is far, far off, but it is, as always, the ultimate goal. By the time we’re old and grey, it may be out just in time to make us feel young again. Hooray, technology and escapism!

Wakfu Steam Closed Beta Key Giveaway

OnRPG has partnered with Ankama to celebrate the free to play conversion of Wakfu alongside its official Steam launch with a closed beta key giveaway! And information has just arrived confirming that the closed beta won’t end with a wipe. All progression and items earned will transfer to the live servers!

Touchdown in the World of Twelve and set off on a great adventure in WAKFU – an original massively multiplayer online role playing universe where humor goes hand in hand with action-packed, tactical battles.

Climb Mount Zinit in search of Ogrest, the fearsome ogre behind the cataclysm that devastated the World, or mark your own path across the archipelagos who feverishly work to rebuild their once mighty nations. Become a warrior, politician, merchant, or craftsman, but whatever you choose… in WAKFU, everything depends on you!

 

 

To Redeem your Key:

  • Launch the Steam client software and log into your Steam account
  • Click the Games Menu.
  • Choose Activate a Product on Steam and enter you Beta Key
  • Follow the onscreen instructions to complete the process

Orcs Must Die Unchained: Update 1.4 Now Available

Robot Entertainment has recently released an update for their title Orcs Must Die Unchained on August 27th. The first expansion patch of Closed Beta brings their longest list of updates yet. Along with new features being added to the game, there are a ton of updates to existing features like Matchmaking, Guardians, Weavers, Combos, Leveling, Pack Rewards, and more. Expansion Patch 1.4 also introduces a new bear hero, Tundra! Tundra is a powerful Order master of Frost Magic, and a leader of grizzlies. He is a strong offensive hero with a powerful blizzard that disables traps.

For more info, visit https://forums.orcsmustdie.com/discussion/1986/expansion-patch-1-4-august-27th-2014/p1?utm_source=Orcs+Must+Die!&utm_campaign=357d77a2cf-Expansion_Patch_1_4_is_Now_Available_8_27_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b77db91fb4-357d77a2cf-356664893&mc_cid=357d77a2cf&mc_eid=73f8d8bf94

Interstellar Marines

Interstellar Marines is a co-operative first person shooter featuring persistent character development and skills.  It provides players with open ended gameplay and non-linear levels to explore, which range from space stations to planet surfaces.  Interstellar Marines focuses heavily on the narrative, letting all four players in a game feel like they’re driving the story forward.  Customization is also tantamount, as players are free to customize their equipment freely, letting you stand out from your peers.

Features

Heavy Realism:  Interstellar Marines puts gameplay, graphics, and story as equals.  As equals, they are all top notch.  Experience the riveting story with up to four people per game, or experience it in single player modes.

Customization:  Interstellar Marines maintains persistent character data, allowing you to develop your skills as you need them.  You’re also free to customize your equipment to match your tastes!

Interactive Environments:  Whether you’re scouring the halls of a space station, or trekking the surface of a planet, Interstellar Marines gives full interactivity in the worlds around you.

Non-linear Gameplay:  Experience the game how you want to!  Being open ended invites many different opportunities to try new things, explore areas in a different fashion, and play the game in your own, unique style.

Heroes & Generals: Rommel Update Introduces ‘Generals”

Heroes & Generals

Reto-Moto has just released a new update for Heroes & Generals, nicknamed ‘Rommel’ and this time they have primarily focused on giving the ‘Generals’ part of the game an overhaul. The most significant change in this update is the introduction of officer ranks and generals characters.

“I’m personally very excited to finally add generals as characters in Heroes & Generals,” said Jacob Andersen, Game Director at Reto-Moto. “The Rommel update is an important update, as it wraps up our vision with the character progression tree, so you may start your career as a foot soldier and work your way up to become an officer and finally a General in order to command armies and wage war resources. ”

The officers and generals control the Assault Teams that provide the ressources other players fight with in the shooter missions. So skilled generals can make a major impact on the chances for their faction to win the war by coordinating attacks in realtime with other generals, managing war resources cleverly and maneuvering army units across the, now much larger campaign map, that covers most of Europe.

Besides the Generals characters, the Rommel update also adds the highly requested FG 42 and M1 Carbine weapons for the Paratroopers, new conditions for how you win a war, a much larger campaign map, improved vehicle handling for tanks, a repair wrench for vehicles and much more.

The Rommel update is the first major update for Heroes & Generals, since it was released on Steam Early Access on the 11th of July. 1.5 million players have installed H&G on Steam, raising the total playerbase to more than 2.6 million registered players.

The full changelog for the Rommel update can be found here: http://forum.heroesandgenerals.com/viewtopic.php?f=63&t=21878

Stronghold Kingdoms: Labor Day Update Now Live

Stronghold Kingdoms

Firefly Studios has opened a new game world for their growing castle MMO Stronghold Kingdoms, accurately based on the present day map of North America. Since launch more than 3 million players have signed up to Stronghold Kingdoms, with hundreds of thousands online every month. It also remains one of the most actively played games on Steam.

With 11 unique maps based on the real world geography of more than 40 countries within Europe and the Americas, Stronghold Kingdoms allows players to expand their virtual empire in a familiar environment and build their online castle close to home. The USA game world adds a new map based on North America, one of the largest maps across which players can fight over land.

The addition of a new USA server allows both new and experienced players to settle in a yet unpopulated world and take control of 11 different kingdoms, stretching from the shores of Pennsylvania to the grand Sierra Nevada. As one of the most popular free-to-play games on Steam, Stronghold Kingdoms is continuously expanding with new game worlds, providing safe and unclaimed environments for new players. In addition to adding new game worlds the Kingdoms team releases new gameplay content monthly in the form of community-driven updates, inviting players to shape the future direction of the game as it evolves.

Stronghold Kingdoms can be downloaded and played for free at: www.strongholdkingdoms.com