Eve’s Core Release System allows you to go into battle with intensified, automatic attack and defense moves.
Yearly Archives: 2014
Moon Hunters Pre-Alpha Gameplay Teaser
Presenting the first footage from Moon Hunters as it launches its Kickstarter.
Elsword: Aisha Memorize System Preview
Aisha’s new Memorize System lets you assign up to 3 skills in your preferred sequence to be triggered with a single button.
Oort Online Development Interview
By Blair Nishkian (Tagspeech)
These days, it’s all about voxels – modular polygons in sandbox worlds that make up an entire realm that players can shape, process, move, and otherwise manipulate. It’s the first step on the road to truly interactive and immersive virtual worlds, and it began most notably with the soaring success of Minecraft. Since then, dozens of studios have been racing to make the Next Big Thing after Minecraft. One of the most striking efforts in this regard are those of Wonderstruck Games, and their project: Oort Online.
Using the Windows Beautiful Voxel engine, the folks at Wonderstruck are sticking to their belief that voxels can indeed be pretty, even breathtaking, especially when combined with modern graphical voo-doo. The screenshots speak for themselves. But there’s more to the project than simply making a prettier Minecraft – this a genuine effort to make a vast, interconnected series of procedurally-generated worlds, all existing within a unique game canon that features an assortment of races, and a story for each planet that exists in the form of ancient, primeval guardians.
I sat down with Robert Wyle, one of the big-shots over at Wonderstruck, and we had a frank discussion about Oort Online, its progress, and how players have been shaping the development cycle since they allowed access to key backers – this is a Kickstarter project, after all. What good idea isn’t, these days? According to Robert, the funding is going well. Slow but steady, they see an influx of new backers every week, and are on track to fulfill some of their most basic development goals. Even if the game is shy of massive stretch goals, they still have plans to make it a profitable and flourishing enterprise post release.
That’s a funny concept these days, isn’t it? It used to be that release dates were set in stone, but now, with so many community sandbox titles being crowdsourced and tested by the players themselves, the concept of a solid release has become more and more nebulous. Oort Online is no exception, as Mr. Wyle confirmed. The Wonderstruck approach has been to simply ask the players themselves via survey. “Do you think the game is ready for release?” it might say. What better way to gauge a product’s completion? Whether the heavy involvement of the players themselves in the process of a game’s development is for better or worse remains to be seen in the long-term, but there’s no denying that having immediate and direct access to a chatty community is a boon for the creators themselves.
Not that Wonderstruck is flying blind without their community – far from it. Anyone who even glances at their Kickstarter page will see a sleek, professional layout and a pedigree of collective accomplishments from many different industry veterans. Oort Online may be the ‘AAA’ of Kickstarter projects, at least by appearances and presentation alone. The game has a clear, thoroughly-mapped vision, and a great idea of who is playing, who is interested, and what they want for the game. Mr. Wyle confirmed that they would of course love to be the Next Big Thing in sandbox-voxel MMORPG gaming. Who wouldn’t be? If they didn’t believe their game could achieve such status, they’d have never begun the project in the first place. Given the team’s focus and professionalism, it’s easy to get excited on their behalf at the prospect.
But the competition is stiff. Similar games are in the works, with Landmark and EverQuest next being Sony’s huge, snarling dog in this particular fight. Whether or not their complex approach to voxels proves too expensive and punishing on client-side systems remains to be seen, of course. Smaller titles like Oort Online will have to work hard to distinguish themselves in the coming melee, and Wonderstruck is doing just that. Mr. Wyle said that they were surprised at how focused players were on making sure the various races and species in the game were fleshed out, and that the setting itself remained distinct and colorful. Aesthetics and immersion do matter to players, it seems, and if Oort Online can remain charming and unique, it should have no problem distinguishing itself in the future.
Surprisingly, the technical challenges of linking an infinite number of procedurally-generated worlds online is not as great as they’d initially thought. And so the goal has become to make sure that players have as much control as they like over individual worlds, by setting PVP rules, building settlements, and drafting their own constitutions, so to speak. The end result will be planet after planet connected by great, big portals, which are powered by the mystical Oort stones. The possibilities for adventure and mystery are intended to be quite endless. Let’s hope this charming game keeps its head above water and continues to shine in the coming deluge of Next-Gen MMORPGs.
Interstellar Marines Co-Op Teaser Trailer
Unite against a common enemy, coming in September.
Celtic Heroes Mobile Trailer
Celtic Heroes brings a fully fledged fantasy MMORPG world to Android and Apple mobile devices.
Diablo III Patch 2.1.0 Breakdown Trailer
Get ready for the latest addition to Diablo III including seasons for specialized play session goals with a competitive twist.
APB: Reloaded Arrives on Perfect World’s Arc Platform
Perfect World Entertainment announced today the release of APB: Reloaded on Arc, its platform for publishing and accessing the best free online games. The Arc community can now divide between Enforcers, the vigilante justice faction, and Criminals, the anarchist faction, to protect or destroy the city of San Paro in this open-world action shooter. APB: Reloaded is the first game by a third-party developer to launch on Arc. For more information on APB: Reloaded on Arc, visit: http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/APB_Reloaded
Perfect World has also announced that additional highly anticipated third-party games like Path of Exile will be offered on Arc later this year.
With a single universal login, the Arc Client gives players access to a curated roster of games. Additionally, the Arc Client lets players experience their favorite online universes while seamlessly accessing information and resources for each game. Arc also connects communities across its list of titles with an array of social tools.
To download the Arc Client, please visit: www.arcgames.com.
Amazon Purchases Twitch for $970 Million
As Reuters reported on Monday, the Internet retailer giant Amazon has purchased streaming site Twitch for $970 million. This occurred after reports that the deal between Google and Twitch had failed. The deal is expected to close by the end of year.
Twitch Chief Executive Officer Emmett Shear was quoted as saying the following regarding the choice of Amazon:
“The reason why we reached out to Amazon, the reason I thought working for Amazon, having Twitch being a part of Amazon, would be a great idea for us (because) they would give us the resources to pursue these things that we honestly already want to pursue and they’d let us do it faster.”
Actual details as to what this will mean for both Twitch users and Amazon consumers are still vague and in discussion, but it’s very possible we’ll see future support for Twitch on Kindle devices and better monetization for Twitch advertising and partner sales in the future.
A thank you letter from Twitch’s CEO can be read here.
Hazard Ops Launch Trailer
The EU rendition of the best new shooter on the market hits full launch. Catch the feature video for Hazard Ops.






