Tagged: MMO

Sep 28 2011

City Of Heroes: Freedom Brings The Franchise Into The F2P Market

Posted in Gaming News | Leave a comment | By: Klisk

City Of Heroes is looking mighty gray these days, the 2004 MMO standing the test of time longer than many of it’s competitors.

Of course, like all MMO’s, it’s numbers are dwindling. So enters City Of Heroes: Freedom, a F2P version of the game that likely hopes to draw in new players, and keep the title afloat for at least a little while longer. Naturally, there are some drawbacks for players that choose to play under the free model:

Free Players are restricted from certain systems within the game (alignment change, Day Jobs, Mission Architect, and so on), and they will not receive any live support unless they upgrade to VIP Player status. They can still access self-help support.

No surprise here, but I can see the game being a lethargic way to burn a weekend before you move on to something new. Besides, F2P is economical in times where your wallet is empty, and your collection of games has already been thoroughly ravaged and conquered.

Sep 28 2011

Guild Wars 2 Closed Beta Confirmed(?) For 2011

Posted in Gaming News | Leave a comment | By: Klisk

“We’re going to go into closed beta by the end of this year for sure,” lead content designer Colin Johanson reaffirmed to Eurogamer at the EG Expo 2011.

As announced by Eurogamer, Guild Wars 2 appears to be slated for closed beta starting as early as November 2011, according to designer Colin Johanson, and a recently translated French interview.

Perhaps this means we can look forward to a release date by mid to late 2012?

Jul 9 2011

Follow-Up Kliskpinion: What If It Isn’t A Kingdom Hearts MMO?

Posted in Editorial, Gaming News | Leave a comment | By: Klisk

The main thing that makes a KH MMO a difficult sell is the fact that, well, let me sum it up: Disney. They’re not going to particularly want their characters on an ever evolving online world where their franchise(s) could, arguably, be slandered and graffiti’d by online hooligans. The ‘Disney Factor’ cannot be forgotten, and while Square-Enix has a lot of leniency for the offline Kingdom Hearts games, don’t think for a  moment that there aren’t a ton of hurdles and pre-screening each title ultimately has to go through. Something that won’t fly on a fluid MMO.

But if not KH, then what?

Now, let me explain: I agree 100% with Fusion that a KH MMO would be an absolutely stellar idea. It would work oh so well. On the other hand, I tend to have gut feelings about things, and that is why this editorial is just that – My perception of the gaming industry from my experience from not only as a fan, but as someone whom has worked in it in the past. While all of Fusion’s points are dead on, the only issue I see is the fact that the game could arguably become something of an amusement park ride, where you’re barely playing the game so much as going along with it until you hit the end to celebrate with the rest of your level capped buddies. Most MMO’s are like this, aren’t they? Okay, not most… But Cataclysm sure took that route. Ooooh, burn. Wait, get it? Burn? Oh, never–

I digress,

Jul 5 2011

Why A Kingdom Hearts MMO Would Work

Posted in Editorial | Leave a comment | By: Fusionx

A few months ago, Square Enix let the cat out of the bag and told everybody that they were getting ready to reveal yet another MMO. An official announcement will be made before the end of this fiscal year (March 2012). Around the world you could hear thousands of gamers and fan boys alike saying “Wut?”. It’s no secret that Final Fantasy XIV has failed to meet expectations in more ways than one and Square Enix is currently putting all their efforts into saving their latest MMO. I’m not sure what comes as the bigger surprise here. That Square Enix has seemingly been working on two MMO projects at once? Or that they’re still struggling with FFXIV and announcing that they have another online title planned?

Either way, just as we all did those years ago when Rapture was announced, the speculation wheel has begun to spin and we have no idea what will come out when it finally stops. Judging from a recent financial meeting, it doesn’t appear that the game will be an entry to the Saga or Mana franchises. We know that Square Enix does plan to introduce a number of new IPs in the coming year. The question is, whether or not this new MMO will bear a familiar name or will it be something new?

After the disastrous tale of Final Fantasy XIV’s launch I would say it’s a safe bet that we won’t be hearing about Final Fantasy XV between now and March, but what about other games Square Enix has stashed away? What about Kingdom Hearts? Tetsuya Nomura has hinted that he’ll be announcing a new title in a future issue of Famitsu which could very well be the MMO title Square Enix has been working on.

Read on for my thoughts!

(more…)

Jun 19 2011

Spiral Knights, Sega’s F2P MMO, Now Available On Steam

Posted in Gaming News | Leave a comment | By: Klisk

Much like Champions Online, Sega is taking advantage of Steam’s MMO support by allowing their 2009 free-to-play title Spiral Knights available on the popular Valve service. As a huge perk, you can use your Steam account to play – No registering with Spiral Knights itself required.

I haven’t had a huge chance to play the game, but I can see it being a great time, especially for fans of the now dated Ragnarok Online.

May 25 2011

Square Enix Revealing New MMO “Sometime This Year”

Posted in Gaming News | Leave a comment | By: Fusionx

During a recent financial meeting, Square Enix President Yoichi Wada announced that the company is working on a big MMO in addition to the more recent Final Fantasy XIV. Wada stated “I think we will reveal it sometime this year”.

Also mentioned in their financial report, Square Enix has plans to “Revitalize our major MMO titles”. We know that the company is hard at work getting Final Fantasy XIV back up to the standards that it should have met with its September launch, however, no word on what the plans are for revitalizing Final Fantasy XI other than the roadmap released earlier this year.

We know that Square Enix has been working with Ankama games to publish Wakfu, however that’s already public knowledge. I think one of the bigger questions on people’s minds right now is whether or not this new MMO is going to be something completely original, or whether or not it will use an existing IP. Final Fantasy has been in the MMO spotlight for awhile now and with two titles out it would seem unlikely that this new game would have Final Fantasy in its title. Let the rumors of a Dragon Quest, Mana, Chrono, or Kingdom Hearts MMO commence!