Hail and well met, half-orcs and hobgoblins! Let’s open the door on last week’s MMO news and see how many skeletons fall out.
“Golden Guardian”Blizzard is really gunning itsWorld of Warcaftengines as it ramps up for BlizzCon (Oct. 21-22.) Mega-Patch4.3is being whipped into shape on Public Test Realms and when it’s ready for release, players will finally have the chance to destroy Cataclysmic villain Deathwing.
Blizzard is also set to offer up an in-gameGuardian Cub petfor sale that doesn’t bind-on-pick-up for purchasers and can be put up for sale in theWoWAuction House. Yes, Blizzard is allowing for the exchange of real world money for in-game gold in a roundabout way. The company will finally get a cut of the virtual gold exchange market for themselves. Smart move or the beginning of a real cataclysm? I can’t decide. Blizzsays“We’re ok with it if some players choose to use the Guardian Cub as a safe and secure way to try to acquire a little extra in-game gold without turning to third-party gold-selling services.”
Blizzard is alsoauctioning offold, retired HPWoWservers with 100% of the proceeds after auction expenses being donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Now, that’s a transaction I can firmly support without sweating the details. Lastly, Blizz says it won’t unveil the in-development “Titan” MMO at BlizzCon but the company may still reveal the nextWoWexpansion just in time to steal some thunder from the launch ofSWTOR. We’ll know soon enough.
“Global Strike”EA is out in “Force” (yeah, yeah) at New York Comic-Con this weekend showing offStar Wars: The Old Republic. For the last North American convention of 2011, BioWare Austinannounceda “Global” release date for all launch territories of December 20th (no more two-day delay for the EU.) Additionally, itwas revealedthat a total of 15 Flashpoints (major dungeons) will be in the game at launch and that making “severe” Darkside or Lightside choices will alter the appearance of player characters. If players are consistently evil enough perhaps they might end up looking as pale, hideous, and twisted as the Emperor. Yes, please!
“’Quest voted ‘Best’”Withered and ancient (12-year-old) MMO,EverQuest, hasbeen inductedinto the Game Developers Choice Online Awards Hall of Fame. SOE’s fantasy classic is the second inductee (joiningUltima Online) and has been recognized “for its contribution to the long-term advancement of online gaming, pioneering major shifts in the medium’s development and video games as a whole.”EQis also credited with “introducing the concepts of guilds and raiding within an online world.” Yep, you have them to love/blame.
“Free Fallen”The free-to-play conversion for post-apocalyptic MMOFallen Earthiscomplete and liveon servers as of last Wednesday. Players ready to rumble in the radioactive Grand Canyon wastes of 2156 can download the game from GamersFirst and get right to crafting 95% of the usable items in the game and capturing towns and territories. Rest assured, you’re able to hit the game Marketplace and spend real world money on “Chupacabra Perfume” if you so desire.
“Laying down the L.A.W”Speaking of post-apocalyptic persistence, Nitrozen has unveiled their upcoming title,L.A.W. (Living After War). A peek at theteaser sitesays the game will let players “Command and take direct control over ground and airborne units to battle your enemies for rare resources.” The game’s launch is planned for Q1 2012 and Closed Beta applications are being accepted. I guess we’ll call this one a PARTS (Post-Apocalyptic Real-Time-Strategy) MMO.
“Prime time”Extremely successful UK dev house, Jagex, makers ofRunscape, has begunshowing offits upcomingTransformers UniverseMMO. Details are still a bit thin but the game will be set in the Transformers Prime universe, be F2P, and run in a browser with only a small client download required. You can spy a teaser trailer at theofficial siteand prime yourself for the planned 2012 release.
OK, you angry dwarven drunkards, that’s going to wrap up another week in MMO news. Have a funshine day and keep it logged in.
—-
David Moore co-runstorwars.com, a site focused on all things Star Wars: The Old Republic, and has run the sitegamebunny.comfor the past ten years.
