All Entries in the "MMOG" Category

Purchasing FFXIII tomorrow? You Shall Be Rewarded!

No special, collectors or limited editions of FFXIII in North American makes me a sad panda. You know what partially makes up for it? This little tidbit of info from the FFXIV beta site: There is apparently a FFXIV beta invite code in retail copies of FFXIII. Howe Squeenix kept this quiet until the day before release is anyone’s guess, but hey, more power to them.  Hit the jump for the new details from the beta site, which also includes hints about the upcoming PS3 beta of the new MMO.

NCSoft Offers Ordering Bonus for Aion Digital Magazine

See, World of Warcraft isn’t the only MMO around that can have its own magazine!  NCSoft’s hit MMO Aion is also receiving its own magazine, well, sort of.  This is an all-digital magazine, but it still comes with a subscription price!  Luckily when you place a subscription you’ll get some bonus in-game items, depending on which subscription you want.

Free Realms: Nine Million Players and Counting

Free Realms, an MMO developed by Sony Online Entertainment, has surpassed nine million registered players, SOE announced today.

“With Free Realms, we’ve been able to reflect the needs and wants of our players by keenly listening to their suggestions and feedback,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “We believe the persistent exercise of capturing in-game research inside Free Realms has been a huge contributing factor as to why we’ve attracted over nine million players in less than a year. It truly helps us give our players a game where they can do and be whatever they want.”

Recap Of VanaFest 2010

On February 28th, Square-Enix hosted their 8th installment of VanaFest.  What is VanaFest, you may ask?  Well, allow me to tell you.  VanaFest is an event started back when FFXI, Square-Enix’s cross-system MMO giant, was just a little, wee tot and fresh off the presses.  Each VanaFest highlights a new anniversary for this stellar game, and if you are as smart as I’m hoping you are, yes, this means it’s been running for 8 long years.  Which reminds me just how old I am, as I recall starting out my gaming adventures with this very game.

Massively Multiplayer Gods & Heroes Is Back On!

Game development studio and online publisher Heatwave Interactive announced yesterday that they have acquired the award-winning Intellectual Properties of Gods & Heroes.  The company will bring Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising, which was halted in production during closed beta in 2007, to Massively Multiplayer Online fans soon!

New WoW Raid: The Ruby Sanctum

Attention all raiders!   Today Blizzard announced a new raid dungeon that will be releasing in patch 3.3.5, The Ruby Sanctum!   And before you say it, yes we are still awaiting the content patch for 3.3.3, but I know all you raiders are twisting your hands anxiously, feeling the itch to slay another host of bosses.

Rumor: Final Fantasy XI Servers Shutting Down This Year

If the report on Gamegrep is to be believed, Square-Enix’s long-running MMO Final Fantasy XI will be closing its doors sometime this year.  FFXI has been up and running for eight years and, to this date, it’s still the only successful cross-platform MMO.  It started off in Japan on the PC, then moved to Western regions.  Eventually the PS2 version was released, being one of the only real uses for the hard drive attachment for that system.  Finally it was released on the Xbox 360.

We’ll file this solidly under the rumor department for now, but, in a way, it may make sense.  Their new effort, Final Fantasy XIV, will likely be taking over a lot of time and possibly development staff, and the resources being expended to keep FFXI afloat may be required elsewhere.  This is, for the most part, what was stated on the personal blog of a human resource employee at Square-Enix.  It has since been removed.  Confirmation?  No, but it is suspicious.

The entire game with its major expansions, sans the latest small mini-expansions, is available for under $20US at numerous retailers, something that, in and of itself, doesn’t necessarily spell doom and gloom for the title, but at least if you went out and bought it now, you will be secure in the knowledge that you didn’t spend a whole lot on it.  Remember, take this with a grain of salt, folks.  It wouldn’t surprise me if it’s true, however.

[VG247]

MMO Dofus Valentine’s Day Event

Any of our Massively Multiplayer Online loving readers out there playing Dofus 2.0 right now?  With over 25 million players worldwide this MMORPG stands out because of its vibrant manga-inspired graphics.  This game is something manga and MMO fans should definitely check out and what better time then now?  You can play for free in the Non-Member (F2P) zones or subscribe for more by signing up at the website.  Read below about the event:

For a limited time, players will encounter puffball-like creatures called Gobballs, and learn that these creatures have been fed special chocolates consisting of a blended of chili and other spices, to accelerate their reproduction. But as it turns out, the chocolates have made these Gobballs sick – chronic Chocrosis – and as a result is turning them aggressive, as well as changing their coloring temporarily to pink.

As this love sickness spreads – luckily the contamination will only last one day, February 14^th – Gobballs will attached themselves to players in the DOFUS world. Players confronting the afflicted Gobballs can earn a special box of chocolates if they win the match.

To find out more about the Valentine’s Day Gobball Massacre in Dofus, please visit: www.dofus.com.

LEGO Universe Beta Announced

MMO fans who want a little change in their life will be getting it soon. Beta sign-ups for LEGO Universe has begun and MMO fans will have fun with this one. Looks like the Ultimate LEGO Adventure is coming. Check out the video below and sign up for the beta here http://universe.lego.com/en-us/Beta/Default.aspx . More info on LEGO Universe will be coming soon, stay tuned to DualShockers for all the latest news.

$10,000 Wish Sweepstakes for Dragonica Online

Do you want to win $10,000?  Who Doesn’t?  Well, why do you?  What would you wish for that $10,000 could grant?  THQ has teamed up with ICE Entertainment to bring you Dragonica Online the free-to-play Massively Multiplayer Online game, and now they are asking you exactly that with the Wish Big for 2010 Sweepstakes!

Entering to win this sweepstakes is quite simple and painless!  Simply visit The Wish Big for 2010 Sweepstakes Page and either log in to your free THQ*ICE Passport ID or create one, then become a fan of the Dragonica Online Facebook fan page as well as a follower of its Twitter account (links to these displayed on the sweepstakes page) and submit your wish.  When 10,000 people, combined, follow their Facebook and Twitter THQ*ICE will grant one lucky contestant’s wishes!

For those who don’t know Dragonica Online is a revolutionary free-to-play MMO rated E10+ for Everyone over the age of 10.  The game is set in a world of dragons and magic and combines the thrill of beautiful interactive environments set in 3D battlegrounds with blazing fast fighting arcade style combat!  The game is set to breathe a fresh gust of creativity into the genre of traditional side-scrolling MMOs.

It should be noted that unfortunately residents of NY, FL, RI, and Quebec have been deemed ineligible by THQ*ICE and can not win this sweepstakes.  If 10,000 supporters are not reached by April 10, 2010 for the Dragonica Online Facebook and Twitter combined then a winner will be announced on this date.

Star Trek Online Has Over One Million Players

No one could’ve expected anything less from a game that carries the name “Star Trek,” let alone an MMO that lets you experience the vast universe that is Star Trek.  There are probably more Star Trek fans in this world than there are Buddhists – ok, maybe that’s a bold statement, but the amount of Trekkies that permeate this world is unbelievable. So, in reality, it doesn’t come as a surprise when publisher Atari revealed that the company’s established MMO has already attracted over one million registered accounts in it first release week – which, undoubtedly, will grow in the coming weeks.

But, when we look at the number of MMOs who’ve crossed the path of World of Warcraft, we can only begin to wonder whether or not Star Trek will suffer the same fate of deniability. However, when we count the amount of Star Trek enthusiasts out there, and just think of how 90% of them will use this as a means to grasp this expanding universe and “role play”, one can only think that it will do fairly well, given that it has undergone a pretty impressive start.

My stomach churns as I ponder on the amount of Star Trek nerds currently sitting in front of their computers munching away on dehydrated space food with an undersized Star Fleet sweater, adhesive Vulcan ears, and a tub of Jello which they disgustingly slurp, as they talk into their greasy headsets shouting Star Trek lingo at one another, all while molding a cast of their bodies on their helpless fart-infested chairs. Sadly, I’ll be joining these folks.

Hear the World of Azeroth like never before!

Sound Blaster and Blizzard have teamed up to produce the World of Warcraft Headset, which has WoW gamers specifically in mind. The WoW headset features cutting-edge uncompressed wireless audio technology and THX TruStudio PC bringing the gamers the ultimate World of Warcraft experience while not breaking the bank. Gamers can even declare their WoW allegiance with the interchangeable headset lenses bearing the marks of your chosen faction and 16 million programmable color illumination options to match any characters gamers can throw at it. Check out the features and specs from the Sound Blaster site: