Vikings: War of Clans is a strategy MMO set in the time of the Vikings, where the player takes the role of Jarl of a Viking town. Build a stronghold and train your troops to conquer your foes, join a clan and rise to the top of the leaderboards.
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Publisher: Plarium Playerbase: High Type: Mobile / PC MMORTS Release Date: August 15, 2015 Pros: +Great artwork. +Mix of RPG and strategy. +High production values. Cons: -Pay-to-win elements.
One Piece Online 2 (also known as One Piece 2: Pirate King) is a 2D MMORPG based on the popular Shonen Jump manga and franchise, One Piece. Follow the story of One Piece in this sequel to JoyGames' One Piece Online, recruiting characters from the universe as you fight many of the battles found in the original manga.
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Publisher: JoyGames Playerbase: Medium Type: Browser MMORPG PvP: Arena Release Date: September 25, 2015 Pros: +One Piece universe. +Multitude of character abilities. Cons: -Pay-to-win elements. -Repetitive gameplay.
Altas Reactor is a sci-fi themed 3D turn-based strategy game that offers a unique twist to the typical tactics game. Players utilize a revolutionary four-phase turn system to plan out their attacks and take out opposing teams in instanced close quarter battle arenas. Atlas Reactor offers a refreshingly unique art style and gameplay concept.
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Publisher: Trion Worlds Playerbase: Shut Down Type: 3D Turn-Based Strategy Modes: 1v1 - 5v5 Competitive / Bot Matches Release Date: October 04, 2016 Pros: +Simultaneous turns mean no waiting. +Requires tactical gameplay and teamwork. +Innovative concept and stylish animated art style. Cons: -Needs more characters (Freelancers). -Few maps. -Slight learning curve.
Ryzom is a science-fantasy MMORPG where players forge their own path in a sandbox world, by leveling skills in one of four schools: Magic, Combat, Harvesting, or Gathering. Or players can mix and match skills to become a versatile character.
Blade: Sword of Elysion is a hack-n-slash mobile MMORPG that pits players against the Dark Lord, resurrected for the first time in years. Pick from three playable characters: Warrior Leo, Mage Reina, and Assassin Limon to enter the game’s dungeons and rack up massive damage with skills and combos.
Wildstar: Reloaded Gameplay First Look HD - MMOs.com
Wildstar: Reloaded Gameplay First Look by Omer
Wildstar: Reloaded is the free to play relaunch of NCSoft and Carbine Studio's original subscription based MMORPG Wildstar. The game dropped its subscription and embraced the free to play model on September 28, 2015. Looks like NCSoft is giving free to play another go, as they did the same with Guild Wars 2 on August 29, 2015. Wildstar: Reloaded is a sci-fi / fantasy MMORPG with beautiful anime inspired visuals. The game is set on the Planet Nexus where the game's two factions, The Exiles and Dominion, fight it out. This was my first time playing Wildstar and the 2 things I liked right away were the visuals and the fast paced action combat.
Black Eye Games announced today via press release that Gloria Victis has just received a "massive gameplay update." This update introduces the building and upgrading of fortifications. Walls, towers, gates, and even entire castles can be built from scratch. They can later be upgraded to be double-reinforced or to have added pots of boiling oil, for example. In the future, the developers plan to add the ability to build within fortifications. Such constructions might include player housing, spawn points, or siege machines.
This update also makes major changes to combat. Feints and kicks have been added to the combat system, both of which were requested by players. Kicking can break the player's block, even in PvE, and the team hopes that these additions will make combat more skill-based and less repetitive.
Right now, the team is working on last minute polish for the inventory and guild system overhauls. These should begin testing within the next few days. After that, they are moving on to implementing the basics of survival gameplay—hunger, alchemy, toxicity, and the effect of weather on the player. That update is expected to hit within the next few weeks.
Neople and Nexon's free-to-play online Ghost In the Shell FPS, First Assault, will begin its first beta test tomorrow and will run until October 4th. Those who reach level two during the test will get an "exclusive weapon skin" for use later. Those who play on Friday and Saturday between 1 and 3 PM PDT will be entered to win a "Logitech Ultimate Hardware Bundle."
The first test will include challenges that take place on the following three maps.
PSS9: The headquarters for the elite anti-terrorist squad Section 9, as seen in “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex” E08 Missing Hearts
Urban City: A dark Cyberpunk skyscape, as seen in “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – 2nd Gig” E02 Night Cruise
District Ruins: Dilapidated apartments blocks and shadowy concrete corridors, as seen in “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex – 2nd Gig” E04 Natural Enemy
For more information, head to the official website. Be sure to keep an eye on your inbox for beta keys!
Being in the military for a few years now I have learned the value of coffee. When I am not in the middle of a training cycle I show up to work during the week and hobble around for the first hour looking for a cup of coffee to get my day started. Just the sweet aroma alone is enough to start to make my senses tingle as they begin to wake up.
Depending upon what is on my plate for that morning I usually sit down at my desk, login to my computer, and start reading through all the various blogs and gaming sites that I try to keep up to date with while drinking my coffee.
As I was drinking my nectar of the gods on a particularly hot day here in the desert, I came across an article on Kotaku. Sometimes, you never know what you are interested in until it is presented to you.
Ever wondered how the workings of a contract are made between a publisher and a developer? Well, you can check out the rather large pile of information from 38 Studios, a failed development company founded by MLB player Curt Schilling in 2006. For those who do not know the company, 38 studios was the one that released the RPG Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
The Rhode Island Superior Court has released all of the information pertaining to an ongoing legal battle between publisher Electronic Arts and the developer 38 Studios.
While I could bore you with all the details I supplied the link for you to investigate if you wish to sift through the thousands of documents released. Instead, I want to talk about the interesting relationship that publishers and developers now have, and the pros and cons of having one.
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After reading into some of the documents released, reading several others’ opinion on the matter, and various articles, I started to look deeper into the gaming industry of today, and thought to myself, if I were a developer, why would I need a publisher?
The obvious answer I can give is that publishers offer the funding backbone that developers require. Not just to develop the game, but for advertisement and distribution as well. In the gaming industry today it is all about making money and being a publisher is where it is at.
Think of it like this. You have a fair bit of cash on hand and you see someone with a great idea who does not have all that money that you do to make their dream come true. So you invest in the idea and in turn hope to receive more than you gave.
For publishers this comes out of royalty fees and certain rights to some of the Intellectual Property. However, it seems the publisher makes more than the developer, essentially putting a leash on them. Ultimately the developer becomes entirely dependent upon the publisher.
This is where I start to see the problem with the relationship between the two, and also why games today are in such poor shape—save the few jewels that come out every now and then. The moment that contract is made (depending upon the publisher) the developer becomes pinched. The publisher does not care about the game itself; they only care about it making money for them. While understandable, as anyone who invests in something obviously wants a profitable return, it puts pressure on the developers to make their game.
They now have to reach certain deadlines, make changes if their publisher does not agree, release information for advertising and build hype for a game that is not complete yet. And sometimes that preemptive advertising is not even relevant. Often times, the game is released without it being what the developers had envisioned it to begin with. Changes were made, only for the sole purpose of trying to make more money.
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Again, understandable from a businessperson's point of view, but as gamers we feel betrayed. I myself have been playing Star Wars: The Old Republic—quite often recently—and Eve Online. The difference between the two’s development is readiy apparent.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is in constant development by BioWare, but while BioWare makes the game, their publisher Electronic Arts is at the helm steering the direction of it. In Eve Online, it is developed by CCP Games, with no publisher to get in their way. Granted, it can be argued many of CCPs design choices could use a lot of refinement. But they at least still have the final say in what they want to do with their game.
That said though, Eve Online was a fluke success, giving CCP the opportunity to skip the whole publisher process. In BioWare’s case, the situation was different. They had an ambitious project they wanted to undertake but needed a large lump sum of cash to get the ball rolling. Those voice actors have to be paid somehow.
While many argue that BioWare should have stayed out of the MMO scene, and stuck with their single player track record, the overall success of Star Wars: The Old Republic is evident, especially after it went free-to-play. Although, I cannot help but feel like the game would have been much better had BioWare made the game without the backbone of a publisher. While the funding was nice, as well as all the various other aspects of support, I still feel as though it is only making them drag their heels in the dirt as they continue to try and develop their game.
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With the ever growing popularity of crowd funded games—popping up every month it seems—it would appear that my opinion on the subject is not alone. That said, however, I still feel as though there is a place for a publisher in the gaming industry.
It is a double edged sword if you ask me. On one side, you can receive the funding you require to make your game, but on the other, you are now bounded by a contract which ultimately puts the games progress in the hands of the people who invested in you—the publisher.
With crowd funding the current fad right now, only time will tell if the need for a publisher will be needed in the future of gaming.
I am definitely interested in reading everyone’s thoughts on the matter however, so please leave a comment!
Wakfu may be newer but Ankama Games' flagship product is undoubtedly Dofus. It is unsurprising, then, that it would be the one to receive a mobile edition, as was announced today on the official Dofus website. The team has been working for months to adapt "nearly 10 years of content to tablets" and they are almost ready to show off their hard work. Soon, this new edition will soft-launch in France, in closed beta form, with other countries to be included at a later date.
DOFUS Touch – A world of adventure at your fingertips!
There are several important things to note about Dofus Touch. You will not be playing on the same servers as PC players and, thus, will not have your PC character. According to the post, it is "extremely difficult to synchronise the two versions" and "the developers could work day and night to catch up to the PC version, but they’d never get there." As a result, Dofus Touch will launch as "the equivalent of the 2.14 update," rather than being 1:1 with the PC version. Dofus Touch will not have a subscription model, either, instead opting for "an economic model more in line with other tablet games."
Exact dates for the closed beta phase have not yet been announced.
