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Those Damn Milleniums | User Error 21

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Lumina Desktop Preview | LAS 338

chris — Sun, 09 Nov 2014 18:50:21 +0000

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It’s one of our favorite things to do, we look ahead at the not too distant future of desktop Linux. Ken Moore from PC-BSD, and the creator of the Lumina desktop joins us to give us a tour of his new Qt based lightweight desktop.

Plus you know the old saying, where there is lots of blog rumors, there is fire. We’ll the rumor mill is hot hot hot with predictions of an Ubuntu based Tablet shipping very soon. But is it legit?

And the huge performance gain coming to Haswell Graphics users, the big Debian drama over the weekend….

AND SO MUCH MORE!

All this week on, The Linux Action Show!

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— Show Notes: —

Lumina Desktop Walkthrough with Ken Moore

Brought to you by: System76

PC-BSD Is Developing Its Own Desktop Environment

The PC-BSD project is developing its own desktop environment from scratch! The ultimate plan is for Lumina to become a full-featured, open-source desktop environment that may ultimately replace KDE as its default desktop environment.

Lumina Desktop · GitHub

Lumina-DE is a lightweight, BSD licensed desktop environment designed specifically for use on FreeBSD (although it should be easily portable to other Unix-like OS’s as well).

PC-BSD 10.0.3 Preview: Lumina Desktop

Lumina/10.1 – PC-BSD Wiki

The Lumina Desktop Environment (Lumina for short) is a lightweight, XDG-compliant, BSD-licensed desktop environment that focuses specifically on streamlining the ability to get work done while minimizing system overhead. It is specifically designed for PC-BSD® and FreeBSD, but has also been ported to many other BSD and Linux operating systems. It is based on the Qt graphical toolkit and the Fluxbox window manager, and uses a small number of X utilities for various tasks, such as numlockx and xscreensaver.
Lumina’s features include:

Very little system overhead.
Intelligent “favorites” system for creating quick shortcuts to applications, files, and directories.
ZFS file restore functionality through the “Insight” file manager.
Desktop system is plugin-based, which is similar to Android or other modern operating systems.
Simple access to operating system-specific functionality such as screen brightness, audio volume, and battery status.

System Dashboard

The “System Dashboard” button is located at the far right of the panel.

This button provides quick access to hardware-specific information or operations, as supported by your operating system. The possible menu entries are:

A slider for changing the audio volume for the system from 0% to 100%. If the operating system provides a mixer utility, an icon will also appear. Click the icon to launch that mixer utility for advanced control of the audio system.
A slider for changing the screen brightness from 0% to 100%.
The current status of the battery, if your system has one, and the estimated time remaining if that battery is discharging.
A listing of the number of virtual workspaces that are in use, with buttons to switch between the different workspaces.
The log out button for ending the desktop session. When the log out button is clicked, a window of choices will be displayed in the middle of the screen. The choices include: Log Out, Restart (if the user has permission), Shutdown (if the user has permission), Cancel (to exit the choice menu), and Lock Screen.
Lumina/10.1 – PC-BSD Wiki

Right-Click Menu

If the user right-clicks on the desktop, a menu of quick shortcuts will appear for instant access and the title of the menu will indicate the name of the workspace. While this menu can be customized, here is a quick summary of the default items on the menu.

Terminal: used to launch a system terminal. The default is xterm, but this can be customized.
Browse System: launches the file manager. The default file manager, Insight, recommended, but this can be customized.
Applications: provides a drop-down menu of all the applications registered on the system, organized by category and name. Click an application to launch it. There are also a few shortcuts at the top of the application menu: one for opening the user’s home directory, one for launching the control panel, if the operating system provides one, and one for launching the graphical application installer, if the operating system provides one.
Desktop Settings: contains shortcuts to configuration utilities for the Lumina desktop environment, such as the control panel, if provided by the operating system, the screensaver configuration utility, the desktop configuration utility (lumina-config), and the Qt configuration utility (if installed).
Unlock/Lock Desktop: used to lock or unlock the desktop plugins. When unlocked, desktop plugins become “active” and can be moved, resized, or removed from the desktop. It is recommended to leave the desktop locked during normal operations.
Snap Plugins to Grid: this option only appears when the desktop is unlocked. Used to align and resize all the desktop plugins on an invisible 32×32 pixel grid, with special adjustments to align on the bottom and right screen edges if necesssary, in order to provide a uniform appearance.
Log Out: opens the system log out window, with options to shutdown/restart the system (if the user has permission), log out of the desktop session, lock the system, or cancel the log out window.

Lumina Configuration Utility

The Lumina Configuration utility allows the user to configure every aspect of the desktop and is the recommended way to make changes. To launch this utility right-click the desktop and select “Desktop Settings” → “Desktop” or type lumina-config from an xterm.

Insight File Manager

The Insight file manager allows the user to easily browse and modify files on the local system on a per-directory basis. To open Insight, right-click the desktop and select “Browse System” or type lumina-fm from an xterm.

It is possible to open up additional directories through the tab system (use “Ctrl-T” or click “File” → “New Tab”), allowing the user to easily manage multiple locations on the system. Insight also features the ability to “bookmark” locations on the system for instant access via the “star” button. Once a location has been bookmarked, it will be available via the “Bookmarks” menu at the top of the window. Any removable devices that are available on the system will show up in the “External Devices” menu, if supported by the operating system. When an item is selected, the options on the left side of the screen will show the possible actions that may be taken with regards to that item. Possible actions include: open, open with (will prompt for the application to use), add to favorites, rename, cut, copy, paste, and delete. By default, the actions buttons are visible. They can be made invisible by clicking “View” → “Show Action Buttons”.

A few additional options may be available at the bottom of the window, depending on the directory being viewed and the types of files that are in it:

New Dir: the ability to create a new directory will become available if the user has permission to modify the contents of the current directory.
Slideshow: if there are image files in the directory, there is an option to view those image files as a slideshow.
Play: will appear if there are supported multimedia files in the directory. The types of files that are supported depends on what multimedia plugins are installed on the system. If a particular file is not recognized as a multimedia file, install the associated multimedia codec using the operating system’s application management software and restart the file manager.
Backups: if the system is formatted with ZFS and snapshots of the current directory are available, this button will appear. Snapshots are organized from oldest to newest, with the most recent snapshot selected by default, and the contents of the directory at the time of that snapshot are displayed. To restore a file or multiple files, select them from the list and click the “Restore Selection” button. If those files still exist and you want to overwrite them, make sure the “Overwrite Existing Files” option is checked first. Otherwise, if a file with that name exists, the restore will append a number to the end of the filename. For example, the first restored version of testfile.txt will become testfile-1.txt.

— PICKS —

Runs Linux

John’s my 70 foot display, Runs Linux…

Doremi Server Ingest A Moment in Projection – YouTube

Desktop App Pick

QWinFF, FFmpeg GUI front-end based on Qt4

QWinFF is a GUI for FFmpeg, a powerful media converter. FFmpeg can read audio and video files in various formats and convert them into other formats. QWinFF features an intuitive graphical interface and a rich set of presets to help you convert media files within a few clicks. Advanced users can also adjust conversion parameters in detail.

Weekly Spotlight

BOMB on Steam

Cool aircraft, big guns, dogfight thrill, single player, multi player, modding support, moustaches and ladies. You’ll like it.

BOMB is now available for Linux https://t.co/L0QafZXzo2 #indiedev #indiegame #linux #linuxgaming

— La Moustache Studio (@LaMoustacheStud) November 7, 2014

La Moustache Studio on Twitter: “BOMB is now available for Linux “

War Thunder – Next-Gen MMO Combat Game now available on Linux!

War Thunder is a next generation MMO combat game dedicated to World War II military aviation, armoured vehicles, and fleets. You will take part in many of the major combat battles fought during World War 2 and the Korean War, fighting with real players from all around the world.

— NEWS —

Canonical Confirms Involvement in Ubuntu Linux Tablet

According to emails from Andrew Bernstein, who has emerged as the public face of the UT One tablet project, Canonical “certainly will be involved” in the production of the tablet, which will feature an Intel x86 processor.

Ubuntu Linux Tablet is Real, Pre-Orders Start Before the end of This Year
Operating System U by Andrew Bernstein — Kickstarter
The UT One runs Ubuntu Touch on a quad-core, Intel Atom Z3735D system-on-chip of the tablet-focused, 22nm Bay Trail-T generation, according to the Phoronix-reproduced UT One spec sheet.
The tablet’s SoC is said to run at 1.33GHz to 1.5GHz, and it’s accompanied by 2GB of DDR3L RAM, 16GB of storage, and a microSD slot.
The UT One’s 10.1-inch, IPS touchscreen is said to feature 1280 x 800-pixel resolution and a 16:10 aspect ratio. The screen has 10-point capacitive touch with automatic calibration.
The 254 x 170 x 10mm, 636-gram tablet is further equipped with front- and rear-mounted 2-megapixel cameras, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, and support for EVDO/WCDMA 3G cellular via a USB dongle, says Phoronix.
The tablet also offers a mini-HDMI port, a “USB 2.1″ port, a pair of speakers, and an audio jack. The 7900mAh battery is said to last up to eight hours and can be recharged via a DC port.

Major Performance Breakthrough Discovered For Intel’s Mesa Driver

The issue comes down to a difference in how hardware samplers were working compared to Intel’s Windows driver. LunarG passed along their findings to Intel’s Linux crew who with the help of their hardware engineers found a bit needed to make the hardware run faster.

Joey Hess Resigns From Debian, Unhappy With How It’s Changed

Joey Hess is now distancing himself from the Debian project as he resigns from his roles after being involved with Debian since 1996. In his parting remarks, Joey says his biggest regret over the past eighteen years is not speaking out against the Debian constitution.

Joey Hess played critical roles in the development of the Debian Installer, Alien, debhelper, and many other widely-used Debian components.

Re: piece of mind (Re: Moderated posts?)

Not that it would be easy to ditch systemd. But there’s a lot of FUD
going around here about sysvinit support rotting because systemd is the
default, while the fact is that Debian fFreeBSD doesn’t have systemd at
all, and all the init scripts will be kept working for that reason if
nothing else. Also, the tech committe decision was that Debian continues
to support multiple inits to the best of our ability[2]. And, the init
scripts are a relatively miniscule portion of the code in Debian, and
don’t tend to bit rot much anyway[4].

So most of our concern about being locked into systemd is that desktop
environments are coming to require it, and that systemd-shim may be hard
to keep working in the long term. But desktop environments like Gnome
were already requiring systemd before Debian switched to it; Debian
cannot hold back the tide.

Colin Watson Resigning from the TC

ownCloud Client 1.7.0 – A big update

ownCloud Client 1.7.0 is a big release. First and foremost, it supports
new features of ownCloud 7, for example the new sharing. ownCloud Client
1.7.0 now comes with overlay icons in the most popular file managers on
the supported platforms. The icons visualize the sync- and sharing state
of synced files on the desktop.

The second great new feature of ownCloud Client 1.7.0 is selective sync.
Within a sync folder, subtrees can be excluded from sync to the client.
That makes syncing of huge data sets easier to customize.

Apart from these two lighthouse improvements this version also brings a
significant amount of bigger and smaller improvements that make syncing
with ownCloud faster, more reliable and more enjoyable.

The Reports of Compiz’s death have been greatly exaggerated, 0.9.12.0 released

Mailing List Post

This is the first release of the Compiz 0.9.12 series. It consists of mostly smaller bugfixes, as befits a mature and stable project, but also some work to port the gtk-window-decorator to GTK+-3 to benefit some of the newer DEs. We have some wonderful and dedicated community contributors to thank for keeping this project going.

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The post Lumina Desktop Preview | LAS 338 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Linux Gaming for Everyone | LAS 311

chris — Sun, 04 May 2014 15:51:33 +0000

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Chris and Matt showcase some fun games for casual or hardcore gamers. From space shooters to fun puzzles, if you’ve been holding off on gaming for Linux we’ll change your mind!

Plus: Is Ubuntu for Android dead? Linus receives another award, the big update to Edward Snowden’s favorite Linux distribution…

AND SO MUCH MORE!

All this week on, the Linux Action Show!

Thanks to:

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— Show Notes: —

Linux Game Night:

Brought to you by: System76

Games for shooting us in the face this Sunday:

Team Fortress 2

Nine distinct classes provide a broad range of tactical abilities and personalities. Constantly updated with new game modes, maps, equipment and, most importantly, hats!

Star Conflict

Star Conflict is an action-packed, massively multiplayer space simulation game that puts players in the role of elite pilots engaging in a widespread interplanetary skirmish. Three thousand years have passed since the first colonists left Earth. Now the galaxy is divided between the militant star empires and independent mercenary groups.

Counter-Strike: Source blends Counter-Strike\’s award-winning teamplay action with the advanced technology of Source technology. Featuring state of the art graphics, all new sounds, and introducing physics, Counter-Strike: Source is a must-have for every action gamer.

Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball

The dodgeball FPS you\’ve always wanted! Race around a skate park in jet-powered roller-skate robots and nail each other with ridiculous mid-air trick shots.

Chris’ Game Bag

Star Conflict

Star Conflict is an action-packed, massively multiplayer space simulation game that puts players in the role of elite pilots engaging in a widespread interplanetary skirmish. Three thousand years have passed since the first colonists left Earth. Now the galaxy is divided between the militant star empires and independent mercenary groups.

Electronic Super Joy

Electronic Super Joy is a brutally hard platformer set in a world of pulse-pounding electronic music.

Life Goes On

Life Goes On is a comically-morbid platformer where you brutally sacrifice knights and use their dead bodies to solve puzzles. With death as your only means to progress, journey through trap-ridden worlds to find the Cup of Life.

Matt’s Game Bag:

Robot Roller-Derby Disco Dodgeball

The dodgeball FPS you\’ve always wanted! Race around a skate park in jet-powered roller-skate robots and nail each other with ridiculous mid-air trick shots.

Gomez is a 2D creature living in a 2D world. Or is he? When the existence of a mysterious 3rd dimension is revealed to him, Gomez is sent out on a journey that will take him to the very end of time and space. Use your ability to navigate 3D structures from 4 distinct classic 2D perspectives.

Star Conflict

Star Conflict is an action-packed, massively multiplayer space simulation game that puts players in the role of elite pilots engaging in a widespread interplanetary skirmish.

jmac217 ran down his favorite emulators

AdvanceMAME
DOSBox
ScummVM (Download Beneath A Steel Sky, it’s sequel coming out!)
- Stella – Atari 2600
- zSNES or SNES9x
- Gens – Sega consoles
- Mupen64plus – N64
- VisualBoy Advance – GB/C/A
- DeSmuME – DS
- ePSXe – PS1
- PCSX2 – PS2
- Dolphin – GC

Epic thread: Sunday\’s LAS: Game Day. Lets brainstorm!

— Picks —

Runs Linux

This K-9 doppelganger Runs Linux

Desktop App Pick

Speedometer

Measure and display the rate of data across a network connection or data being stored in a file.

Weekly Spotlight

mooOS

mooOS is an enlightenment 19 and/or unity 14.04/compiz(gnome 3.12) and/or Steam and/or XBMC based desktop out of the box, libre focused, privacy aware, livecd and basic installer aimed at experienced linux users or aspiring developers such as myself. mooOS is based upon Arch Linux and uses the Arch repos and AUR exactly the same as Arch Linux.

— NEWS —

Ubuntu for Android Is No Longer In Active Development

Canonical\’s Matthew Paul Thomas states in a bug report lodged on Launchpad, the issue tracker for Ubuntu the project, including its websites:

\”[The website] describes Ubuntu for Android as \”the must-have feature for late-2012 high-end Android phones. Ubuntu for Android is no longer in development, so this page should be retired, along with [the features section].\”

Tails reaches 1.0 – LWN

Version 1.0 of the privacy-centric Tails distribution was released on April 29. As the release announcement notes, the 1.0 release is an important milestone, but in the case of Tails, this milestone primarily designates the distribution\’s stability and increased adoption, rather than a significant new set of features

Linus Torvalds wins IEEE Computer Society\’s Computer Pioneer Award

Linus has been named the 2014 recipient of the IEEE Computer Society’s Computer Pioneer Award “for pioneering development of the Linux kernel using the open-source approach”.

The Computer Pioneer Award was established in 1981 by the IEEE Computer Society Board of Governors to recognize and honor the vision of those whose efforts resulted in the creation and continued vitality of the computer industry. The award is presented to outstanding individuals whose main contribution to the concepts and development of the computer field was made at least 15 years earlier. The recognition is engraved on a bronze medal.

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The post Linux Gaming for Everyone | LAS 311 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

New Show! Part 1 | In Depth Look

chris — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 17:07:48 +0000

We have a new show: TORked! A new podcast covering Star Wars The Old Republic from multiple perspectives. The show will provide the latest news, tips, tricks and game updates. Casual and hardcore players alike will find this show helpful as they deal with the potentially disorienting galaxy of SWTOR.

Direct Download:

HD Download | Mobile Download | MP3 Download | Ogg Download | YouTube

RSS Feeds:

HD Feed | Mobile Feed | MP3 Feed | Ogg Feed | iTunes HD Feed

Support the Show:

Purchase anything at Amazon.com
Purchase anything at Think Geek using this link
Purchase anything at Newegg using this link
Contribute directly on our donation page or check out our advertising options and reach millions of amazing people!
Grab our Chrome Extension and auto-tag your shopping session for us!

Show Notes

TORked Feeds

Friends Play Free

SWTOR Friends Trial and Free Weekend Pass Players

BIG Patch coming up.

A lot being added, going to be a big topic for TORked! Watch the patch trailer

Books:

Time Card

[asa]B001CWXAP2[/asa]

Game

[asa]B0067G55XS[/asa]

The post New Show! Part 1 | In Depth Look first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

PAX Prime 2011: League of Legends Interview

chris — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 08:33:39 +0000

Jeremy interviews LoL:Dominion producer, Mark Norris, to delve into what the unique gameplay mechanics of League of Legends may offer for an MMO gamer.

The post PAX Prime 2011: League of Legends Interview first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Rusty Hearts | MMOrgue 12

chris — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 07:45:17 +0000

As convention season rolls on, we’ve begun gearing up for GamesCom and PAX Prime. NCSoft and ArenaNet have started their hype engines in anticipation, and we’ve got information and opinions to share with you regarding their announcements.

The heart of today’s episode will be a hands-on first-impression gameplay extravaganza, of Perfect World Entertainment’s new side-scroller action RPG, Rusty Hearts. The game recently entered Closed Beta, and I’ve got gameplay and info to show you whether or not it’s worth your gaming time to get excited for the impending launch of this title.

Also, share your thoughts regarding the psuedo-MMO, League of Legends! Should the MMOrgue cover this wildly popular arena-style PvP game, or does it not have a place among discussion of the MMO industry?

Direct Download Links:

HD Video | Large Video | Mobile Video | MP3 Audio | YouTube

MMOrgue iTunes Feeds:	MMOrgue RSS Feeds:
HD Video iPad & Apple TV Video iPod Video MP3 Audio	HD Video RSS Large Video RSS Mobile Video RSS MP3 Audio RSS

Show Notes:

T-Shirt of the Week:

“I am the Chosen One”

CafePress
* I am the Chosen One – Baseball Jersey
* I am the Chosen One – Tee

Officially attending PAX Prime 2011

Aug 26-28
Maybe we can meet up?
+ Watch my Twitter (@JBJeremy) and Jupiter Colony for more info on that, but definitely let me know if you’re planning to attend.
+ This might also mean no official episode the week following, but I’m hoping to roll out mini-episodes filled with footage from the floor, interviews, and anything else I can shove my camera in front of.
+ More scheduling information on that will be announced in a future episode, as we draw closer to the convention.

Before we move on to today’s main editorials, I’d like to request your feedback on the topic of…

League of Legends

Are you interested? A current player?
I’m considering a future episode about the title due to some recent news coverage, to discuss the psuedo-MMO nature of this online arena game, but would like to hear thoughts from the community before I move forward with the planning and research.

Recent LoL news that’s caught my eye:

Ten LoL matches are created each SECOND (3.7 mil hours a day in-game)
LoL boasts 15million registered accounts

If you have any opinions to share on the matter, please head to our show page and post a reply at the bottom of that page.

NCSoft – new developments…

NCSoft announcing new MMO title at Gamescom

Announcement from developer = Carbine Studios
+ “…games that can adapt to you instead of the other way ‘round.”
+ While the game will be unveiled at Gamescom, they will also be at PAX where I’ll try and drag out more information, if they’re really innovating the MMO market.

MMOCrunch researches recent trademark registrations … but it’s just names, no details
* Influx
* Blighted Empire (rumored to have something to do with Guild Wars)
* Wildstar

The artwork on Carbine’s site gives the game world a decidedly fantasy flair, but also with what COULD be steampunk elements.

NCSoft obtains a controlling interest in smart phone app company, Hotdog Studios
(makers of mobile action RPG, Dark Shrine)
+ As an article on Massively points out, NCSoft has been very cautious about moving into the mobile gaming space so far, so this move came as something of a surprise.
+ May have something to do with the intention to develop an online mobile presence for Guild Wars 2…

Rusty Hearts – First Impressions

Official Homepage and Beta Signups

A side-scroller-ish hack & slash adventure grind, reminiscent of older console games like Double Dragon and Streets of Rage. But with the addition of persistent character advancement in the forms of skill and gear progression.

Gender-locked classes (cut scenes, story a focal point)
Camera-locked scroller experience
Repetitive grinding
Unique controls with a strange learning curve
Best on a controller, but UI doesn’t feel like a console port
Cash shop (items obtainable in-game via crafting, mostly)
STAMINA system limiting grind of dungeons (doesn’t eliminate ability to play, just lessens rewards)

So far, I get the impression that the gameplay is not deep enough to satisfy the average gamer, but may interest anyone that would enjoy an anime-take on a Castlevania-like story. And with its low-low pricetag (free), maybe a weekend jaunt would be in order to find out whether or not this unique multiplayer experience is up your alley.

Rusty Hearts is still in Closed Beta, but more invites are being sent out on a fairly regular basis. Keep your eyes on Perfect World Entertainment’s website to find out more about Open Beta, and the eventual launch.

Tease of the Week

Guild Wars 2 PvP and Customization Coming at GamesCom
Since these same demos are likely to be available at PAX, I may hold off on reporting until I’ve gotten a load of them myself.

Unless something BIG happens in the MMO world, next week’s episode will be dedicated to the Best of MMO music, using many of the suggestions sent in by you guys.

The post Rusty Hearts | MMOrgue 12 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

All Hail F2P! | MMOrgue 7

chris — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 20:56:00 +0000

Since the beginning of the year, nearly a dozen different subscription-driven titles have announced their intention to switch to various versions of Free-to-Play subscription models, across the MMO landscape. In today’s episode we’ll look at a few of the most recent additions to this playing field, and discuss the ins-and-outs of their particular takes on the F2P concept. How are they moving from premium subscriptions without alienating existing consumers? How will they market themselves to new gamers? Find out on this week’s MMOrgue!

Direct Download Links:

HD Video | Large Video | Mobile Video | MP3 Audio | YouTube

MMOrgue iTunes Feeds:	MMOrgue RSS Feeds:
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Show Notes:

Fallen Earth
Being republished by GamersFirst, who also recently resurrected APB

Corrections about GamersFirst — Ep. 2 of MMOrgue
Response from GamersFirst

I incorrectly stated that they are an Asian company. This is just flat-out incorrect, and I’d like to apologize to the crew over there for getting my wires crossed during my research phase.
To be frank, I got their acquisition and relaunch of APB mixed up with Hanbitsoft and the relaunch of Hellgate. Embarassing!
GamersFirst is actually a California-based company, and entirely stationed here in the Western market. And while they have a world-wide presence, they don’t consider themselves to be marketing to an “eastern” market by any means.
That being said, I believe my criticisms about their “Pay To Win” cash shop still stand, including the fact that this type of F2P model is more common, and more accepted, in the East.

Now… moving on to CURRENT news, GamersFirst announced about a week ago that they were partnering up with the makers of Fallen Earth. Shortly after that announcement, the info surfaced that Fallen Earth would soon be relaunched under a new F2P subscription model.

Since I have never gotten my hands on Fallen Earth, the best thing I can say about this move is that I will soon be able to do so. Without it costing me a cent.

This, I think, is a very important statement to nail home, about the concept of F2P in general…
- MMOs are seen as long-term investments, by the typical MMO gamers. We’re not generally looking for a game that will keep us entertained for a weekend, or a summer. We want longevity, community, commitment, and enough content to satisfy the cost of investing in a title.
- This attitude was ingrained in us from the standard Premium Subscription model, where a box costs as much as a standalone game, but then you also have to pay monthly to continue to play.
  - Under a F2P model, the client is generally given away free, and a huge portion of the gameplay is available without spending one red cent.
  - By eliminating this barrier of entry, you can accomplish two separate financial goals:
    - 1) MMO gamers accustomed to monthly subscriptions are now more willing to “try out” your title without having to drink your kool-aid.
    - 2) Gamers that are unwilling to pay monthly subscription fees are introduced to a whole new style of gameplay.
    - Even if only a small % of either type of gamer stick around, it’s still an improvement.

The core Fallen Earth team of devs will be staying in their current location, and remain employed as a separate game studio under Reloaded Productions (GamersFirst’s dev wing).

According to their dev blog, they hope that an influx of new players, and possibly more funding, will allow them to follow up on features and content that they’ve had plans for, but no resources to follow up on.

Subscription Tiers:

Free: Unlimited free trial. No reward points. Similar restrictions on trade & crafting to current “Trial” accounts.
Low Premium: Costs less than current sub. No reward points.
Mid Premium: Same as current sub ($15/mo). Monthly reward points. XP bonus.
High Premium: More than current sub. Monthly reward points. Bigger XP bonus. “Premium Aura” which allows many bonuses to be shared with their teammates. This aura stacks.

All tiers enjoy unlimited content. FE devs want you to play in their world with your friends, regardless of how much money either of you decide to spend on the product.
I’ll also say this: I’m not a fan of many of the design choices made in APB, but there appear to be different minds behind Fallen Earth’s transition. If they can steer away from the money-grubbing attitude present in APB – which they SEEM to be doing, based no their dev blog and community posts – then I could definitely see this breathing new life back into this rather unique, but barely alive, title.

These changes are supposed to take place in Q4 of 2011. Vague!

LEGO Universe

My Review at Ten Ton Hammer

Raise your hand if you didn’t see this coming. *raise*

Press Release

Why didn’t I see it coming? I mean, it was already cheap, and only a moderate success in the online space. Gazillion Entertainment already sold it back to LEGO Corp a few months back. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, so why does it?

Because it’s aimed at KIDS.

Cash Shops are a necessity of F2P models – it’s how you make money. LEGO U would need to make its shop easily accessible, without putting Daddy’s credit card in the hands of a spendy 10 year old with a passion for fashion.

So what is LEGO doing? NO CASH SHOP! Problem solved… kinda…

This is not a truly free-to-play version of LEGO Universe, as the headlines indicate. This free TRIAL version of LEGO U will only include 2 adventuring zones and one personal property area, whereas the full game features almost a dozen of each.

This is insidious!

The adventuring side of LEGO is not its true selling point. If you want a good LEGO-themed adventure game, you’re far better-off playing one of their standalone console or PC titles, like LEGO Star Wars, etc. The mini-games, like racing and a shooting gallery, are the only bits that stand out.

So what does that leave you with? Building things! This is the core joy of LEGO to begin with, and they’re allowing you access to it in the Free Trial version… kinda…

With only one property to build on, the canvas for your bricky masterpieces is limited. Furthermore, with only 2 adventuring zones available where you can collect bricks, the amount of models you can effectively construct will be massively limited. Anyone hoping to build a truly epic construction of their own will likely be FORCED to subscribe to the full game, simply to gain access to the full range of Brick and Model vendors available in zones that will otherwise be beyond their reach as Trial Accounts.

In summary, I’d like to say “Shame On You” to LEGO Corp for their misleading Press Release and disingenuous use of the phrase “Free to Play.” And a secondary “check your info” to every MMO news site out there that ran with the headline before reading the fine print.

The FREE TRIAL of LEGO U will become available in August of this year.

City of Heroes

https://www.cityofheroes.com/news/news_archive/announcing_city_of_heroes_free_1.html

Download Link: https://www.cityofheroes.com/account/download_game_client/download_city_of_heroes.html

Renaming the project, City of Heroes Freedom.

No colon? No apostrophe? That’s terrible grammar! ARRGH.

I don’t have much to say about this, except that this swap was simultaneously, inevitable and a surprise to me.

Inevitable: The superhero market is reaching saturation, between COH, CO, DCUO and the upcoming Marvel MMO. With CO being a primary player in that subcategory, and offering its content under a F2P subscription model.
Surprise: NCSoft has never shown itself to be a proponent of this model. 4 out of their 5 big titles are currently subscription-driven, with the remaining title still charging a box fee.

Details of subscription model: https://www.cityofheroes.com/news/freedom/player_choices.html

Current subscriptions = VIP access. Full content + 400 Paragon Points per month
Prior subscription = Premium access. Free + Anything you previously purchased or earned with Reward Points (expansion packs, etc)
No subscription = Free. Limited content. Buy Paragon Points with cash.

VIPs will also have access to an exclusive server (no F2P allowed!)

Free players will not have access to Mission Architect.
Unsurprising, but kind of a let-down. UGC is a big draw for this game. But I suppose you have to convince new players to pay for SOMEthing.

———

These three up-and-comers join a cast of dozens, including prominent titles like:
Age of Conan
Global Agenda
Ragnarok Online
APB
Champions Online
and of course, DDO and LOTRO

On a completely different topic, I’d like to drop this week’s big speculation on you: Pottermore

By the time this episode airs, we may already know the answer as JK Rowling’s YouTube page says that a big announcement will be forthcoming on June 23rd. I won’t lie – I’m a Harry Potter fan, and firmly believe that an MMO in that universe could potentially be a BLAST to play. Or could fail so hard it would make the entire island of Great Britain sink into the ocean. Either way, I’m keeping an eye on this one.

Next Week:
Player Housing
Some of the best examples, and the worst, and perhaps even get to the bottom of why this particular feature has such a spotty implementation history throughout MMOs.

Best current example, EQ2
Worst, STO
CO getting “Hideouts” soon
Gods & Heroes will have “Estate System” (releasing today)

So until then… play smart, and target their healers first!

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The post All Hail F2P! | MMOrgue 7 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

E3 Recap | MMOrgue 6

chris — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 06:51:20 +0000

As promised, this week’s episode will be taking a closer look at some of the intriguing bits of MMO goodness to have spilled from the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center during last week’s Electronics Entertainment Expo, more commonly known as E3.

Although most fans of MMOs left the expo talking about the latest trailers and announcements from SWTOR, or the launch of Neverwinter Online’s website and subsequent flood of information, there are few stories which have stood above the crowd in my eyes. Two console-bound MMOs that promise to break new ground with innovative features and business models, and unprecedented presence beyond the confines of games themselves.

The first of these comes from Trion Worlds, the makers of RIFT and End of Nations. Their newly announced third-person shooter, Defiance, will come to PC, consoles, and television. Yes, you heard that correctly.

The other console-bound MMO comes from CCP, the geniuses behind the innovative and unique space sandbox MMO, Eve. In Dust514, players will extend the war for dominance of the galaxy to a new front line, without leaving the old war behind.

Before we get into the details of each of these interesting new software titles, I’d like to first review some hardware that made a big showing at this year’s E3. The cloud-gaming service, On-Live.

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Show Notes:

ON-LIVE
Disclaimer: On-Live has made NO MENTION of getting into MMOs. This is entirely my speculation and opinion on how their technology could change the landscape.

Server-Client nature
– Standard faire MMO gamers
– Inability to play offline is not a setback for this genre
– Lack of ownership of title is no big deal
For developers:
– No more client hacking
– Patching – seamless/easy

Sluggish gameplay not a distraction
– Majority of MMO games can be played in lag without bother

System Reqs:
Cloud gaming means that the gameplay is rendered remotely in real-time, then sent to your screen as encoded video transmissions. This eliminates the need for local hardware, other than the bare essentials needed to decode the video (which is very efficient), and a beefy internet connection.
– Many MMO gamers already have strong connection speeds, or would not balk at upgrading their speed to play a new title they were excited about.
– The MMO industry is known for keeping reqs low in order to cater to a more casual playerbase.
** By eliminating the need for high end hardware at the customer’s end, you can push the specs of your game to unseen heights. Making prettier games, that run even on very low end systems.
** In fact, if the game is DESIGNED to be an OnLive exclusive, you can even push the envelope of what’s available at the bleeding edge of technology, and go beyond the graphics capabilities of ANY consumer.
– No more time spent ensuring your client runs on dozens of different hardware setups. You can eliminate that portion of your development cycle by ensuring that your cloud-based servers all have the same hardware. Compatability issues become a thing of the past.

In summary:
If a major development shop joined up with OnLive to deliver a product, it could potentially revolutionize what gamers expect from an MMO. By delivering higher quality graphics, eliminating downloads, and destroying technological barriers for entry other than a strong internet connection speed.

Simply put, the playing field would change. And it’s my opinion that games delivering their content using the current model of downloading patches and

DEFIANCE

Defiance (interview)

Trion Worlds is partnering with SyFy (NBC) to create an evolving story that ties together across the game, and a TV series.

This partnership originated on the NBC/Universal side, so it’s possible that the SHOW comes first.

Yes, there will be an ongoing TV series airing alongside the game, focusing on a cast of a few primary characters.

These characters will also appear in game, and if their actions in either affect the world as a whole, players of the game will see those changes occur, and see their world evolve dynamically.
It also goes the other way — players or guilds that have an impact on the game’s dynamic world may find themselves written into the script of the TV show (though probably only as a mention, and not an actual appearance).

Also launching on PC, PS3 and Xbox360 at the same time.

Devs are “not talking about cross-platform at this time” but other news sites are already reporting that players on all 3 platforms will be able to interact.
If true, it would be the first to break down those barriers.

Trion Worlds says the game shares elements of Borderlands, Red Dead Redemption and Halo.

From a few fans that saw the demo, it’s also been compared to Tabula Rasa.
Could we finally have the spiritual successor we’ve been waiting for?

Arkfall events, very similar to “rift” dynamics.

In addition to standard missions (aka quests, but geographically triggered).

DUST 514

Dust 514 details integration with EVE (1, 2, 3)

Exclusive to PS3 (and PSVita?)

Not a true MMO, but rather a match-based FPS.
Although each individual battle may contain “massive” numbers of participants, there’s no persistence within Dust514 itself.
These battles represent, and control, resource conquest within EVE.
For example, an EVE player might want to build a space elevator on a planet, in order to take control of that planet’s resources and facilities. He could set up a contract with a Dust 514 player (or even multiple players) to attack a certain point at a certain time, and if a Dust 514 player can win that battle, the EVE player’s corporation could earn control of that area, and all of the spoils therein.

Separate game, unified economy.

Respawning and re-equipping in Dust costs ISK, which is earned easily by directly contracting with pilots and corporations in EVE.
Once a contract is fulfilled, the ISK is sent from EVE to DUST.
Sure, that means you could “contract” your own toon in the other game. But the political intrigue doesn’t stop there.
It’s well known that the majority of what you might consider EVE’s “end-game” is played only by the most powerful and well-connected players. They are all a part of massive corporations that seek strength in numbers, and overcome their enemies through a combination of skill and tactics on the battlefield, and political machination and espionage behind closed doors.
The addition of these ground-based skirmishes is just another layer to the already complicated interaction of these powerful corporations. And it’s possible that a skilled DUST merc could find himself contacted by multiple corps, and deciding the fate of the larger galaxy through his successes. Or even via his failures.
It won’t be unheard of for a Merc to accept a large budget contract to “win” a match, only to also sign an off-the-record deal with a rival corporation to throw the match for a larger sum.
Dusters can also join EVE corps, and dedicate themselves to a single purpose instead of merc’ing out for their whole lives.

Two games, one war

There will be airstrikes, and ground-to-space attacks
Meaning that the games are not as separate as they may at first feel.
Also meaning that a group of ground mercs playing DUST won’t necessarily want to risk assaulting a planet’s command center unless they have a fleet in orbit protection against retaliation from an associated EVE corporation.

UI design?

While CCP has plenty of experience running massive worlds and maintaining online servers, its only prior product is EVE.
EVE is a mire of spreadsheets and UI elements that combine to form an immediate information overload even for low-end players. By the time you’re a veteran of the game, you look at boxes filled with complicated text and figures more frequently than you get to enjoy the stunning beauty of the game’s space environments and ships.
A shooter requires a streamlined, easy-to-use, intuitive and minimalistic interface. Although there are plenty of models to aspire to on the market, CCP is going to have to overcome their own tendency to overload players HUDs with information. Keep it simple, stupid!

CCP is marketing this to NON-EVE PLAYERS

Cost to play?

Free, with box cost. (no box, distributed via PSN)
But the box cost is refunded in ISK (which can even be spent to buy game time in EVE).
You can then purchase additional ISK if necessary. And since re-equipping after death will require ISK, it may very well be an expensive game to play, if you’re not very good at it.

To date, no other MMO has launched an entire second GAME that directly interacts with their predecessor project. The interconnectivity of the economic and political portions of EVE and DUST set an unprecedented standard as an evolutionary leap forward towards at last experiencing dynamic, player-driven, sandbox events at every scale of human experience.

Other E3 News

New Titles:
Wizardry Online
Dragon Nest

More Info on Known Titles:
TERA Online announces Political System (1, 2, Q&A)
Black Prophecy enters Open Beta
SWTOR… was there (1, 2

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The post E3 Recap | MMOrgue 6 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Planetside & Hellgate | MMOrgue 5

chris — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 07:13:00 +0000

The much-maligned sub-genre of MMO Shooters has been an intense and gorey battlefield since the first of these titles rolled off the production line back in 2001. Since that time, two major titles have come to serve as examples within this archetype: Planetside and Hellgate: London.

Unfortunately, these two titles are frequently held up as examples of what NOT to do, rather than being revered. In today’s episode, I’ll examine each of their failures and see if I can make a solid case for why each of these titles was considered a flop, despite reinventing a whole genre.

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Show Notes:

E3 is underway, and despite the incredible announcements that’ve so far been made by the big players at their flashy press conferences, very little has come out on the MMO front. Despite this apparent lack of MMO-themed information, I’ll be keeping a close watch on the continued coverage of the event over the next few days and hope to dedicate next week’s episode to a recap of the festivities.

But instead of looking forward to those announcements, today’s episode is going to look BACK on a specific facet of the MMO world that has had a rocky history. Despite FPS ruling the single-player, console, and multiplayer markets to a certain degree, they’ve never found solid footing in the land of MMOs. In order to understand why, today’s episode is going to dig into the meat of two specific MMO shooters:

Planetside, which is long past its days of glory, and gearing up for a sequel at the hands of SOE.

Each of these titles, and many of their unnamed brethren, suffered from many of the same flaws that have plagued the MMOFPS subgenre since its inception in 2001, with the launch of World War II Online. And because of these faults and failures of the past, this type of game has never made a name for itself in the MMO landscape.

However, developers around the world have not yet given up hope on the concept of the MMO shooter. So today’s show is going to review the major faults and faux paus of these two noteworthy titles, and lay out my opinions on what future developers need to do to find success in this area, where others have failed.

PLANETSIDE / NEXT

Released in 2003.
Balance issues and population imbalances led to widespread loss of subscriptions.
By 2009, all 6 original servers had been slowly merged into a single world.
Early gameplay also suffered from stability issues, and frequent network lag.

The GOOD:
– Thorough tutorials
– Interesting advancement system with many unique choices to make.
– Instant action is a great feature in a PvP-focused game.

The BAD:
– The ONLY thing to do, is fight over bases against other factions. Very 1-dimensional.
– No reason to defend, except for the love of battle. Nothing gained by claiming territory, except safe passage to another territory.
– Landscapes are all featureless and bland.
– A single battle over a single base can last HOURS, and success can be determined by attrition instead of actual skill or strategy.
– Vehicles are way overpowered compared to infantry unit types.
– Steep learning curve, and the amount of information to absorb may turn players off that just want to shoot enemies (typical fans of shooter games).
– No solo viability. Squad or Die.

Subscription fee may have been the nail in the coffin. In a world of FREE FPS games, why pay for one?

SOE shuts down The Agency
Also confirmed delay of NEXT due to switching development to a new Engine.

HELLGATE

Disclaimer: Barely an MMO.

Hellgate Relaunch!

US/EU shut down in 2009, continued actively in Eastern markets by Hanbitsoft.
In late 2010, Hanbitsoft obtained the rights to international distribution.
Currently undergoing the final phases of Closed Beta.

Why did it fail?

Boring gameplay mechanics (hold down the trigger while you spin/move) and lackluster abilities.
Massive engine stability issues. The game was rarely playable for more than an hour without crashing.
No narrative. With so many Diablo 2 devs on board, more was expected of the story.
Incongruity of mechanics and incomplete implementation. (Turret-based shooting gallery, improper scaling)
No Social Tools: LFG, Guild Support
- This was DEATH to a game that launched at the dawn of “Web 2.0” when MySpace and similar sites were connecting people in new and exciting ways.
Subscription models … game was compared to Half-Life, Guild Wars and Diablo II (all free) and yet charged $10/mo for a subscription.
- Box cost got you a stripped down version of the game, had to pay monthly to play multiplayer but the social tools SUCKed, leaving people on both ends of the subscription model feeling gypped.
- Then there was the Lifetimer/Founder fiasco, when the game shut down…
  - $150 = 15 months. Game was only active for 10 months before the shut down was announced (which actually happened 5 months later.)

General commentary:

Another relaunch/resurrection from an Eastern company, of a failed Western title (APB)
- This trend could represent more than just hope for gamers – it could come to be seen as a bail-out for investors and publishers of upcoming MMOs.
  - Not finding the success you wanted/needed at launch? Pawn the game off to a company that cranks out F2P relaunches, and try and recoup some of your costs.
This game is an excellent example of Hype Gone Bad.
- The developers, many of whom had worked on Diablo and Diablo II, compared the game to Half-Life, Diablo II and Guild Wars at different times.
  - All of these games were defining titles of their individual genres.
    - The buggy, incomplete and LAZY release of Hellgate was a devastating disappointment.

Why the relaunch might find modest success:

Leech off the hype for Diablo III
Under-represented subgenre (FPS Action RPG)
Very low system requirements
Free to play!

SUMMARY:

In examining these two flopped FPS, we see a number of similarities…

1 – Subscription models don’t match the playerbase.

Fans of shooters can get their online jollies playing a billion different FPS games with no subscription costs. Charging for access puts you at a significant disadvantage.
MMO players want a game with more substance than is typically offered in a FPS. With customization of both abilities and avatars.
- In other words, you’re charging the wrong amount, to the wrong audience.

2 – Social tools added as an afterthought.

When you’re creating an online environment, your ability to have players play together must be considered one of your most important gameplay mechanics.
- Instant matchmaking, auto-grouping, and easy social hotkeys must take the place of conversation-based grouping, when your gameplay is fast-paced and action-centric. (In a word, more FPS-like)
Both of the above games seem to make the assumption that their players would talk to eachother and form bonds through conversation and interaction.
- This is a disconnect with the type of player that would typically play these games.
  - They don’t want to talk, they want to shoot.
Seamless voice chat integration will make future MMOFPS games more likely to succeed on this point.

3 – Poor/shoddy implementation of features, rushed development schedules.

To be fair, this is becoming more of a common problem in the MMO industry in general, and is not unique to shooters.
- Given the track record that these “incomplete” launches have, it boggles my mind that it continues to happen on such a regular basis.
However, on that note, I’m starting to see more and more release and beta windows get pushed back and delayed, across the industry.
- As much as this upsets me as a player, it also potentially means more developers giving more care and attention to the product they will have ready at time of launch.

FIREFALL
Firefall avoids industry-only conventions (E3), wants to talk to gamers

Cinematic Trailer (made by Blur)
Gameplay Trailer
10 minutes of gameplay footage
6 minutes over-the-shoulder PVP from PAX East 2011

Release Date: “before the end of 2011”
Official Game Site

E3 Videos from Machinima:
https://www.youtube.com/show?p=dqBjY9Gxj1I&tracker=show0

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The post Planetside & Hellgate | MMOrgue 5 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Rift, 2KGames, Mass Effect | MMOrgue 4

chris — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 07:33:12 +0000

This week, we finally get around to taking an editorial look at the beginning of the life of Trion Worlds’ flagship MMO, Rift. How are the initial impressions and population trends for this game? What’s the long-term outlook for this game’s future success?

After that, we’re taking a look at two new franchises that may soon be landing on the MMO landscape, from developers at 2KGames and BioWare. What are we in store for, from these top-name game shops? Tune in to find out, and speculate along with us!

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Show Notes:

First, an update on a previous story…

It was announced this morning that “Perfect World” has penned a deal to purchase Cryptic Studios for $50mil.

I’m going to save the majority of my commentary for this week’s episode of STOked, which will film live on Saturday, June 4th @ 11am PDT. Tune in to hear all about it, or catch it after it is published on Tuesday, June 7th.
- But, I will say that this quote makes me happy: More importantly, Cryptic Studios’ highly reputable development team and its technology platform will further strengthen our well-established R&D capabilities.
  - The emphasis on technology and R&D are what has made Cryptic a studio worth considering a player in the MMO industry as a whole, and it’s nice to see their new owners appreciate that fact.

RIFT

Inevitably… comparisons to WoW

Talents = Souls (some even exactly the same, just renamed)
Abundance of Kill, Click, Fetch and Deliver quests
UI elements (hotbars, extra hotbars)
“Whack-a-mole” combat mechanics – slave to cooldowns

Where it doesn’t live up to this:

Content (vastly inferior quantity)
The argument that “WoW has had 7 years to add content!” does not hold water. You have to compete with what’s on the market, not what was on the market 7 years ago.
Many “smaller” features, like guild banks
- Added a LFG tool within first 2 months… took WoW several years to make one!
Balance — “Trion Worlds has thrown up their hands due to the complexity of their soul system.”

Where it breaks the mold:

Rift events
- On one hand, fun change of pace
- On the other, interrupts otherwise mindless and easy to execute gameplay (grinding)
Soul construction, and ease of switching roles while adventuring
- At a glance, similar to Talents … until you realize the amount of options available to you.
- Can swap any of your 3 active souls, to any others you have unlocked (within your archetype).
- Individual souls are capable of doing things you can’t do in WoW: Tanking priests, healing rogues, Warriors with pets, etc.

Population consistency:
https://www.riftstatus.net/graph/Hammerlord/history/7d#!/graph/Briarcliff/history/30d

Most popular servers (which by default appear at the top of the list) are seeing growth, while smaller ones are shrinking or going stagnant.
Indicates that the trend is overall good for population.
Initial 30-day period definitely saw a drop, but not a monstrous one.
The response among active players seems to be “good riddance” for most of the folks that left. Community strengthened by it.
How many people? Under 1000 per server at “prime time”, but 58 different servers in the US, and another 41 in Europe (whoa!) Avg 500 per = almost 50,000 concurrent
- Implies a serious lack of content.

Overall…

RIFT is a success, for a very specific type of player.
– Likes WoW’s mechanics, but hates its age and lack of “outside the box” class structure.
– Likes WoW’s interface, but doesn’t want to rely on UI add-ons to customize their experience.
– Likes smaller communities, smaller population servers.
– New to MMOs

The future of RIFT…
Sadly, despite the success it is experiencing right now, I don’t see it remaining a top player in the MMO world after the launch of SWTOR and/or GW2. Even another WOW expansion pack would take a significant bite out of RIFT’s population. It feels to me like a game that a lot of people are playing while they bide their time waiting for something better to come along.

Why? LACK OF INNOVATION.
Almost every single aspect of RIFT has been done elsewhere, first. Admittedly, Trion Worlds has done many of those same things BETTER in RIFT (like active, dynamic events, which we’ve seen since Anarchy Online and Warhammer), but they are still not anything NEW.

2K Games Enters the MMO arena!
https://massively.joystiq.com/2011/05/23/take-two-signs-with-xlgames-to-make-existing-property-into-an-mm/
https://phx.corporate-ir.net/preview/phoenix.zhtml?c=86428&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1568889

Lineage creator Jake Song (and his company, XLGames) signed into partnership deal with 2K Games to “develop and publish a massively multiplayer online game for the Asian market based upon one of 2K Games’ top-selling franchise.”

Let the speculation begin!

Since this is specifically in reference to 2KGames, and not its parent company Take Two Interactive, you can probably rule out IPs that aren’t directly owned by 2K. Including:
- – GTA
- – Red Dead Redemption
- – LA Noire
This leaves a fairly short list when you’re talking about “top-selling” franchises:
- – Bioshock
- – XCom
- – Borderlands
- – Dungeon Siege
- – Civilization
- – Pirates!
- I wanna see an innovative MMO Shooter.
- The one most likely to get adapted would be Dungeon Siege, imho. Though a part of me would love to see either a Borderlands or Bioshock MMO.
  - I don’t honestly know how popular or appealing any of these IPs would be to a Korean gaming market.

What about XLGames’ “ArcheAge?”

Now undergoing its third beta phase, all reviews coming out of the game have been favorable. In fact, I’m honestly hoping to see an English version of the client available some time this year, as many of the sandboxey features of this game have definitely caught my interest.
Since this deal is a “partnership” and not a buyout, it’s likely that the future development and support of ArcheAge will not be affected in any way.

BioWare Talks Mass Effect MMO:

I’ll be honest, this is kind of a non-news item at this point, since it’s primarily based off a single quote. There’s not much to go on, but I’ll give you this:

https://www.vg247.com/2011/04/11/bioware-mass-effect-mmo-makes-sense/

“A lot of people say that they want to see an MMO, I think that kind of makes sense for this universe. […] If you get rid of the Reapers and win that, wouldn’t it be amazing to just live on the Citadel or just take a ship to Omega? That makes sense.”

That quote is from Casey Hudson, Executive Producer of the Mass Effect franchise.
Not just “some guy” musing about the future of Mass Effect… he is “the guy” that could make it happen.

That quote is also from more than a month ago, and nothing has been said since…
Bioware is waiting to see how SWTOR does on the market, before moving forward with other online projects.

They’re not a small-fry company: They take BIG risks, and expect BIG payoffs.
If SWTOR doesn’t show a viable payoff for some reason, we may not see further MMOs from Bioware.

Reasons it could work:

Mass Effect has a rich galaxy, filled with political intrigue and TONS of stories to explore.
“Magical” technology (Biotics) allows for limitless imagination and flashy gameplay.
Psuedo-realistic astronomy would be unique in current space genres, if allowed to explore.
Plenty of armor, weapons, ships, etc, already established.

Reasons it could FAIL:

If you destroy the Reapers in ME3, why is it worth tooling around in this universe? What are you saving?
It would HAVE to be a cover-shooter, to live up to Mass Effect. And developing the maps, cover mechanics, bullet physics, class balance, and everything else… PvP would be a nightmare in this setting.
Your crew… people? No, I want well-scripted, well-acted companions that I can get to know, converse with, maybe even romance. If I wanted to talk to people, I wouldn’t be playing video games!
You’re not Shepard. This IS the Mass Effect franchise. Without Shepard, is it really ME?

Nintendo recently applied for ESRB ratings on a game titled “Zelda Universe.” No other news. But it’s POSSIBLE that Nintendo is looking to enter the MMO space.
– Interactive website?

NEXT WEEK:

I will be exploring the concept of MMO shooters. Why did PlanetSide not find success? Will SOE fix those mistakes in PlanetSide Next? Will FireFall be the next big thing in online shooters? How could Duke Nukem influence the future of this market?

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The post Rift, 2KGames, Mass Effect | MMOrgue 4 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Age of Empires / APB | MMOrgue 2

chris — Fri, 20 May 2011 20:41:29 +0000

In this week’s show we’ll be discussing Age of Empires Online, which is set to soon crawl its way out of the womb of beta and bring with it an entire new subgenre into the wide world of online gaming. We’ll also take a look at the once-deceased APB Reloaded, since it is clawing its way out of the fresh dirt of its un-mourned gravesite, and shambling across the MMO landscape in search of brains. I mean … wallets.

But first up, a quick note on RIFT, and an invitation to join the fledgeling community for this show being hosted at www.jupitercolony.com

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Show Notes:

Age of Empires Online

All of the ‘classic’ RTS elements are here, and each individual mission/quest acts almost exactly like a traditional RTS campaign.

Strategy vs. MMO = Persistence

In order to add persistence, AOEO added:

– Gear
Worried that high-end PvP will be less about strategy, and more about gear.

– Talents
Actually a really great idea. I’d love to see something like this implemented into single-player RTSs, where your choice of tech advancements control which missions you can play through.

– Crafting and Materials
A HUGE pain in the ass! Not enough storage space. No explanation for why you might need some and not others. No information on rarity or approximate value.

– Socialization
There are options to trade (which is a necessary part of the Materials economy), visit other kingdoms, team up for elite co-op missions, and PvP. Because this is primarily an RTS game though, means that by-and-large you’re dealing with a Starcraft-type crowd, and not a social gamer scene. Very mercenary and cutthroat.

So, with all these things added, what did it lose from a standard RTS?

Not much…

– No immersive story
Granted the AOE franchise has never been big on story, but seeing a campaign unfold before your eyes has become an expected feature of RTS campaigns. But since most hardcore fans of the genre play these games for randomly-generated challenges and online deathmatches, this isn’t a huge loss.

– Any sense of urgency or loss
Your home kingdom can never come under attack. It is completely safe, and therefore the entire game lacks any feel of true conflict. Getting slaughtered by barbarians? All your villagers get killed off? No biggie – just quit out and try again, and you’ve lost nothing but time.

But really, neither of those are game killers.

The final thing that’s lost when making the jump to the MMO space, is a fundamental shift in progression paradigm of the RTS. You see, in most single-player RTS campaigns, progression is first dictated by tech barriers as you unlock new buildings, units or abilities, and then switches over to being solely about the PLAYER getting better at the game. However, in AOEO, a large portion of that progression has been replaced by gear acquisition and social networking. Meaning that instead of having to become a better player to beat a particular mission, you can instead brute-force your way past it by having better gear upgrades and bringing along a buddy or two to overwhelm your opponents. This is standard MMO faire, but in my opinion, it diminishes one of the core charms of the RTS genre – that only the skilled will survive.

Final Verdict: As a fan of strategy games, I personally tend to play them for specific reasons. They’re a mental challenge to overcome, and not a social one. The shoehorning of multiplayer features (excessive loot, large-scale economic balance, crafting timers, gated content, slow advancement) has caused players of AOEO to have to overcome the game mechanics themself, in order to enjoy it the same as they would a single-player RTS. And while I won’t necessarily call that a bad thing – especially as a fan of social gaming – I frequently get the feeling that I would prefer that they kept their chocolate out of my peanut butter. The additional layer of complexity that an MMO game adds to the established RTS traditions is an interesting change of pace, but it is just that – an addition. This is not a melding of the two game types, it’s an RTS + more. And not all players will enjoy what’s been added.

I haven’t touched yet on the fact that this game is going to be F2P, supported by a cash shop. This is for one simple reason: The cash shop is not yet open in the Beta, so I can’t see what the developers are selling.

They are saying that no game-balance-effecting items will be sold in the shop, and that it will be limited to content. But in the same breath, they’ve mentioned selling “special units” which sound to me like an option that could fundamentally change the balance of the game, especially in PvP.

Until I see the actual items being sold, and the costs, I’ll withhold an official opinion on the matter, but be forewarned that although there is no initial cost to play this game, the addition of a cash shop will ALWAYS mean that the best gaming experience will still cost you money.

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APB Reloaded

REASONS TO HOPE FOR SUCCESS:

1) Customization of Content

APB’s robust character customization tools allowed players to take control of their avatar’s appearance in unprecedented new ways. The sliders and facial morphing are impressive, and the ability to design custom logos, then place them onto your characters’ T-shirts or car hoods, was something no MMO had allowed in the past. Additionally, the game encouraged players to take these customized items and trade them to one another for in-game currency, allowing a substrata of the economy to grow around a single mechanic that has ABSOLUTELY NO EFFECT on gameplay.

The loss of this series of features from the MMO landscape when APB was closed down, was a sad day. So imagine my excitement when I heard the news of APB’s resurrection at the hands of GamersFirst!

2) Future Resurrections

This is the first time that we’ve ever seen a big-budget ‘top shelf’ MMO get a second lease on life after failing to impress fans following a dismal launch. PlanetSide, Matrix Online, Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault… all of these titles could have warranted a similar treatment back in the day, but nobody was willing to take the risk. Could this be the beginning of a new era of second-run MMOs? Could games that begin life as a financial flop, look forward to resurrection at the hands of a new owner? Time will tell if APB’s story of a second coming is a unique situation, but it would be short-sighted to ignore the potential impact that this could have on the MMO industry if APB Reloaded becomes a successful game with a long lifespan and active playerbase.

PRIMARY HURDLES:

1) Cash Shop and a Pay-to-Win atmosphere

I mentioned earlier that there will be a cash shop within APB. This is because GamersFirst is doing away with the previous subscription system, where players would pay per hour of game time, and replacing it with a Free To Play system that is supported by microtransactions. Now, I can already see many of you rolling your eyes at this, and saying things like “nickel and diming” and “pay to win.” Well, let me tell you… your concerns, are my concerns.

You see, when I first met APB, I saw a game ripe for cash shop exploitation, in the form of gating off their massive customization tools into a series of unlockable features driven by microtransactions. Hair packs, tattoo packs, shirt packs, jacket packs, nose packs, beard packs — all of these could’ve ended up on an in-game cash shop, and people would’ve paid thru the nose for a new nose. And it would’ve had absolutely ZERO effect on the game’s PvP-driven game content, doing away with concerns of it becoming a Pay To Win atmosphere.

But no, that’s not the way GamersFirst does things. You see, they are primarily an Eastern Market publisher, and cash shops in Asian MMOs are known for their Pay To Win offerings. Especially in games with PvP. While American and European markets tend to eschew this financial inequality, it’s been embraced by the Eastern markets for years now, and has become a core part of their long-term business models for many different MMOs.

The result, is a cash shop for APB that offers things like Rocket Launchers, Machine Guns with unlimited ammo, and extra-durable vehicles that can take a massive amount of pounding. Yes, you heard me right, in a deathmatch shooter where survival is frequently determined by the quality of the gun you’re toting, you can now spend real-life cash to ensure that your survival is more likely than the enemies’. Pay To Win.

Players unwilling to spend money on goodies like this out of the gate are destined to suffer through a pretty brutal starting process of being nothing but cannon fodder for their more well-equipped teammates, while earning tiny portions of the overall mission bounty, until they can either scrape up a decent weapon or break down and purchase one from the cash shop. So not only will you be at a disadvantage for being new, but you’ll be at an additional disadvantage if you don’t slap down a credit card and start spending.

2) The Gameplay Itself

It’s up to each player to determine if a particular game suits their habits, budgets, and needs. Despite the bleak picture I’ve painted here of a cash-driven power struggle, I actually think that APB is destined for success this time around. The game has a visceral, fast-paced and action-packed feel to it that many gamers are sure to enjoy, and the additional layers of complexity offered by customization and exploration could definitely win over some long-term fans. I will forewarn you though that this game is not standard MMO faire, and instead should be considered more akin to a massive deathmatch shooter with a seamlessly integrated matchmaking system and persistent graphical lobby. You’re not likely to spend time getting to know your fellow players while you’re lobbing grenades at the opponent, or racing the wrong way down a busy street. Or sidewalk. You’ve got a gun to aim, and badguys to kill. The rest is just flavor, and not the main course.

Download:

The post Age of Empires / APB | MMOrgue 2 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Rumor Smashing | STOked 82

chris — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:00:48 +0000

We bring on Star Trek Online’s lead designer to chat about recent news, update us on season 4, the Duty Officer System, and to smash a few rumors!

Plus – We do a quick recap of the Devidian series and it’s new rewards, chat a bit about the 500 day vet award details, plus some amazing shots from the dev’s twitter feeds this week!

We wrap up the episode with our poll results from last week, and your epic answers! And much, much more!

Thanks to our sponsor:

FreshBooks.com – Easy online invoicing, now it’s easy to get paid!

Direct Download Links

Subscribe via RSS and iTunes:

Our STOked App:

Grab the STOked iPhone/iPod App and download STOked on the go!

[ad#shownotes]

Show Notes:

NEWS

Devidian Series reruns:
– Ground shield reward for “Skirmish”
– GET THE CANE!

Romulan Series reruns coming soon!
– Prize = an attack Horta schematic (must be crafted)

500 day Vet Reward announced
– Includes 250 Emblems (if this trend continues… free ship @ 600 days, and every 200 after)
– KDF Shoulder Cape that they’ve been asking for
– Jupiter Uniform (more info)

DOOTY!
An updated look at the Doff interface
An accompanying thread to explain some of the details
– Can inactive boffs join the duty roster? Not at this time, but maybe someday.
– Why no KDF version leaked? Not done yet (uh oh…)
– 2 depts per division + Civilian
** Civs cannot be placed on active duty, but can be sent on assignments.
– Doffs cannot be promoted or customized – they are what they are.
– Only the lowest quality doffs can die on assignments, the rest go to sickbay to recoup.
– A shuttle cutscene for assignment initiation?

Follow up Thread: There will be several ways of acquiring duty officers; some of these we can talk about now, others are still being investigated.
* Certain “Recruitment” assignments (with no doff slotting requirements)
* Rewards for certain accolades
* Possibly a starting batch of common duty officers will be granted to players, probably modified by player level

Info on Starfleet Academy / Tutorials
When will we see them?
“The zone will become available for Devs to use with S4, then content will slowly trickle into it.”
What about the Tutorials?
“Postponed. New content for EVERYbody takes higher priority.”
What about skipping the tutorial, and starting as a Klingon?
“Still a work in progress. But both are almost finalized.”

Tweet Leaks
– Interior of Starfleet Academy office: https://a.yfrog.com/img612/3747/yxdfg.jpg
– Garden at Starfleet Academy: https://a.yfrog.com/img615/1947/e5dzl.jpg
– 500 day Jupiter Uniform variant: https://a.yfrog.com/img610/9220/ihmfn.jpg
– IDIC Badge! https://a.yfrog.com/img614/8467/kd2nb.jpg
– Peregrine with Breen engine + Reman shield: https://a.yfrog.com/img615/3682/49s2.jpg

[ad#shownotes]

AL RIVERA – RUMOR SMASHING

Ship info link:
https://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/

COMM FEED

“What Makes A Good Enterprise?”

Poll feedback:
The Captain — 28.88%
Warp nacelles/pylons — 24.29%
The Crew — 19.91%
Secondary hull/deflector — 18.6%
The strong neck — 8.32%

Specific responses:
– Tabmaine: “The secondary hull is where a new design should start. If you change its shape, the rest of the ship has to be changed to fit the new shape.”
– nshepard: “It has to look like an interstellar hot rod. Like it’s doing Warp 10 when sitting still.”
– arm514: “It’s a combo of a saucer, secondary + 2 nacelles.” (Pic of NX + secondary)
– Omega_Glory: Link to Roddenberry’s design rules.
– Capn_Logan: Don’t worry about it!
– Original creator made a new mock-up to show more detail: (PIC)

NEW QUESTION:
“What do you need to know about the Doff System?”

I have no Foundry suggestions this week, because I’ve been busy launching The MMOrgue!

Foundry Picks from the live chatroom:
Rema Donna
Do Dukat
Saving Ensign Ryan
Currents Turned Awry
KDF: 99 Bottles of Ale in the Hall

Download:

The post Rumor Smashing | STOked 82 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

GW2 and SWTOR | MMOrgue 1

chris — Sat, 14 May 2011 19:39:23 +0000

Welcome to The MMOrgue!

In our inaugural episode, your host – Jeremy – will walk through thru the specifics of just what the heck this show is all about, as well as offer some insight as to the future content it will portray.

After that business is out of the way, we’ll be putting a few upcoming titles under the microscope to see if they stand up to scrutiny, and whether or not the hype being generated around Guild Wars 2 and Star Wars: The Old Republic is warranted.

MMOrgue iTunes Feeds:
HD Video
iPad & Apple TV Video
iPod Video
MP3 Audio

MMOrgue RSS Feeds:

HD Video RSS
Large Video RSS
Mobile Video RSS
MP3 Audio RSS

Show Notes:

What is The MMOrgue?

I am not an industry professional, but I play one on the internet.
– I have been playing and testing MMOs since 1997.
– Since that time, I have participated in over 30 closed and open betas, and subscribed to more than 20 different MMOs.
– Besides just playing the game, I also take an active role in the community whenever possible. Have also worked as a volunteer CSR on three different active MMOs.
– I have been every genre stereotype, from Trollish Griefer, to No-Nonsense Raid Leader, to Friendly Roleplayer, to Casual Part-timer. I have a good understanding of what motivates different portions of the MMO playerbase.
– As a co-host of a successful MMO-focused podcast (STOked), I have gained a significant amount of insight into the development process of MMOs, as well as numerous industry contacts.
Every story covered on this show will have an angle that addresses the industry in its entirity.
* How a certain feature/attitude (from players and/or developers) will impact the future evolution of the industry.
* What a game’s success or failure indicates about the current state of the industry.

* How lessons of the past are being learned from, or ignored.
WILLS and WILL NOTS:
* WILL:
– Focus on innovation and evolution within the MMO market
– Occasionally include developer interviews and commentary, whenever appropriate
– Maintain a focus on how certain game mechanics or developer attitudes impact their communities.
– Contain exclusively editorial content. Although news and announcements will be shared, they are only here to drive the opinions portrayed.
* WILL NOT:
– Cover every feature announcement and press release for every game in development
– Make a habit of dwelling on the minutiae of game mechnics, except where a thorough explanation becomes necessary in order to explain the larger impact of an innovation
– Play favoritism towards any particular developer or sub-genre.

That last point leads me to my next topic…
ArenaNet

I won’t mince words, I’m a HUGE fan. But, you should be, too. Let me tell you why…

Guild Wars 2: Why You Should Care

There is a video floating around the internet, made by ArenaNet. They call it their MMO manifesto, and within this short video they outline a number of reasons that their next product – Guild Wars 2 – is going to revolutionize the way that MMOs are perceived, and played.

RETHINK EVERYTHING: INNOVATION GALORE
“ArenaNet was founded to innovate.” – Mike O’Brien, President
– Awesome.
– But change for change’s sake is dangerous:
* Auto Assault, Fallen Earth, PlanetSide, even EVE to a certain extent.
* While many people want something new, MILLIONS still play only what is recognizable and easy to understand.
— (RIFT’s similarity to WoW has bred success, while still offering something new)
* ArenaNet is being changed in deliberate ways, to drive community interaction and gameplay immersion. Every innovation is being thoroughly examined for impact.

BE THE HERO: A PERSONAL STORYLINE
– From the moment of character creation, you have a personal story.
* WHO you are, not WHAT you are.
* Branching objectives, evolving story.
* Replayability for alts is incredibly high.
— Social aspects of shared knowledge may suffer.
— Lack of uniform player experiences may cause a rift among players that have grown accustomed to being able to share the same game experience with their friends/guildmates. (Look at sites like WoWHead as an example)

EXPERIENCE A LIVING WORLD: DYNAMIC EVENTS (NO QUESTS)
– Completely removed traditional questing, replaced with Dynamic Event Chains
* You will never be asked to kill 10 wolves, or collect 5 rare flowers.
* You will notice something in the distance, get closer and examine the situation, then choose whether or not to be involved.
— With this change, Exploration has become the POINT of the game, and not an extra pass-time or something that just happens along the way.
* Dynamic Events will have branching objectives – won’t always end the same.
* Scaling AI smart enough to adapt to all different types of involvement, not just population levels.

MAKE A FRIEND: SOCIAL INNOVATIONS
– Concept of the “golden triad” of classes has been eliminated.
* Every class can tank, heal, dps, control. Roles switch based on weaponsets and ability choices.- Automatic sidekicking, driven by environment instead of group mechanics
* No high-level griefers in low-level areas.
* No scaling issues with dynamic events.
* Allows high-level characters to seamlessly enjoy low level content if they choose to.
– Social mini-games in non-combat areas.
* Scorekeeping and leaderboards to encourage friendly competition.
– Mobile apps to keep you connected when not in-game.
* THIS IS HUGE, and an absolute NECESSITY for the next generation of MMOs.
WATCH THE ACTION: ACTIVE COMBAT SYSTEM
– Simplified hotbars, 10 buttons max.
– Cooldowns frequently controlled by fatigue system, which also ties to movement.
* Combat is balanced so that spamming a move is possible, but not recommended. If you use your Fatigue too quickly then you can’t move/dodge and will take more damage. Meaning that standing in place and swinging repeatedly is a recipe for failure.

– Heavy emphasis on movement and positioning.
– Power interactions and environmental effects (fire + arrows)
– Line of sight and collision mechanics

POSTSCRIPT: MMORTICIAN’s THOUGHTS
– If they deliver HALF of this HALF as well as they intend to, it will send ripples through the industry as player expectations will shift dramatically.
– The class system is likely going to undergo many, many tweaks during Beta. I find it unlikely that every class can truly tank, heal and DPS as well as every other, and some may shine in certain areas.
* It is the wont of MMO gamers to min/max in every scenario. If one class excels at a certain thing, then that IS THEIR ROLE, regardless of their ability to perform in other areas.
—————–

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=188836

The concept of evolving storylines is not unique to Guild Wars 2. In fact, it is a cornerstone of one of the most highly-anticipated MMORPGs of the current world: SW:TOR

IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING: The “Fourth Pillar”
Progression, Exploration, Combat, and STORY
– Every class (16 total, so far) will have their own storyline, complete with branching objectives allowing for your individual choices to drive the content that you will experience.
* Each of these stories is said to be as large and fully-featured as a single game.
* Unlike a singleplayer game, there’s no Save/Reload to allow you to explore alternative choices. Experiencing something other than what you choose will require an alt character, or hearing about it second-hand from another player.
YOU ARE NOT ALONE: Companion Characters
– Companions have factored into every BioWare game. And are also a part of Star Wars (Chewbacca, R2D2, etc).
– Each companion will have their own stories and interests. Players can choose to help, or corrupt them. Companions may even turn on you in some outcomes.
– Companions also act as the crew of your ship, and assist you in crafting items and obtaining resources.

HEAR AND SPEAK: Voice acting
– More lines of voice-acted dialogue than every other BioWare game PUT TOGETHER
– Including YOUR character! Hooray for no more mute leaders.
– This level of voice acting simply cannot happen in any genre other than an MMO. Even in PC Gaming, developers are urged to keep resource usage low, and if they intend to sell a console port then it becomes an absolute NECESSITY to keep resources to a single disc.
* Look at Dragon Age II and the re-use of the same 20 maps over and over. This was done because of voice acting, and limited console resources.

* Since this type of feature can only effectively happen in an MMO, it is my opinion that ALL “Triple-A” class MMOs must strive to include it in the future. It can become a defining characteristic of a genre that frequently lacks a unified identity.
Bioware’s efforts on SWTOR are already catching the eye of prominent players in the MMO industry, including Mike Morhaime – CEO of Blizzard Entertainment. His published point of view is that a successful high budget title under the Star Wars IP can only mean good things for the population level of the MMO industry across-the-board.
While I agree, I doubt he’d be saying the same thing if Bioware was publishing a fantasy RPG that was in direct competition with World of Warcraft.

Download:

The post GW2 and SWTOR | MMOrgue 1 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

STOked S02E02: How Torpedoes Work & Taking on the Crystalline Entity

chris — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:23:39 +0000

STOked Season 2 Episode 2: We cover the STO attempt to set a Guinness World Record, go over the player bio contest, discuss the early reviews of Star Trek Online and give you the details on the “one million accounts” story that hit the web recently.

THEN in our MATH segment we boil down how Torpedoes work, and why something that gives you a +10 bonus might be a really big deal!

PLUS Chris shares the story of his battle with the Crystalline Entity, and gives a few tips on how to defeat it.

NEWS:
STO Guinness World Record Attempt in London
https://www.startrekonline.com/node/1007
Namco Bandai Partners, the European distributor of Star Trek Online, in association with Atari
Attempt to set a world record for the â€˜largest gathering of people dressed as Star Trek charactersâ€ on February 14th at 1.00pm on Londonâ€s Millenium Bridge.
Adjudicators from Guinness World Records will be present to log the record attempt and ensure that everyone present is dressed in full Star Trek attire.
The best dressed fans on the day will win exclusive Star Trek Online prizes including lifetime subscriptions worth over Â£150 and recently released digital version of the Star Trek movie.

STO Update: Servers Added This Weekend + Character Backstory Contest + Voice Command Demo Video
https://trekmovie.com/2010/02/03/sto-update-server-update-this-weekend-character-backstory-contest-voice-command-demo-video/
Hey folks,We just wanted to update you on our in-game server capacity status. Throughout Head Start we noticed the overwhelming response to the game and we are working on changes to further increase the number of people who can play Star Trek Online at any given time. Our current plan is to have these changes in place sometime this coming weekend. We will, of course, keep you updated on progress as it happens.Really, we just want to thank you all again for your continued support and patience. If it wasnâ€t for you, we wouldnâ€t be here.
-The Star Trek Online Team
Ultimate Character Contest:
Top prize is a collection of original Star Trek comics (more than 500 issues) ranging from 1967 â€“ 2002, valued at $4750.
10 runners up will get the GIT CD-ROM Star Trek Comic Book Collection.
Entries must be made by February 19th. Rules and more info on how to enter at atari.com/startrekcontest.

TrekMovie.com reviews STO:
In general, gameplay in Star Trek Online is very intuitive.
Tutorial is good, but sometimes leaves you guessing on what to do.
Controls very intuitive.
In space battles, the controls are very different from flight in other games.
The graphics in this game are fantastic!
“Overall, I love this game! It is a chance to be immersed in the Star Trek world”

Stormshade steps away from Star Trek Online
https://www.massively.com/2010/02/03/community-manager-daeke-leaves-cryptic-stormshade-to-replace-him/
Becoming the new CM for Champions
David “Daeke” Bass Leaving Cryptic
Leaving comes amidst heavy fire from the community on Cryptic’s most recent endeavor, the addition of Vibora Bay in Champions Online.
Daeke took heat as he was the first member of the Cryptic staff to acknowledge that Vibora Bay would be a piece of paid content.
Phoxe will be stepping up as STO community lead. Fourm Post Here: https://forums.startrekonline.com/showpost.php?p=1901489&postcount=3.

Cryptic would ‘love’ to get Star Trek Online to consoles
https://www.joystiq.com/2010/02/01/cryptic-would-love-to-get-star-trek-online-to-consoles/
“But we’ll have to see how Star Trek does and then secondly we want to do it justice and not hurry something along just to get it on the console.” – Zinc
The engine (STO and CO) already runs on consoles, we are told by Cryptic.

One Million Already Playing Star Trek Online?
https://terminalgamer.com/2010/02/04/one-million-already-playing-star-trek-online/
One million registered accounts is a strong indicator of a vibrant online community and it should only grow given Star Trekâ€s massive fan base
Numbers reflect Web accounts, not subscribed game accounts.

MATH:

OMG TORPEDO MATH

Special thanks to Katavul and Aruji, and their team of guinea pigs.

+1 Skill = 1% bonus to base damage.

Anything above Standard Issue damage = Bonus, and is added AFTER the skill math.
Example:
Standard Issue Torpedo = 1383 damage ( < — BASE)
Mk VIII Quantum Torpedo = 2484 damage ( < — per unmodified tooltip)
difference = +1101 ( < — BONUS)

With a +100 skill bonus:
(1383 x 2.00) = 2766
+1101
3867 < — same as in-game tooltip!!

Max skill bonus = 100% (18 Lt, 30 LtC, 52 Comm = 100 total)

This SAME math works for Beams & Cannons, but is also affected by Weapon Energy Levels.

Consoles act as a Skill Bonus, for damage calculations.
Applying a +10 Torpedo console to the above calculations…. Base & Bonus remain the same, but
(1383 x 2.10) = 2904.3
+1101
4005.3 < — final modified damage (rounded off in-game)

So, a +10 console resulted in a damage bonus of 138!

Weapon Damage Calculators:
Standard Issue = 1.00
Mk 1 = 1.08 (1.082)
Mk 2 = 1.18 (1.184)
Mk 3 = 1.29 (1.286)
Mk 4 = 1.39 (1.388)
Mk 5 = 1.49 (1.490)
Mk 6 = 1.59 (1.592)
Mk 7 = 1.69 (1.694)
Mk 8 = 1.80 (1.796)
Mk 9 = 1.90 (1.898)
Mk 10 = 2.00

To find “Standard Issue” damage, find a Mk X item on the Exchange and cut the damage in half. Inspecting an item on the Exchange will NOT attribute your modifiers to its totals.

MEDIA:

Watch Star Trek Online Intro Video Voiced By Leonard Nimoy â€“ Ties STO to ST09
https://trekmovie.com/2010/01/28/watch-star-trek-online-intro-video-voiced-by-leonard-nimoy-ties-sto-to-st09/

Screen shots with a story, Chris’ week of STO shots:
https://picasaweb.google.com/tophfisher/STOShots?feat=directlink

The post STOked S02E02: How Torpedoes Work & Taking on the Crystalline Entity first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.