Kid-friendly MMO Pirate101 announced by makers of Wizard101
Gamer daddies and mommas have had a longtime ally in KingsIsle, the dev studio behind Wizard101, which has been one of the most entertaining kid-friendly MMOs out there for several years. Just yesterday the studio announced their next offering, Pirate101, which trades in the card-game combat of Wizards for turn-based strategy and throws the whole thing in a pirate world where galleons fly among the stars.
Should you join League of Legends’ new referral program, or stay in the old one?
“Go big or go home” is a motto that’s doomed many a board game night for me. I want the big prize or nothing at all—it is my curse. But those more eager for mid-tier rewards are going to be excited about League of Legends new referral program, which removes the top-tier real-life rewards of the original program, but makes it significantly to get the in-game perks. Transitioning to the new referral program is optional, but permanent, so take a careful look at what each offers before you decide.
Cryptic announces that hackers stole account info in 2010
Cryptic, the dev studio behind Champions Online, Star Trek Online and the upcoming MMO Neverwinter, has just released a notice that some of their servers that contain users’ personal information were hacked in 2010 and that the encrypted data had been compromised. But the good news is that if you follow good internet practice and have changed your passwords sometime in the last two years, you probably don’t have to be worried by the bleak letter that just appeared on Cryptic’s website, or the cautionary email you may have just received.
DC Universe Online maps show you where to find everything
A while back, an OCD DCUO player put together a detailed map of the game’s main hub for heroes, The Watchtower. Today, another industrious fan took it three steps further by building detailed interactive maps for all of DCUO’s two major cities, Gotham and Metropolis, inside of Google Maps. And now he’s in the process of adding icons to help you locate everything you could possibly want to find in the urban sprawl.
Champion Roundtable: Hecarim, The Shadow of War
Josh, Lucas and Hollander dive for cover as the wicked horseman Hecarim charges into League of Legends this week with ghostly scythe and debatable usefulness. See what we think of this new high-mobility, high-damage champion in this week’s Champion Roundtable.
As always, you can download League of Legends for free on the game’s official site. If you do, add me (summoner name: Nereus) as a friend and we’ll get some games in!
Lord of the Rings Online is five years old today, so we’re giving you free stuff
Update: Winners have been selected and contacted via email. If they do not provide the necessary information to receive their prizes within 24 hours, we’ll randomly select new winners.
The winners are:
Sheena Desai (Lifetime account)
Jacqueline Walker (Mithril Edition)
Robin Preston (5K Turbine points)
Jumpgate devs launch Kickstarter campaign for new free-flying space-combat MMO
There are not enough quality space-combat games, and hardly any of the few that do exist attempt to take it grand in an MMO. The Old Republic did little more than tease my appetite for shooting amongst the stars, and the cancellation of Jumpgate Evolution a year ago left the situation feeling hopeless. But, like we’ve seen happen to so many niche genres lately, a Kickstarter campaign has arrived to revive the space-combat MMO.
5 underrated player-created missions in City of Heroes
I love games that let players create their own content, and City of Heroes is currently experiencing a renaissance of player-made mission arcs, thanks to the switch to free-to-play rejuvenating the playerbase. Paragon Studios does a great job of highlighting top-quality story arcs that it comes across, but there are a lot of awesome adventures falling through the cracks. Here are my five personal favorites currently slipping under the radar. You can find all of them by visiting any of the Mission Architect headquarters in-game.
Download TERA tonight, play it free all weekend
TERA’s launch is less than two weeks away, and the developers of this heavy action-combat MMORPG are eager to stress test their servers to make sure it goes smoothly. So they’re opening up the floodgates to anyone that wants to try out the game before its locked behind a subscription fee on May 1. But you still need to know the password to get in—we’ve got full instructions inside.
From closed to open beta in Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes
In the sea of free-to-play games, you need fresh gameplay to stand out. Five-versus-five PvP? Been there, done that. With Warhammer Online: Wrath of Heroes, the latest venture under EA’s Play4Free banner, BioWare Mythic is taking a stab at an entirely new approach—6v6v6. Three teams, one map, and six heroes per side makes for a whole lot of chaos, and we’ve our hands dirty with blood and goblin guts inside it over the past several months. Read our impressions inside, and if WoH sounds like a raucous good time to you, joining the ongoing open beta is just a few clicks away.
What is League of Legends: Supremacy?
Riot Games’ primary domain manager, MarkMonitor, has just snatched up a ton of URLs all involving two key phrases: “League of Legends” and “Supremacy.” What do we know so far, what could this mystery announcement be, and how far off is it? We take a look at all the facts and speculation inside.
MMO update: Allods Online
Allods was one of the first free-to-play MMOs to offer comparable production values to boxed and subscription-based games. When it launched in Europe and North America, its steep leveling curve, strict death penalty and the availability of premium convenience items earned it a reputation as an MMO for the hardcore, and one where some investment of real money would ultimately be necessary.
Since 2010, the game has gradually adapted to be more accessible and less punishing to players who choose not to pay. It’s worth stating that microtransactions are still a major part of the game – equipment-enhancing runes are regarded as an essential factor in endgame success, and the easiest way to get them is through the in-game store. It’s now possible to trade in-game gold for boutique coins, which can be used to buy items from the micropayment store. The system is based on a dynamic enconomy where the exchange rate for gold and boutique coins is established by supply and demand, combating inflation. Each boutiqe coin is equal to one gPotato, meaning that it’s no longer necessary to spend real money to earn premium items.
D&D Online: Menace of the Underdark gets trailer, will include shapeshifting tree huggers
Dungeons and Dragons Online was one of the first wave of western MMOs to experiment with free to play (along with Lord of the Rings Online and Age of Conan) revitalising the game’s playerbase. Nowadays of course everyone and his hat is going FTP, but back then Dungeons and Dragons was a trailblazer, so it’s with a whiff of nostalgia that we hear news of the game’s newest expansion, Menace of the Underdark.
City of Heroes issue 23 will bring the Praetorian War to an end
City of Heroes is preparing to launch their latest big content update. Issue 23, which will be called ‘Where Shadows Lie’ will bring an end to the dramatic Praetorian War storyline, which has already claimed the live of City of Heroes’ signature crime fighter Statesman, pictured above (centre). The war will be resolved in a new mission called the Magisterium Incarnate trial, which promises to give players the chance to end the threat of Emperor Cole, whose lieutenants they’ve spent the last few updates battling.
Cartography leads to victory with Aion’s new map features
Let that be our rallying cry, oh Wallys of Atreia: “Cartography will lead us to victory!” Or at least to disgruntled groupmates yelling at me as I meticulously redraw every line representing our plan of attack in Aion’s new battle map, which was introduced in yesterday’s big patch that took the game free to play.
