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[PAX East 2020] Stack Up Looking After Veterans
In these uncertain times, it's good to reflect on the organizations which are providing assistance to others. At PAX East, we had the privilege of speaking with Stack Up's founder and CEO, Stephen Machuga about their mission. Stack Up is a nonprofit organization that was founded from a simple idea: veterans and active-serving military needed something to help their mental health. Read more...
[PAX East 2020] Population Zero Gives You 168 Hours to Survive
Population Zero is a new entry into the genre of exploration/survival games, created by Enplex Games. Stranded on the planet Kepler with the survivors of colonization expedition, it's the player's goal to survive for 168 hours (7 earthly days) before they surrender to madness due to a mysterious Sphere. Read more...
[PAX East 2020] Panel Review: Build Your Guild: Make and Support Friends in Gaming
What's interesting is that many large game companies tend to do the occasional celebration of this sort of camaraderie, but it's rare that a company continues the tradition and in fact doubles down on it. ArenaNet started such an initiative last year called Friend/Ships, acknowledging both romantic and non-romantic lasting relationships that sprung up amongst their Guild Wars 2 community, and it continued this year with a modest booth on the show floor and a special panel at PAX East. Read more...
A Decade of Change: Early Access
The internet got introspective in the past couple of months when it wasn't arguing over exactly when the decade ended. Setting pedantry aside for a moment, let's discuss changes to the concept of early access over the past ten years and whether or not it it has a positive effect on games. Back in the day, most games were released to the public at launch, and only folks who knew someone was able to finesse their way into a closed beta, with a rarefied fewer getting alpha access, both of which were frequently covered by non-disclosure agreements. Read more...
A Retrospective on MMOs in 2019
While it wasn't a supremely transformative year for MMOs, in 2019, the industry has started to see more and more of a paradigm shift in the kinds of MMOs being released, worked on, or even theorycrafted. For years, players and the general public equated MMO to games that followed World of Warcraft's model, which was a more cemented version of EverQuest's model, and the industry shied away from innovation because that was risky. Read more...

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[PAX East 2020] Population Zero Gives You 168 Hours to Survive

Tencent Seeks to Fully Acquire Funcom

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 23, 2020 | News

In a press release on Funcom’s website, the Norwegian-based company running Conan Exiles and working on the upcoming Dune survival MMO announced that the tech investment company Tencent was in the market to acquire full controlling interest via purchasing all other stockholders’ shares.

Daybreak Spins Off Game Franchises

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 22, 2020 | News

Daybreak Games announced on Tuesday that they were spinning off three of their four game franchises into separate studios. Last year, eagle-eyed Twitter user MSandersonD had scoped out some new trademarks being registered by Daybreak, setting off speculation of this very action coming.

DDO Publishes 2020 Producer’s Letter

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 21, 2020 | News

Standing Stone Games made the news twice today. Firstly with the not-really-news reassurance from publisher Daybreak Games that Daybreak’s announcement that it’s spinning off its three franchises off into separate but connected studios will not affect SSG, and secondly by publishing their 2020 Producer’s Letter for Dungeons and Dragons Online.

Bethesda Invites You to the Dark Heart of Skyrim

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 18, 2020 | News

Recently, Bethesda Softworks announced the next Chapter in their Elder Scrolls Online saga, entitled Greymoor. In it, Zenimax Online invites players to venture to the land of the Nords in a year-long adventure centering around three DLCs and the main Chapter.

Astellia Launches as an MMO on Steam January 30th

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 18, 2020 | News

Brunson E&A has announced that their MMO Astellia is set to launch on Steam on January 30th. Promising no pay to win mechanics, the game features a civilization of heroes who can call upon Astells to help protect their land

Elite Dangerous Releases Its January Update

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 17, 2020 | News

Earlier this week, the folks at Frontier Developments have released their January update for players of Elite Dangerous. Commanders both new and veteran will be able to take advantage of this primarily bug-fixing patch that launched on January 14th.

DDO Previews Alchemist Class, Balance Changes

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 14, 2020 | News

Today, Dungeons and Dragons Online opened up their Lamannia test server to give players their first hands-on look at the new alchemist class, class changes, and other iterations on current content. First publicly discussed at GenCon last August, this complex class is set to be a support role, using various chemical mixtures to harry its foes or assist its allies in the form of thrown vials.

A Decade of Change: Early Access

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 14, 2020 | Articles

The internet got introspective in the past couple of months when it wasn’t arguing over exactly when the decade ended. Setting pedantry aside for a moment, let’s discuss changes to the concept of early access over the past ten years and whether or not it it has a positive effect on games. Back in the day, most games were released to the public at launch, and only folks who knew someone was able to finesse their way into a closed beta, with a rarefied fewer getting alpha access, both of which were frequently covered by non-disclosure agreements.

A Retrospective on MMOs in 2019

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 13, 2020 | Articles

While it wasn’t a supremely transformative year for MMOs, in 2019, the industry has started to see more and more of a paradigm shift in the kinds of MMOs being released, worked on, or even theorycrafted. For years, players and the general public equated MMO to games that followed World of Warcraft’s model, which was a more cemented version of EverQuest’s model, and the industry shied away from innovation because that was risky.

World of Warcraft to Launch Patch 8.3 on January 14th

by Jean "Druidsfire" Prior | Jan 12, 2020 | News

In 8.3, WoW players will have to wrestle with the usual class changes as they gear up to tackle more content. This expansion unlike the previous 8.2 doesn’t really add any new landscape to visit, but rather does a sweeping set of changes to existing areas in time with the story of players heading to Ny’alotha, the Waking City, for a new 12-boss raid.