As previously discussed, I’m fairly cynical of Kickstarter for video game development. Backers see it as supporting something they are interested in; I see it as companies leveraging off their previous reputation and gamer hope to get money gifted to them. Because that’s what the money is: a gift. Once the pledge target is met … Continue reading
Filed under Alpha / Beta …
Reviewing My 2011 MMO Predictions
Time to see how right I was back when I wrote the following predictions about how things would turn MMO-wise in 2011. F2P titles continue to enter the market and other existing MMOs are likely to join them. Warhammer Online is a distinct possibility, as are titles in the position of Vanguard and Fallen Earth: … Continue reading
The Secret World: Great Facepalm Moments in Marketing Betas, Part 2
The first beta facepalm moment of The Secret World (TSW) beta sign up showed that Funcom wasn’t thinking about how they’d be perceived when they “broke” their own beta registration. This next moment shows that they aren’t really thinking about TSW in its beta promotions much at all. The second stage of registering for TSW’s … Continue reading
The Very, Very Late 2010 MMO Recap: Here Comes the New Stuff, Same As the Old Stuff
(All you have is my word that I haven’t made any substantive revisions to this document since January 30, 2011. Trust me. I’m a blogger. For a point-by-point recap of 2010, see either the January to June or the July to December articles.) 2010 was an interesting year for the MMO industry in that it … Continue reading
How Many Players Does CoH/V Have In Q4 2010?
NCsoft’s Q4 2010 results are out and the result isn’t great for City of Heroes / Villains. As I discussed a few days ago, CoH/V saw a big Q3 2010 release with Going Rogue, its second paid box expansion (City of Villains being the first, back in 2005). GoRo saw a large jump in revenue … Continue reading
My Last DCUO Post For A While, Really
DC Universe Online launched on Tuesday 11 January 2011, the culmination of 5.5 years and US$50m in development costs. Barring any major events, I’m going to try to lay off direct DCUO posts for a while – I’m not playing it and yelling from the sidelines gets a bit dull. Plus, I’ve got other things … Continue reading
DCUO: Countdown to Crisis
I’m going to start 2011 the way I ended 2010: publicly wondering what is going on at Sony Online Entertainment with DC Universe Online. SOE looked to be in a pretty good place to develop DCUO – they had a larger IP than its competitors in City of Heroes / Villains and Champions Online, it … Continue reading
Gods & Heroes: Desperation, Thy Name Is…
… publicity stunt. I’ve been a bit slack in blogging this month, mainly due to other commitments. Work is very busy, Xmas is busy for social things and I’ve got a stack of games to play through. It’s all first world problems, but it eats into the time I could be spending telling the world … Continue reading
DCUO: Adding Insult To Injury For PS3 Beta Preorders
On top of the PS3 beta preorder players not getting into the PS3 beta on November 30 as assured (due start date for the PS3 beta: “soon”), those players learned today that Playstation Network Plus subscribers will also be given PS3 beta access when it launches. This will happen probably before Christmas if such an … Continue reading
DC Universe Online (Now That The NDA Has Gone)
The DC Universe Online NDA has been dropped (somewhat surprisingly, since there still isn’t an official launch date) so below are my opinions based on the preorder beta. Conclusion: – If the idea of teaming up with Superman gives you a nerdgasm, DCUO may be your title. – Leveling is very quick and it is … Continue reading