No relation to Driver's Ed
By Richard Cobbett on November 1st, 2012.
RaiderZ is the latest free-to-play MMO from Korea, and those… well, aren’t the most enticing words in gaming right now. This one promises to be a bit different though, with its arcade style combat, and big bad monsters in need of a kick up the first available orifice. We sent Richard to find out if its beta has a chance against the big names, or earns that big Z.
By Jim Rossignol on September 20th, 2012.
It’s been a little while since we caught up with Neverwinter – the last glimpse being the Blackdagger Keep trailer at the start of this month – but things are continuing to tick along towards the game’s “early 2013″ release. D&D types will know what to expect from the Guardian Fighter class, which appears below as the first part of Neverwinter’s class profiles series. He is, pleasingly, a tanky bastard.
Look below!
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By John Walker on September 3rd, 2012.
There’s eventually some nice in-game footage of the combat in Neverwinter in the new trailer, revealed via PAX this weekend. The game is set for release early next year, but in the meantime you can find out more about skull-faced pirate, Blackdagger, below.
By Nathan Grayson on August 16th, 2012.
I came here to tell you about something pertaining to Cryptic’s Neverwinter MMO-that-nearly-wasn’t, but then – at the 11th hour – my post got delayed into 2013. The news is, of course, disappointing for many of you, but we’re confident that we can use the extra development time to bring you a more polished, visceral post with double the number of guns and sextuple the number of puns. In the meantime, though, I can discuss the delay of another, entirely unrelated game. Let’s call it Neverminter. And imagine that the N is upside-down.
By Nathan Grayson on August 2nd, 2012.
Blacklight: Retribution is a bit like a surprise birthday party. For the longest time, I thought nothing of it and went on with my daily business. Then, one day, it crept into my home, turned out the lights, and shouted “SURPRISE!” so loud that I dropped my groceries and grabbed a lamp to brandish in a threatening fashion. I continue to be shocked by how enjoyable Zombie Studios’ follow-up to the rather uninspired Tango Down is, though. Certainly, it’s got roots in traditional multiplayer weapons, upgrades, and other such standbys, but X-ray vision’s a game-changer, and everything feels great. And now, another pleasant surprise: the tank-centric siege mode.
By John Walker on July 18th, 2012.
If you can ignore the bizarre choice to spend 30 seconds showing the faces of a crowd looking at a screen showing Neverwinter footage you can’t see, then the video below will eventually show some “pre-alpha” (which I always thought meant drawings on a whiteboard) in-game content for the Cryptic MMO.
By Adam Smith on April 2nd, 2012.
The year they call 2012 will be full of dungeon crawling and loot hauling. Thousands of people probably descended on the Path of Exile for the first time this weekend and there’s the not inconsequential matter of Diablo III’s mid-May arrival. But what of Torchlight II? I feel like it hasn’t been clamouring for my attention as loudly as perhaps it should and a short video showing animated animals is hardly the most clamorous display. Still, that is one cute bulldog.
By Jim Rossignol on October 6th, 2011.
It’s not quite clear what IGN’s source is for this, but according to them the Dungeons & Dragons online-RPG Neverwinter, which Cryptic said originally was “an old-school tactical Western RPG”, but online, is apparently an now MMO more “closer to a game like Nexon’s Vindictus”. So a free-to-play one where action dominates. Quite how this contrasts against what Cryptic’s Jack Emmert told us previously is detailed in part through the link (and mainly consists of learning the lessons of Star Trek and Champions going free), but it doesn’t actually seem like that a big a change to me.
Nevertheless, word is that the game has been delayed to the end of 2012 to make the necessary changes. It would seem that these changes might have come about thanks to Cryptic’s acquisition by expanding F2P giant Perfect World, who also bagged Runic, and are planning to make a Torchlight MMO at some point.
By Jim Rossignol on September 1st, 2011.
The unstoppable march of free-to-playification continues! Cryptic’s Star Trek Online – which is published by Perfect World – will be free-to-play by the end of the year. According to this report on Perfect World’s exciting Q2 earnings call, chief financial officer Kelvin Lau told investors: “Cryptic is working on the free-to-play model for Star Trek Online. This is going to be launched by the end of this year.”
This feels like a transitional period to me. All these MMOs that launched with subscription models reconfiguring themselves to F2P, while much better contenders – such as forthcoming Tribes-but-WoW offering Firefall – wait in the wings to prove that they can do F2P from the off. Nonetheless, I expect we’re a long, long way from this all being normalised in any fashion. What “free” actually means for these games is still very much up for definition.
By Jim Rossignol on August 29th, 2011.
An announcement on the Torchlight II site confirms that the game will ship for $20. Here’s the kind of statement that you would think more company bosses releasing PC games would include in their press release: “It’s always been our goal to provide exceptional value for the price,” says Max Schaefer, CEO of Runic Games. “Everyone who wants to play Torchlight II will be able to comfortably afford to do so, and they’ll be able to play with their friend online or via a LAN, or play single player offline, all with no further purchases.” Ha.
The Embermage page (the final class to be revealed and inevitable ranged spellcaster) is here.
By Adam Smith on August 22nd, 2011.
The signup for Blacklight: Retribution‘s closed beta is ongoing and another trailer has emerged for your viewing pleasure. It shows off some shooting, some explosions, some vehicles and a mech with strangely chubby legs. But don’t take my word for it – see below and attempt to spot all those things for yourself! Perhaps make some form of checklist. That way the trailer is a game in itself.
