Sony Online Entertainment’s free-to-play Star Wars title is still going strong
Source: GamesIndustry International
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EA BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic is off to a good start, “with more than 1.7 million active subscribers and growing,” according to CEO John Riccitiello. While player churn is always a concern in MMOs, DFC Intelligence does see long-term success for the title.
In a report obtained by GamesIndustry International, the market research firm noted that The Old Republic “has the potential to be a successful long-term online subscription PC game… despite a general decline in high-end subscription game products and growing competition from numerous free-to-play games like Riot Games’ League of Legends, War Gaming’s World of Tanks, and S2 Games’ Heroes of New Earth.”
DFC, which conducted the study in conjunction with Xfire, tracked game usage data from the launch of the MMO on December 20, 2011 through February 20, 2012 and also surveyed over 4,000 Xfire users in January 2012. Based on this data, DFC believes that Star Wars can indeed reach over one million long-term paying subscribers (defined as a subscriber that pays for over six months).
Source: GamesIndustry.biz – News
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ArenaNet has introduced a new system of attributes and traits for Guild Wars 2, giving players loads of different ways to build characters.
The new system, which includes 13 attributes and 40 traits, is an addendum the original Guild Wars’ four attribute system.
“Two of our four primary attributes – toughness and power – were serving double duty. Toughness improved heals, while power improved damage done by conditions. This essentially left us with two offensive styles: do more damage, or get more critical hits and react to their effects. That wasn’t quite good enough,” designer Jon Peters wrote in a developer update.
“We wanted there to be at least four offensive play styles as well as more diversity of builds overall, so we added several new player attributes to mix things up.”
The four base attributes increase as players level up, but the new attributes only grow as players equip gear and choose traits.
Each of the eight professions has five available traits. Each trait has up to 30 points to invest in, and a max level character will have 70 trait points to assign, allowing for more than one trait line to be explored fully in a single build.
Hit the link above for a more detailed break down, and if you find yourself confused, be advised that respecs are available.
Guild Wars 2 is currently in closed beta testing and expected to launch this year.
Thanks, Massively.
Source: VG247
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Guild Wars 2‘s server vs. server (vs. server) PvP is being developed to support over 300 player on one map, and is shaping up to be an engaging experience for all players.
ArenaNet systems designers Mike Ferguson said:
We have amazing PvE gameplay and intense competitive PvP in Guild Wars 2, but we also offer huge, open-field, server-versus-server warfare the likes of which you’ve never seen. We call it world vs. world or WvW.
We knew right away that we wanted three teams fighting against one another on a series of huge maps in the Mists (our world vs. world battleground) and that each team would be composed of an entire server full of players. Including three forces in world vs. world acts as an excellent balancing factor, preventing one team from growing too powerful and ruining the competitive balance of the game. Two teams can gang up to counter a more dominant third team, a dynamic that simply isn’t possible with only two opposing factions.
This dynamic sounds similar to Realms Online, a game in which the three-faction dynamic worked rather well.
Ferguson alluded to the 300 simultaneous players figure by stating:
These are the largest maps we can make in Guild Wars 2, and we use as much space as we possibly can in order to accommodate over a hundred people from each server fighting on every map.
Battles will see players conquering and defending keeps, with the ability to create siege weapons or upgrade keep defenses. Best of all, anyone can jump in at any time:
We wanted to make WvW fun and easy to get into, so there’s no level grinding required—you can just hop into the battle using your normal PvE character, regardless of what level you are.
When fighting in the Mists, you’ll be using your regular PvE character and the gear you’ve acquired in your adventures through Tyria. In the Mists, players all fight at the same level. Any character below level 80 will be adjusted so they are roughly equivalent in power to what they would be at level 80. This makes combat among characters of any level not only possible, but actually fun!
If you’re a PvP lover, you don’t even have to PvE to level up:
Even better, you continue to gain experience and new items while playing in the Mists. Players you kill will drop loot for you just like slain monsters in PvE. The player that was killed doesn’t lose any of their own equipment—that would suck—so you’ll never need to worry about losing your favorite rare weapon if you are defeated in WvW. Even better, any gear that is dropped for you will be level appropriate. You can improve your character’s weapons and armor as you fight!
The more I hear about GW2, the more I can’t wait to play.
Are you waiting for GW2?
Source: Gaming Today
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Kinect Star Wars
- With no controller in the way you can live out the ultimate “Star Wars” fantasy.
- Stunning visuals transport you into the worlds of many of the movies, complete with the iconic characters, vehicles, ships and droids that you’d expect.
- Fulfill your destiny as a Jedi, pilot iconic ships and Speeder Bikes, race Pods, and much more.
- Share the fun with friends through co-op and competitive modes.
- With multiple difficulty levels playable simultaneously, fans of all levels can enjoy the game together.
Kinect Star Wars brings the Star Wars Universe to life like never before. Harnessing the controller-free power of Kinect for Xbox 360, Kinect Star Wars allows fans to physically experience training as a Jedi, using the Force and battling with a lightsaber. Using full body motions, players can live out the ultimate Star Wars fantasy, no controller required.
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Lucas Licensing has renewed its Star Wars deal with The LEGO Group, extending it by another 10 years. Under the renewed deal, LEGO will be able to continue producing Star Wars toys and video games, and is currently working on products based on The Old Republic.
Jill Wilfert, Vice President of Licensing and Entertainment for The LEGO Group said:
Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon that shares many characteristics with the LEGO brand–cross generational appeal, versatile story and character content, creativity and imagination—and we believe that we can continue to grow LEGO Star Wars for many years to come.
Before reading this, I would have scoffed at the notion that LEGO and Star Wars had anything in common, but Wilfert makes a great point. I can’t think of any other toy of movie franchise that has survived for so long, across so many generations.
via MCV
Source: Gaming Today
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Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars Bundle
- Xbox 360 Console: Bring the Star Wars characters you know and love into your living room with this custom R2-D2-themed Xbox 360 console with custom sounds.
- Kinect Sensor: Includes the first ever custom white sensor. Immerse yourself into the Star Wars universe with full-body gameplay. Xbox 360 Wireless Controller: Includes custom C-3PO-themed Xbox 360 Wireless Controller.
- Kinect Star Wars game: Enter the Star Wars universe like never before. Use the Force like a Jedi, become a champion Pod Racer, pilot iconic ships and much more.
- Kinect Adventures game: Get off the couch and into the game in a whole new way. You and your friends and family will jump, dodge, and kick your way through 20 pulse-pounding adventures set in exotic locations.
- 320GB Hard Drive: The largest hard drive available on Xbox 360, Xbox 360 Wired Headset, and Xbox LIVE Token for exclusive downloadable content
Get the Xbox 360 Limited Edition Kinect Star Wars bundle, with the first ever white Kinect Sensor and custom-designed console and controller based on popular Star Wars characters R2-D2 and C-3PO. Use the Force like a Jedi and immerse yourself in the Star Wars experience you’ve always dreamed of, in ways you never imagined possible.
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It’s been nearly 7 years since Star Wars: Battlefront II underwhelmed us. Highly anticipated, it departed somewhat from the premise of the original Star Wars: Battlefront and though it retains an 84% Metacritic rating, it has not been fondly remembered. Not helping matters were its increasingly dismal ports, like the ghastly PC version and the teribad PSP edition. That, and the fact that developer Pandemic Studios was killed off by Electronic Arts in 2009, (It was supposed to be picked up by Free Radical but that didn’t pan out) guaranteed that the series would not be developed further. Or would it?
Lately, the rumor that Spark Unlimited is taking up the series has persisted, particularly as the developer coyly refused to confirm or deny the rumors. These rumors may have just gained more credibility thanks to a job listing posted to their site. Sparks Unlimited is seeking a Senior Combat Designer to work on “a 3rd Person Action/Adventure sequel in a high-profile science fiction franchise currently greenlit for full production development for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC markets.” This in and of itself isn’t much, but thanks to some digging by Playstation Lifestyle, more clues surface:
* Former Senior Software Engineer for Spark Unlimited, John Lawrie, lists “Unannounced third person sword fighting game (well known IP, Xbox 360, PS3)” on his LinkedIn profile.
* Another developer’s LinkedIn page says “I have been working for three years in a AAA third person shooter using Unreal Engine and Kynapse AI middleware.”
* Spark Unlimited have themselves hinted at this possibility with a recent tweet – “Since we are working on a sequel for a well known sci-fi franchise, all aspects must remain secret.”
Based on this, we think Playstation Lifestyle is right to identify Star Wars: Battlefront III as the title in question. Will it be good? Trust your feelings. Use the force. And hope they manage to put together a PC version.
Source: Gaming Today
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