Massively - Daily News About MMOs

Trickster Online's Spring Poppuri Olympics flings out prizes

by Justin Olivetti Mar 17th 2010 (1 hour ago)

They all laughed at you when you told them you were playing a 2D sprite-based MMORPG with characters cuter than The Smurfs, Rainbow Brite and Pokémon all rolled into one. Now you have the chance to wave a brand-new iPod touch in their faces and crow "Who's laughing now? Who's laughing now?" as they fall to their knees and scream to the sky.

Ntreev's Trickster Online continues to roll out special events and contests for its playerbase, as it just announced their Spring Poppuri Olympics, which starts March 18th and runs through April 7th. Players can net some snazzy prizes through this event, including an in-game pet, an iPod Touch 32G, an autographed 2010 World Cup soccer ball, and more.

To win, players are tasked to drill for special "Poppuri Boxes" hidden across Caballa Island. If you are level 40 and find at least 200 of these boxes, you will be eligible to win the goodies. "We love to watch the fierce drilling spirit of our players during these Poppuri events," said Chris Lee, CEO of Ntreev USA. "Players will be rewarded nicely with some fabulous prizes for this exciting event and we hope to deliver more events in the future with even greater in-game and real-world prizes."

Since Trickster Online is a free-to-play title, there's no reason why you shouldn't head on over to their website, and check it out to see if it's up your alley. And with the lure of a free iPod touch, there's no time like the present!

Digimon Battle beta begins

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 17th 2010 (2 hours ago)

Tamers! The time to grab your Digimon and set off for adventure is upon us. The open beta for WeMade's Digimon Battle is set to open tonight at 5pm Pacific time for those who have signed up to try out this upcoming game. They're not just leaving it at that, though -- the plans are to celebrate the opening of Digimon Battle with a series of events called the Triple Play Event Bundle.

The events will run from March 17th through April 7th, and offer a variety of things for players to try out as they level their Digimon up in this interesting new world. The first one is called "Mega Mission" and players who manage to digivolve (evolve, for non-Digimon fans) their companions to the Mega Stage will have a chance to win 500 WeCash, and in-game items like Gold Drills, Excalibur Swords and a week of Deva Aura. The second event is called "Check in and Cash In" which will reward players who log once per day (for 100% attendance) with an interesting-sounding Mysterious DigiEgg prize. The third and final event will offer something called the "DB Happy Hour" that will grant players a 30% experience buff for free when they log in on March 20th & 21st between 11AM and 2PM server time to help stress-test the servers. (That's Pacific time for those curious.)

Help develop Tyrannis on the EVE test server

by Brendan Drain Mar 17th 2010 (3 hours ago)

EVE

CCP

EVE Online's Tyrannis expansion is due for release in a few months and players are looking forward to the new planetary interaction mechanic. Although the core ideas for the expansion have been settled on, many of the game mechanics have not been fully fleshed out. In an effort to get players involved, CCP have begun releasing early prototypes of the planetary interaction feature on the EVE test server Singularity. It's important to keep in mind that nothing on the test server is final. As a studio that makes heavy use of agile development strategies, CCP will use feedback from players on the test server to incrementally refine the design.

Dierdra Val, director of EVE University, has been on the test server to bring the EVE community details of CCP's current designs. They've released a video showing the process of installing structures on a planet and setting up factory links. So far, planetary interaction seems very similar to the moon mining and reacting industry but it's definitely a much more active process. While moon mining operations produce an endless supply of moon minerals at a steady rate, planet-based material deposits will vary in total size and yield per cycle. The materials produced on planets are also different than those produced by existing industrial operations.

Skip past the cut to watch EVE University's test-server planetary interaction tutorial or set up a test server client and try it out for yourself.

GDC10: The expo in pictures

by Seraphina Brennan Mar 17th 2010 (4 hours ago)

NCsoft

We have a saying around the Massively offices -- "When we go to a show, our readers go to the show." We hope you guys have really enjoyed our crazy coverage of GDC10 as much as we enjoyed running around the show like crazy people grabbing all of that information.

But, while we were running around, we got some great photos from the show for you! Now you too can live the experience of running from booth to booth, passing legions upon legions of companies explaining their newest technologies and how they can improve your gaming experience.

So come along with us for a whirlwind trip through GDC! Trust us, it's exciting.

Gallery: GDC10: Pictures from the floor

Crafting from your iPhone: The Fallen Earth app

Black Prophecy unveils new trailer

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 17th 2010 (5 hours ago)

Having now secured a publishing and distribution partner for their game, the team at Reakktor Media are working hard, polishing Black Prophecy up to a mirror shine. From what we've seen recently in our hands-on at GDC 2010, things are in excellent shape for the upcoming closed beta.

With that said, the Black Prophecy team has released a shiny new video offering a look at the evolution of a couple of different types of ships, some exciting space battles, and even some interior areas -- including what appears to be a fairly wicked chase in a tunnel. If you've been waiting for more, then be sure to check out the trailer after the break, and get signed up for the beta if you haven't already.

Fallen Earth St. Paddy's Day pub crawl

by Jef Reahard Mar 17th 2010 (6 hours ago)

Those crazy leprechauns over at Icarus Studios have done it again. They're putting on a wasteland-flavored St. Patrick's Day pub crawl sure to please anyone who likes apocalypses, beer, the color green, or post-apocalyptic green beer. Log in to Fallen Earth between 11:00 am March 17 and 1:00 am March 18 and stop by any of the watering holes listed in the original press release to join in the tomfoolery.

Be sure and take screen shots of any shenanigans you encounter, and send them to ssouthivorarat at fallenearth dot com by 12:00pm EST on March 19 for your chance to win special prizes. Rumor has it that including the apocalyptic leprechaun in your shots may boost your chances.

Full details including sector locations, participating clans, and time slots can be found at the official site.

One Shots: Oops, left my dark armor at home

by Krystalle Voecks Mar 17th 2010 (7 hours ago)

We have to admit, the combination in this screenshot was pretty amusing to us. First, there are all the muscular men in their black and silver armor, all ready to go. Then you have the waifish girl in her bright pastels. Thankfully, at least it's not a metal bikini.

This image is from the recent closed beta of Aika, and comes to us from Jacob J. who writes in to explain the scene to us: "It's always exciting when a band of adventurers joins forces for the first time at an entrance to a new dungeon. What thrilling mysteries and legendary treasures lay ahead? I'll never know -- my pickup group wiped on the first pull and then my game crashed on run #2." Oh, the fun of beta.

Are you taking part in a beta that you'd like to show off? So long as the NDA is down on the game you're playing, we'd be glad to post your screenshots. Just email those over to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a brief description. We'll post it and give you the credit.

Gallery: One Shots: Gallery II

Turbine releases screenshots from Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 4

by Rubi Bayer Mar 17th 2010 (8 hours ago)

Turbine

Yesterday's State of the Game for Dungeons and Dragons Online gave players a lot to look forward to, and brought about a storm of questions and excitement from fans. The new race, the respec option, and particularly the introduction of guild housing left the community very anxious for Update 4 to arrive.

Almost lost amidst the other features was the announcement of a new adventure pack. "Sentinels" will take us back to House Deneith and Searing Heights -- places you may not have explored much lately -- to meet a new kind of undead and fight a pirate band led by Captain Tew.

So while we're counting down the days until April and Update 4, if for no other reason than to satisfy our curiosity about these upcoming changes, we've got some time to wait. Turbine has given us some gorgeous new screenshots of House Deneith to hold us over in the meantime, so check out the gallery below and enjoy.

Gallery: Dungeons and Dragons Online Update 4

Massively Speaking Episode 92: GDC 2010

by Shawn Schuster Mar 17th 2010 (9 hours ago)

Massively Speaking Episode 92 is coming to you from the Game Developer's Conference, where Shawn and Seraphina record their impressions of what they've seen at the end of each day and compile it for you. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll turn up your speakers because the sound quality is not good.

Have a comment for the podcasters? Shoot us an email to podcast AT massively DOT com. Maybe we'll read your letter on the air!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes.
[Zune] Subscribe to Massively Speaking via the Zune service.
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[VW] Listen at VirginWorlds.com
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:

Read below the cut for the full show notes.

A Mild-Mannered Reporter: Pay the man

by Eliot Lefebvre Mar 17th 2010 (10 hours ago)

CoH

CoV

Back on the first column I ever wrote about City of Heroes, many moons ago, someone made a comment that's stuck in my head. It wasn't negative, just something that stuck in my mind. They mentioned how the game had been portrayed in a somewhat poor light on the site as a whole, and used as an example that it had been used as the title image for this article about microtransactions and other payment goodies.

Go ahead and take a look at the author of that piece, and you might understand why the comment stuck in my mind.

I don't think that City of Heroes does a bad job with their microtransactions. I actually love their setup and like to point to it alongside Dungeons & Dragons Online as a prime example of how to do an item shop correctly. And I'm fairly sure I'm not the only person who feels that way, although there's doubtlessly the other side of the story that thinks they do an awful job. So strap yourselves in, because today we're going to be diving headfirst into the cash shop and my enthusiastic praise for same.