Posts by Eli Shayotovich at Massively

Age of Conan: Check out our Age of Conan page with all of our interviews, hands-ons, galleries and features! Player Consequences takes a look at whether the fugitive PvP consequence system is too harsh.

Lord of the Rings Online: Check out all the news on Book 14 and our guides on the basics of Monster Play, the new rare crafting trophies, and Hunter fast-travel. Plus, let us help find the perfect name for your dwarf or elf!

World of Warcraft: Check out all the news from the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational, including major WoW class changes. Rob Pardo reveals WoW was planned as free-to-play, and says not to hold your breath for a console version.

Massively Features: Find out why you should be playing Myst Online: Uru Live, check out our KingsIsle interview on Wizard101, and peep our first impressions of Requiem: Bloodymare and a video tour of Silkroad Online!

EVE Online: The Empyrean Age has arrived! Check out the wonderful world of alts, our new EVE Online Community Spotlight and The Basics of PVP Fitting.

Warhammer Online: Massively has gone to WAR: don't miss our interviews and hands-ons from EA Mythic's studios, plus our event wrap-up. Check out The Bastion Stair dungeon and our guide to WAR's Order careers!

Eli Shayotovich

Colorado - http://www.massively.com/bloggers/eli-shayotovich

Eli was once an MMO cynic. Until he was introduced to the spandex wearing ways of City of Heroes that is. Now he’s a true believer, addictively sampling all those that don’t include orcs, mages and fairies. Eli has been writing about PC games since 2003 and playing them since the very Dawn of the Gaming Age. Reared on Commodore computers "The Mad Man" finds little use for consoles and game pads. Eli lives in the thin air of the Rocky Mountains (which may be the cause of his deteriorating mind) with his loving and very understanding wife, and his psychotic Alaskan malamute. When not virtually busting bad guys or laying waste to alien scum, Eli is obsessively analyzing each episode of Lost, tweaking one of his many fantasy sports lineups, or imbibing (and blogging about) fine craft beer.

Eli Shayotovich

Colorado - http://www.massively.com/bloggers/eli-shayotovich

APB gets interrogated

by Eli Shayotovich May 12th 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Interviews, New titles, All Points Bulletin, Crime

Back at E3 2005 I had the opportunity to interview David Jones, creator of Grand Theft Auto, about their cops and robbers MMO, All Points Bulletin . Since its announcement at E3 not much has been revealed about the game... until recently. Last week rumors swirled that APB was going to turn into GTA Online, then there was the re-acquisition of the IP rights by Realtime Worlds from Webzen, and now we have an in-depth and revealing interview with Walter Kong, Senior Vice President of Business Development at Realtime.

While the concept of APB may sound similar to Grand Theft Auto, it's not. In APB gamers can play as either cops or robbers within the three dimensional, open world. What's more, Realtime is going to use "players as content. " Basically, they are attempting to take the PvP experience and craft missions around it. Most games are either PvE or PvP; APB will bring those two very divergent styles together.

Continue reading APB gets interrogated

Tags: all-points-bulletin, apb, david-jones, grand-theft-auto, gta, realtime-worlds, walter-kong

Pieces start falling into place for Fallen Earth

by Eli Shayotovich May 8th 2008 at 8:30PM

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, Fallen Earth, Economy, Forums, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, News items

The Fallen Earth forums were alive with the sound of falling chunks of information yesterday as the devs from Icarus Studios answered seven more questions about their post-apocalyptic MMO. At launch players won't be able to upload their own clan symbols, mainly because it's a headache for the devs to inspect each one of them. While it is a mature game with a bit more leeway, it still takes an incredible amount of manually intensive labor to make sure some wanker isn't trying to sneak something absurd into the game.

Deep in the heart of the Las Vegas desert the real Lake Mead is "alive and well" with water skiers and jet skiers. The virtual Lake Mead found in Fallen Earth won't be ready for prime time when the game goes live, but will come online through a later expansion. However, it too will be accessible via the Hoover Dam. Just like in real life.

The Sneak/Stealth skill is made up of both active and passive parts. The "I heard something" part is passive, while the "I think you're an enemy faction member in disguise!" part is active and requires a player to activate an ability on the target. Hopefully, this MMO won't sneak past the gaming populace when it drops because the more we learn about it the better it sounds.

Tags: icarus-studios, post-apocalyptic

SGW beta sign-ups hit 65k

by Eli Shayotovich May 2nd 2008 at 5:00PM

Filed under: Betas, Sci-fi, Launches, New titles, Stargate Worlds, News items

Apparently there are a few Stargate fans out there. A day after officially announcing open beta sign-ups for Stargate Worlds the list has already hit 65,000. According to Senior Community Manager Katie Postma the overwhelming response by fans has given the dev team a huge boost of confidence and encouragement.

Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment wants to remind everyone that the beta process for SGW has just begun, so they ask for your patience as applications are being sifted through as fast as possible. As with most betas, testers will be added slowly over time and will eventually ramp up to much larger numbers in the near future.

Those of you who want a chance to jump through the gate and haven't signed up yet, get your money makers over to their site and drop in your beta application ASAP!

Tags: cheyenne-mountain-en..., mgm, mgm-interactive, stargate, stargate-atlantis

What's in The Day?

by Eli Shayotovich May 2nd 2008 at 4:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Sci-fi, New titles, Previews, PvP, Races, The Day

Precious little information has been revealed about Reloaded Studios' upcoming sci-fi MMO, The Day. Jino Lee, the game's lead producer, recently sat down with 1up and revealed a bit more about what we should expect to see. Players choose to be the "nobly oppressed" or the "power-hungry dominators" and fight via PvP battles to literally control time. A third unplayable "bad guy" class, referred to as "The Arch Enemy," helps drive the story along.

The Day involves something that hasn't been attempted before on such a grand scale: time travel. Players (even low level ones) will have the ability to jump through time and visit the near future as well as the distant past.

Continue reading What's in The Day?

Tags: 1up, arc-de-triomphe, jino-lee, julian-murdoch, napoleonic-wars, paris, reloaded-studios, time-travel

Q&A with PotCO lead developer Jason Yeung

by Eli Shayotovich May 1st 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Historical, Interviews, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, News items, Free-to-play

Jason Yeung is one of the lead developers for Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online. During a recent Q&A he dishes out some very interesting info on what's coming for this free-to-play piratey good time.

Both Davy Jones and the Kraken will eventually be included in the game, but the when remains locked up as tight as Jones' fabled locker however. Adding pets (such as a parrot, which every pirate must have) is something they want to do in future expansions, but they're more focused on creating end-game content for their hardcore players, which is a sign that they do listen to feedback. In fact, their biggest challenge at the moment is rolling out new content fast enough.

If you've never given PotCO a try you really have nothing to lose -- it's free-to-play. If you like what you see, and over the last few months a great deal of new content has been added, a monthly fee will get you unlimited access to all the game's content (like the poker games).

Tags: davy-jones, disney, disney-online, jason-yeung, kraken, parrot, pets, poker

A bounty of new booty for PotCO

by Eli Shayotovich May 1st 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: At a glance, Fantasy, Historical, Expansions, Launches, Patches, Quests, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, News items, Free-to-play

A treasure chest of booty has just been dumped into the world of Pirates of the Caribbean Online. If you're an Unlimited Access player new weapons have been added that deal more damage, have faster reload times and sparkly new graphics. New quests have been included that can earn players things like a Fine Cutlass, Coltello Dagger, Harrow Voodoo Staff, and the walloping Heavy Tri-Barrel Pistol.

If inking up the bod of your Caribbean Pirate is more important, new Tattoo Quests have also been added. These quests will award players special inkings that can not be bought -- they must be earned.

Plus, some incredibly cool lore regarding who (or what) Jolly Roger actually is has been written up, and a tale of two islands explores the intrigue of a pirate from Spain and a pirate from France.

Tags: disney, disney-online, expansion, jason-yeung, jolly-roger, lore

Caribbean pirates get some morale

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 28th 2008 at 7:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Historical, Game mechanics, Patches, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, Free-to-play

Pirating ain't easy. Even rough and tumble scallywag types need a morale boost every once in a while. As such, Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online will soon offer a few new changes - all provided by community feedback.

Tonics will soon be made available that recharge morale faster, and the groggy penalty (due to jail time) is being shortened. Added functionality to the Crew Panel will make the whole act of crewing easier. Players will not only be able to let other players on their server know that they are in need of a crew, but crewing up will also receive a bigger bonus. Now that's an incentive every pirate can get behind!

Additional changes will improve player communications (the whisper feature in particular)... oh, and there are new Quests coming as well.

Tags: crewing, Disney, morale, patches

"SNAP" and virtual transference

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 22nd 2008 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Game mechanics, MMO industry, New titles, Stargate Worlds, News items, Virtual worlds

Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment and their newly formed publishing company FireSky have some incredibly huge plans for the future of gaming. Stargate Worlds, the virtual MMO of the hit television show, is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Joe Ybarra, FireSky's Senior VP of Strategic Operations, recently spilled the beans about some of those plans... and they are nothing short of revolutionary.

FireSky was created to publish SGW for a very simple reason. CME felt that they knew their product better then anyone else, and because they already had in-house talent with backgrounds in publishing, they figured why not do it all? With an already established focus on the service aspect of their product they truly believed they could create a customer support organization and technical infrastructure that was superior to anything out there. That in and of itself is a very bold move, one that not many companies would even consider let alone actually implement.

But FireSky has a far greater purpose then just game publishing.

Continue reading "SNAP" and virtual transference

Tags: cheyenne-mountain-en..., cody-micajah-bye, firesky, joe-ybarra, ten-ton-hammer

Today's sunrise brings updates to Earthrise

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 21st 2008 at 6:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Economy, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, Crafting, PvP, Making money, Endgame, Earthrise

The Italian game site Alteregonline has a new interview with the CEO of Masthead Studios, Atanas Atanasov. In it which he reveals a few more nuggets o' knowledge about their upcoming sci-fi MMO, Earthrise. The site also has an exclusive new screenshot. When you first go to the site don't worry that it's all in Italian. Just scroll down until you find the English translation towards the bottom.

When asked about the endgame, Atanasov said that term was very broad. When players max out their skill development they can do other things, like fight the biggest and baddest monsters in the game. If that doesn't interest them, PvP dominance via territory conquest is an option. Players can also gain economic power via brokering the world's resources or focus on crafting and selling the phatest loot in the land. Endgame content is important them, and the gang at Masthead realizes that if there's nothing to do -- players will leave. They hope to circumvent this with enough content at launch, as well as regular updates and expansions.

Continue reading Today's sunrise brings updates to Earthrise

Tags: Alteregonline, atanas-atanasov, masthead-studios

Playing with audio

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 18th 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Forums, Interviews, New titles, Stargate Worlds

Stargate Worlds Sound Designer Nick LaMartina penned a dev blog concerning in-game audio. As pointed out by one of the SGW forum members, most players usually turn off a game's audio and turn on their MP3 player of choice. LaMartina hopes to change the way we all look (and listen) to game sounds.

LaMartina isn't happy with the way game audio has been designed in the past. He asserts that maybe the reason players strip out the music, almost immediately, is because it's been designed wrong for so long. "Don't wait for them to become interested. Give them a reason to be." That's his motto, and he promises that the way he and his group are making the audio portion of SGW will give us all "something very special to look forward to."

There has always been visual cues and clues, but why haven't developers utilized the high end sound cards sitting in all our rigs? Film makers have known for some time that the auditory portion of a movie is just as important as the visual. It's about time someone took this sorely underutilized gaming component... and cranked it!

Tags: audio, cheyenne-mountain-en..., in-game-audio, Nick-LaMartina

There's a Fire in the Sky!

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 17th 2008 at 7:30PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, Business models, Launches, MMO industry, Stargate Worlds, News items, Virtual worlds

Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment, the developers behind the upcoming sci-fi MMO Stargate Worlds, announced the formation of a new game publisher called FireSky that will release SGW and other unannounced titles. FireSky is headed by the same guy who holds the reins at Cheyenne Mountain - CEO Tim Jenson. Several other CME execs are on board as well, including Senior VP's of product development Rod Nakamoto and strategic operations Joe Ybarra.

Just as intriguing as the announcement was this bit of info that Tim Jenson revealed: "It's almost time for us to lift the veil and show the world some of the unique projects we're working on in addition to Stargate Worlds."

We had no idea they were working on anything else. This oughtta be good!

[Via Gamasutra]

Tags: cheyenne-mountain-en..., firesky, joe-ybarra, Rod-Nakamoto, Tim-Jenson

Stargate Worlds gets updated

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 11th 2008 at 4:30PM

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, Screenshots, New titles, Stargate Worlds, Races

Fans of the upcoming sci-fi MMO Stargate Worlds can finally freshen up their websites with a brand spanking new Web kit. The kit includes two exclusive wallpapers, new SGW logo, a logo branding guide (which explains how you can use/not use the logo), favicons, avatars, and an updated FAQ and legal.

Plus, four new images have been added to the SGW gallery. These new images show off the planets of Lucia, Tollana, Agnos (nothing really "new" per se since we've seen images of them before). The last new image though is a dozy. How about the very first look at a female Jaffa (seen above)! She's one bad mutha. Look at the legs on her!

Tags: cheyenne-mountain, cheyenne-mountain-en..., jaffa, stargate, stargate-atlantis, stargate-worlds

Updates fall onto a Fallen Earth

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 11th 2008 at 3:30PM

Filed under: At a glance, Sci-fi, Screenshots, Fallen Earth, Forums, Game mechanics, Interviews, New titles, Crafting

The gang at Fallen Earth released four new images and some new nuggets o' knowledge about their upcoming end-of-the-world MMO. The images show off the updated graphics engine. While the landscapes look great we're a bit concerned about the rigidity of the humans. Granted, this game is a long ways off from being released so it's too early to lose sleep over.

They're working on a new tutorial level as well as finishing out the starter towns of Zanesville and Needle Eye. They're also revising a bunch of items and balancing out creature abilities. A question was raised by the community asking if 64 equipment slots was enough space given that crafting will be a big emphasis. Crafting = lots of raw materials, which takes up a lot of space. There are three options to offset the limited space. First are clan banks, which are accessible just like a bank vault. Next, players can store gear either in their vehicles or on their horses. Each will have different storage capabilities. Lastly, each player will have their own personal vaults set up by sector. Granted, this means there will be some back and forth running, but it does provide a large amount of storage space, which should offset any headaches.

Three more questions were answered about the state of Fallen Earth, so if you're interested in this post apocalyptic MMO, head over to the forums for all the lowdown.

Tags: equipment, fallen-earth, forums, icarus-studios

Stephen King goes batty about video games

by Eli Shayotovich Apr 10th 2008 at 5:30PM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items, Opinion, Politics, Humor

Stephen King is "the man." He's one of my favorite authors and a very big reason why I'm a writer today. I've followed the ebb and flow of his career, from his meteoric rise (and eventually perpetual stay) on the New York Time's Best Seller list to the the mostly abysmal adaptations of his books to film. Anytime he talks, I tend to listen.

So you can imagine my intrigue when King, a man who has never tested the virtual waters (F13 doesn't count) with his magnificent worlds - how great would an MMO set in the world of The Dark Tower be? - voiced his opinion about the proposed Massachusetts bill to ban the sale of "violent" video games to anyone under the age of 18.

Continue reading Stephen King goes batty about video games

Tags: age-of-conan, conan-the-barbarian, disney, disney-online, entertainment-software-ratings-board, esrb, massachusetts, opinion, pirates-of-the-carib..., prohibition, robert-e-howard, stephen-king, video-game-ban, war-on-drugs

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