Massively^™

Massively Speaking Episode 12 runs down news and features from Massively.com for the week of June 25th - July 1st. This week Colin Brennan and Adrian Bott up the respectability level something fierce, with considered opinions and thoughtful commentary on the week's topics. It's true that most of those topics are Blizzard-related, but they just had a big event. Sorry for our WoW-weary listeners. We also chat about Lord of the Rings Online book 14 and Star Wars Galaxies big anniversary.

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 (MP3)
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[Digg] Like the show? Digg it.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
[VW] Listen at VirginWorlds.com
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes.

Warp Drive Active podcaster Winterblink is a man who's got everything, apparently. And too much of it, scattered throughout his hangars in New Eden. It's a common problem in EVE Online, particularly for players who roam a lot throughout the galaxy. Mission runners, ratters, and adherents of most any trade or livelihood in the game accumulate a lot of random assets, individually of low worth but which can hold substantial value when seen as a whole. Unfortunately, what Winterblink describes in his blog gets even worse when a player uses containers to organize their possessions by category across multiple stations. The contents of those containers cannot be viewed remotely; one has to be docked in that particular station to see what's inside.

Winterblink decided he couldn't handle the clutter anymore and shared the most efficient way he's found to deal with it all, step-by-step. He also had a good idea about having a container that only has the modules for his preferred ship fittings. Slowboating all over New Eden to consolidate his assets worked out for Winterblink. But this writer found that the negligible value of his junk and the time lost consolidating it wouldn't be worth the effort, and opted to ruthlessly destroy a fair amount of it, rather than collect and reprocess or resell the odds and ends. The slash-and-burn approach works for Tech I modules, but once ships and Tech II of anything enter into the picture, Winterblink's way is best. Especially in that he opted to reprocess the materials rather than trying to sell them all on the market.

The third episode of the Official NCsoft Europe Podcast has just been released, and in it, we get treated to a bit of a pace change. Avatea, NCsoft Europe's Community Team Lead for Tabula Rasa hosts this show while interviewing three of the main developers for the game: Producer Starr Long, Lead Designer Tom Potter and Art Director Victor Meinert. Luckily for those of us Rockjaw fans out there, he is not completely left out of this one!

This 40-minute show gets into the minds of these developers, and lets us know a bit more about what it's like to work at Destination Games, their visions for the future of Tabula Rasa, the importance of player feedback and much more. We even get a glimpse into the crazy practical jokes the team has played on each other! So give it a listen and don't forget to follow along with the complete episode transcription.

How often do you get the opportunity to ask a big-time developer a question and actually hear their answer? Unless you travel to a gaming conference and stand in line for an hour, this isn't likely to happen, but on the next episode of TabulaCast, the hosts John and Matt will be interviewing Tom Potter, the leader designer for Tabula Rasa. They will be asking him questions submitted by the listeners regarding the game and his new role in the lead designer seat after taking over for Paul Sage last month. Of course, not all questions will be on the show, but only the very best will be chosen.

This is a very exciting interview for the folks at TabulaCast who have previously interviewed some of the "leaders" in the Tabula Rasa player community including PlanetTR's main admin DeadRinger, Ten Ton Hammer's TR lead Tony "Radar X" Jones as well as both Community Coordinators: Amy "Critters" Crider and Tia "Avatea" from NCsoft Europe.

How time flies. Since June of 2007, the Stargate Worlds Developer Q&A podcast has been a great resource for fans of the upcoming MMO, and the latest episode brings even more information to the masses.

Covering topics like Stargate addresses, target lock in combat, captureable towns on contested worlds, instanced worlds, and the ability to play as dark or light factions, among others, one of the hallmarks of this podcast series is the direct connection community members enjoy with the developers of the game. Fans get to ask questions directly of particular devs, and those devs answer just as directly, with no unnecessary spin. Don't you wish every development house were this transparent?

Stephen 'Rockjaw' Reid, Creative Concepts manager at NCSoft Europe, has put episode 2.5 of the NCSE podcast up for our perusal. This new episode follows up on the wildly successful MiniCon, focusing on the aftermath of the mammoth City of Heroes playing event, Task Force Omega. Who were the contestants, how did they survive, and who ultimately emerged triumphant?

NCSoft Europe have been highly active in the events field lately, with their appearance at the Comics Expo in Bristol, UK bringing in major bucks for charity. The next major event in the NCSoft Europe calendar will be the UK Games Expo on May 31st and June 1st. Once again, you'll be able to get a favorite character sketched courtesy of the artists from the Draw the World Together project. For the first time, they'll also be selling copies of the DTWT sketchbook, filled with images of the CoX heroes and villains!

Listen to the podcast online, or if you prefer, download it and save it for later.

MMO bloggers Keen and Graev have published the first episode of their Age of Conan podcast. Well, it's the first if you don't count the open beta special they did earlier this month, anyway.

In this episode, they talk about their impressions of the game during its Early Access period, from Tortage to the Wilds. They also describe the performance and stability improvements Funcom has managed to make since the rather troubled open beta event. It sounds like the duo generally has positive feelings about AoC's post-launch existence so far, but a few criticisms are raised about things like the user interface and the way the game's world is pieced together.

The conversation is an honest intro to the state of Hyboria at the moment; it's worth a listen whether you're already playing AoC or still sitting on the fence.

One of the things we really love about VirginWorlds is their awesome podcast collective. Not only has Brent given us his general VirginWorlds MMORPG News podcast, but he's provided a syndicated home for many other fantastic titles like Shut Up. We're Talking., The Drone Bay, to more recent additions like The VanHemlock Podcast and even our very own Massively Speaking! With such a treasure trove of fantastic podcasts, we gleefully load up our iPods and get our game on -- even when we're not gaming!

For today's Daily Grind, we wanted to ask you what some of your favorite MMO podcasts are. Are you a follower of TabulaCast? Can you not resist the awesome Epic Dolls? Is The Instance your favorite? Perhaps something well off the beaten path that you think everyone should really start listening to? Let us know!

In the most recent episode of Shut Up We're Talking, the hosts Darren and Karen talk with a few guests on the very same topic that every single other gaming website and podcast are discussing for the past few weeks: Age of Conan. The distinction here though, is that the members of this roundtable podcast are discussing their impressions of the game so far from the perspectives of open beta users vs. closed beta users. This is something that is very important to those players who may have had a bad experience with either of the betas, or the pre-order early access fiasco.

John, from The Ancient Gaming Noob, also brings up some great points from the perspective of someone who has worked in a related field, regarding the fact that AoC's beta seemed like one big marketing tool. He cites the example of this being done in Tabula Rasa's beta as well, where the information collected from the beta was seemingly ignored for the official launch of the game.

The AoC discussion is in the first half of episode 26, and is certainly worth a listen, especially if you're someone who was completely turned off to the game after your experiences with the beta.

Although we here at Massively have our own podcast, and even though we've showcased other podcasts in the past, we missed one important offering in our MMOG podcast roundup last year. The CoH Podcast -- ably presided over by Chooch and Viv -- is a wonderful roundup of CoX news and events. A tasteful plate of information and opinion served up in under an hour, the CoH Podcast informs and amuses, and it's available via iTunes. Currently on Episode 21, they've been providing their own spin around the streets of the City since October 2007.

Feel free to browse their listener forums, look over their screen captures, or simply subscribe to one of the better podcasts streaming across the web. When you're done listening, they welcome feedback. And if you want to speak with them directly, feel free to give them a call ... their telephone number is on the main page of the site. Don't worry, though: I have it on the best authority that the number doesn't spell bubkiss.

	MMO Mash-up: Age of Hello Kitty Welcome to a new column here at Massively, where I'll take two massively multiplayer online games and chop them up into little pieces, so I can put them back together with electrical tape and staples. This is the MMO Mashup, where you can expect to see everything from the startlingly strange to the ubiquitously unusual. Lets get straight into it then, with the pink-yet-dark world of Age of Hello Kitty.
	Massively goes hands-on with LotRO Book 13 video We could write reams of text that describe in loving detail all the features that await you in Lord of the Rings Online's Book 13 content patch. We could lay out screenshot after screenshot that could perfectly capture the chilly northlands that are being introduced, the eerie agent of Angmar who is tearing apart the land or the monstrous beasts that roam the wintry tundra.
	MMOGology: Sex games What are the risqué features in Age of Conan and what will their implementation mean for future MMOGs? If Age of Conan is successful can we expect other developers to push the envelope further, or has someone already beaten them to the punch? If you're easily offended you may wish to skip what follows after the break.
	Massively Speaking Podcast Episode 2 Massively Speaking Episode 2 runs down news and features from Massively.com for the week of April 14th-20th. Shawn and Michael are joined by blogging regulars Akela Talamasca and Jonathan Northwood to talk about the next LOTRO Book, the Epic Villain Archetype video, and (of course) Age of Conan!
	The next EverQuest 2 expansion is ... So what is the Shadow of Odyssey? There are so many unexplored plot threads in the Norrath of EQ2, and the title is so vague, that it could be almost anything. Still, we have a few good ideas. If we had to put money on it, we'd bet that the shadow in question has something to do with the Void, and the mysterious Shadowmen. Or, Odyssey could refer to the long-lost homeland of the Erudites, the magic-weaving spellsmiths of yore.

Massively Speaking Episode 2 runs down news and features from Massively.com for the week of April 14th-20th. Shawn and Michael are joined by blogging regulars Akela Talamasca and Jonathan Northwood to talk about the next LOTRO Book, the Epic Villain Archetype video, and (of course) Age of Conan!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to Massively Speaking directly in iTunes (MP3)
[RSS] Add Massively Speaking to your RSS aggregator.
[Digg] Like the show? Digg it.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Listen here on the page:



Read below the cut for the full show notes ... and yes, we're coming to iTunes very soon we're on iTunes now!

It is our great pleasure to introduce to you a brand new podcast! "Massively Speaking" is a medium-length (40-60 minutes) weekly podcast from the writers at Massively.com! The podcast will be covering a week's worth of highlights, detailing news and features from the website. Tune in each week to hear commentary from the minds behind your favorite MMO-related news, editorials, and feature articles.

"Massively Speaking" episode one sees co-leads Krystalle Voecks and Michael Zenke, writer Kyle Horner, and accomplished podcasting veteran Shawn Schuster setting down to a banquet of MMO news. Check out our commentary on the Lich King alpha announcement, LOTRO Book 13, and City of Heroes issue 12. Our feature-of-the-week is all about Age of Conan, and the unique character classes they're offering up. By Crom!



Make sure to listen here on the page, or download the episode for local listening. You can also read on for the full show notes!

The second episode of the Official NCsoft Europe podcast (called that because no one's been able to come up with a better name, apparently) is up, and concerns itself mostly with a revisiting of the Ultimate Heroic Weekend. From all accounts, it was quite the bash, and next year's event is not to be missed!

Additionally, there is an interview with Melissa 'War Witch' Bianco, one of the more famous developers from City of Heroes and City of Villains, recorded during the final days of the event. Hosted by Stephen 'Rockjaw' Reid, the podcast is a worthwhile listen, especially if you're a fan of CoX. Listen to it on their site. And as an aside, man, is there anyone who doesn't play Rock Band?

[Thanks, Aero!]

Yesterday, The Cape Radio -- specifically DJs Templar and Shecky -- took the time to interview Brian Clayton, the General Manager of NCsoft NorCal studio, Matt "Positron" Miller, the Senior Lead Designer for City of Heroes, and Lighthouse, City of Heroes' Community Relations Manager. While the podcast is available immediately on The Cape's web site, we'll also have a transcript of the session available for you tomorrow. To whet your interest, however, here are some important takeaways from yesterday's session:

• current bandwidth testing -- on dial-up, DSL, and cable modem -- indicate that performance impact with in-game advertisements enabled will range from minimal to none
• any data collected to share with the advertiser to determine the viability of the revenue stream will be in the aggregate, and will not include personally-identifying data
• the goal is to have player-generate ads included in the lineup at no charge, but that model may change in the future, and it may have some caveats, such as one-off advertisements for anniversaries and such
• full details for submitting player-generated material are available on the official forums
• players will be able to opt-in and opt-out at will, and at any time
• if you opt out, you'll see the current static ads; however, if you opt-in, the current static ads will still be part of the lineup, cycling through along with all other player-generated and revenue-generating ads
• 100% of ad-generated revenue is currently earmarked for development of future content
• NCsoft remains committed to making the advertising a seamless part of the experience, and is looking to enhance the immersive nature of the game rather than negatively impact it