announcements posts

Wizard 101 announcement raises more questions

by Beau Hindman Mar 7th 2010 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Expansions, Kids, Wizard101

Wizard 101 players recently received a jolt of excitement as they were told to expect "a big announcement coming soon from Merle Ambrose." Soon enough, the rumors started to fly. Would it be the official announcement that outlined the new areas or new expansion? Would some new creatures be paraded around for all to see? Then, the announcement came:

"Wizards from every school and many worlds of the Spiral are ready to set forth on grand new adventures with their loyal pets alongside them, with exciting new activities and fresh challenges soon to come. This spring, pets will be able to do more than you have ever dared hope! These fine creatures will serve alongside you in wonderful new ways, taking you to unseen parts of familiar worlds, worlds beyond those you know! When asked to elaborate, Ambrose replied cryptically, "The answer you seek may be in the stars... or it just might be there alongside you."

But what did the announcement mean? While Kingsisle Entertainment hinted obviously at new pets that did more than ever before, how would players utilize them? How much would they cost? Would it be some new sort of Pokemon type arena fighting, or perhaps the pets would serve as a key to new lands? Players are all waiting for the next official announcement, hoping for something more to chew on. What do you think? Could this be a series of clues into the next expansion, or a glimpse into something much, much larger?

Tags: announcements, kid-friendly, kingisle-entertainment, pets, wizard101

Alganon expands to Impulse distribution

by Eliot Lefebvre Dec 10th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, News items, Alganon

Alganon isn't necessarily the darling of the MMO world at the moment, with a large number of people drawing conclusions about it before even setting foot in the game. So, really, more or less par for the course. But it has launched, it's developing its content, and it's clearly making moves to get itself noticed as something new and good. And if recent moves are any indications, one of the best ways to get yourself noticed is expanding on to the much-beloved digital distribution sources. The game has just been made available on the Impulse service, run by Stardock.

Those of you with acute memories may recall that it wasn't so long ago that Alganon had an exclusive setup with Direct2Drive. However, expansion is always a good thing, especially for a smaller studio looking to improve their visibility. There's no word on any exclusive giveaways a la the plethora of Fallen Earth bonuses for different services, but that's all right -- it's good enough to know that if you have a want for the game, there are more ways to go about getting it.

Tags: alganon, announcements, digital-distribution, direct2drive, distribution, downloads, impulse, news-items, quest-online, stardock

Mortal Online pre-orders delayed by two weeks

by James Egan Jun 29th 2009 at 3:30PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Business models, New titles, News items, Mortal Online

We announced some details about the Mortal Online pre-order which was slated to kick off today in the game's online store. However the Mortal Online developers, Star Vault, announced there will be a two-week delay with the launch of the Mortal Online online store.

Star Vault CEO Henrik Nystrom announced: "On the 25th of June we brought you some good stuff, but today we have to bring you bad news. We have been working very hard to get the shop up and for it to accept different methods of payment, however it's not obvious we have been too optimistic this time as we have encountered several last-minute problems.

More information and a new schedule will be announced on the Mortal Online game store soon."

(Thanks for the tip, Rhys)

Tags: announcements, breaking, breakingnews, business-models, delay, delays, fantasy, henrik-nystrom, mortal-online, new-titles, online-store, pre-order, pre-orders, star-vault, sweden

Turbine announces Nate Jones new VP of corporate and business development

by James Egan May 26th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: MMO industry, News items

Turbine announced the newest addition to their executive team today, with the appointment of Nate Jones to VP of corporate and business development. "Jones will be responsible for overseeing worldwide content and licensing partnerships, joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions for the company," states Turbine.

Jones comes to Turbine from his tenure at Glu Mobile Inc., a publisher of mobile games, and has a strong background in media mergers and acquisitions. In addition he's advised companies like Microsoft, EA, Jagex and Major League Gaming on their operations in the video games industry. "Turbine has a great reputation for bringing critically acclaimed and globally recognized gaming experiences to the market," said Jones. "As one of very few leaders in the massively multiplayer online games space, Turbine is in a unique position. I'm thrilled to join the team and look forward to working with both new and existing partners to extend our leadership and realize the Company's full potential."

Tags: announcements, executives, glu-mobile, mmo-industry, nate-jones, turbine

EVE Online turns 6 today, announces over 300k subscribers

by James Egan May 6th 2009 at 3:00PM

Filed under: Sci-fi, EVE Online, MMO industry, News items

EVE Online is the first massively multiplayer online title from CCP Games, one that's redefined what we can expect from a sandbox game. They created the gritty far-future setting of New Eden, a place where EVE's players can do as they choose in a vast galaxy comprised of thousands of solar systems, both mapped and unexplored. Today CCP Games celebrates EVE Online's sixth birthday. They state, "A 6 year persistent history. A living history where truly brilliant strategies have unfolded. Truly terrible betrayals unveiled. We are excited to see what will happen next."

CCP also announced their new subscriber milestone: EVE now has over 300,000 active subscriptions (not including trial accounts), up 22% over the past five months alone. Their peak concurrent user record has also climbed to 53,850 players interacting in the same space, a record we've noticed they seem to shatter with increasing frequency. "That is exponential growth," CCP says. "We couldn't think of a better birthday present than having more people play EVE Online than ever before. It is another sweet reminder of EVE's boundless potential."

Congratulations to CCP Games from the team at Massively, and here's looking to the next six years.

[Via Warp Drive Active]

Tags: anniversary, announcements, birthdays, ccp-games, eve, eve-online, milestone, milestones, mmo-industry, new-eden, pcu, peak-concurrent-users, sandbox, sci-fi, single-shard

The Daily Grind: What announcements do you expect at GDC this week?

by Shawn Schuster Mar 23rd 2009 at 8:00AM

Filed under: Events, real-world, MMO industry, Opinion, Massively meta, The Daily Grind, Hands-on

The Game Developers Conference is all this week and we'll be there to report the latest MMO news on your favorite games, old and new. Last year's conference revealed some exciting news on fresh projects like Love, as well as unexpected hits like the reveal of APB.

As we gear up for a week of interviews, panels and hands-on play time, we can't help but wonder what the big announcements will be for this year. We already know about Funcom's unveiling of The Secret World, as well as goodies from Blizzard, Mythic and CCP, but what secrets lie in store for us hungry MMO news junkies? Let us know what you think will be the biggest surprises of GDC 2009.

Tags: announcements, game-developers-conference, gdc-09, gdc-2009, gdc09, reveal, surprise

WAR Preview Weekend attendees can start playing Friday, September 5th

by James Egan Sep 4th 2008 at 8:30PM

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Events, in-game, Launches, Previews, Warhammer Online, News items

We'll keep this short and sweet. Anyone who was part of the Warhammer Online Preview Weekend can join in on "Preview Weekend+." Tomorrow. That's right. Friday, September 5th, for North American Preview Weekend attendees. Warhammer Online's Community Coordinator James Nichols made this announcement today:

"WAAAGH!!!

WAR is Coming and the world is ready. Hundreds of thousands of players will descend upon the Age of Reckoning this Sunday, September 7th. In order to make this world-wide event the best it can be we're welcoming all Preview Weekend attendees back for two more days to rev things up and get the party started. We invite all Preview Weekend players to join us for Preview Weekend+ this Friday, 9/5 and Saturday, 9/6 starting tomorrow morning.

This epic weekend will be one to remember as you herald in Open Beta and the Age of Reckoning to the entire world! The tides of WAR are coming...we'll see you on the battlefield!"

There you have it. We haven't received word on what time, exactly, the servers will open up, but since they've stated "tomorrow morning"... it might be time to call in 'sick' and have yourself a 3-day WAR weekend.

Thanks Tom and Zak.

Edit: It seems that Preview Weekend + will not include WAR's European player base. This post will be updated if that situation changes.

Did you enjoy this? Make sure to check out all of our previous Warhammer Online features, and don't miss any of our ongoing coverage as Massively goes to WAR!

Tags: announcement, announcements, breaking, community, community-coordinator, james-nichols, preview-weekend, preview-weekend-, preview-weekend-plus, waaagh, war, warhammer, warhammer-online