ncsoft posts

Anti-Aliased: Blade & Soul > Aion

by Seraphina Brennan Nov 20th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, New titles, Opinion, Anti-Aliased, Blade & Soul

All right, now that the inflammatory title that makes you look at my column is out of the way, let's get down to business. This week we got to see a 30-second teaser trailer from the folks at NCsoft about Blade & Soul, a game from NCsoft that has been stealthing in the background, waiting for the right time to strike and jump in front of Aion.

Blade & Soul isn't a brand new game though. In fact, the game's artwork has already made a guest a ppearance on our website. (With subsequent comments on how that woman's back is going to break in half if she should walk forward.) Plus, if you really want to see what the game has to offer, a quick YouTube search will bring you to the Blade & Soul HD gameplay video which looks, well, simply stunning.

So why am I dedicating my opinion column to a game that's nowhere close to being released? Well, because I think it has potential, and because it's my opinion column. So come along after the break, and let's look at Blade & Soul.

Tags: aion, anti-aliased, blade-and-soul, cinematic-combat, combat, cryengine-2, dead-or-alive, fantasy, fighting, martial-arts, ncsoft, opinion, unreal-engine-3

One Shots: Bark at the moon

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 19th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

With Halloween now giving way to Thanksgiving next week in the United States, we figured it was a great time to show this one last Halloween image we recieved from Guild Wars. Thorband caught this image of his character howling at the lunatic moon during the recent Mad King celebration. The other thing we really dig about this image is the lovely fall colors, like those of a roasting turkey -- and of course, tasty pumpkin pie. Mmm, pie.

We love holidays in MMOs almost as much as we love pie -- maybe even more, depending on the game! So if you have a chance to grab some holiday celebration screenshots while you're out and about, please send some our way! We love to see what's up in the different worlds out there. All you have to do is email them to us at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here and give you the love.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, gw, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, thorband

One Shots: Wonder what he's reading

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 16th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

For some of us, there's nothing quite as good as getting some gaming time in, save perhaps cracking open a good book. Sometimes you can even get a good book in while getting some MMO time. When you add in being in the lovely lands of Aion, that's a pretty solid combination -- or at least a pretty one as today's One Shots shows! This great picture comes to us from Steffan A. who writes in: I started a new character on Triniel, and I was wandering through Munihele Forest when I just had to stop and take a screenshot. Aion is one of the best looking MMORPG's I have ever played, and I think I'll be staying for awhile.

For some, it's all about the beauty. For others, it's all about the play. Others still prefer a bit of both! We'd love to see screens of your favorite MMO, if you'd like to send 'em on in. Just email them to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll do the rest. Easy, no?

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: aion, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, steffan-a

Lineage II offering free time for former subscribers with the release of Gracia Epilogue

by Seraphina Brennan Nov 16th 2009 at 1:09PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Lineage 2, Game mechanics, Patches, News items

If you're a former Lineage II player who's been wondering what's been changed with the release of Gracia Epilogue, then wonder no further. NCsoft will be offering account reactivations for those people who left the game in good standing.

Old players can get a few days to run around the newly upgraded world of Aden and check out the new features such as the new hunting grounds, improved mail system, changes to the vitality and territory war systems, and much much more.

We added a few more screenshots from Lineage II into our gallery below, and you can get the full patch notes on Gracia Epilogue from the game's patch website.

Gallery: Lineage 2: Gracia Epilogue Screenshots

Tags: account-reactivation, gracia, gracia-epilogue, hunting-grounds, l2, lineage-2, ncsoft

NCsoft releases teaser trailer for Blade and Soul

by Rubi Bayer Nov 16th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Fantasy, Trailers, New titles

When we say "NCsoft" it usually brings to mind their big, highly-promoted titles like City of Heroes, Aion, and Guild Wars. However, NCsoft enjoys quite a bit of popularity in their home country of Korea, and a lot of people are looking forward to another upcoming title. Blade and Soul hasn't enjoyed the worldwide hype that some other NCsoft titles have, but it's still got an excited fan base looking forward to it.

News for eager fans has been on the skimpy side, with the biggest announcement lately being a recent mention from the NCsoft CEO Jaeho Lee: "I believe there will be certain public events in the year 2010... at least a closed beta test for those titles. Commercialisation will be expected, at this point, probably some time in the year 2011."

Yesterday NCsoft delivered a little surprise via Twitter for those anticipating Blade and Soul: a teaser trailer is coming soon, and a 30-second teaser is available now. Take a look at the teaser after the jump, and we'll keep an eye out for the full length version for you!

Tags: aion, blade-and-soul, city-of-heroes, guild-wars, jaeho-lee, ncsoft, ncsoft-korea, teaser, trailer

NCSoft asks Aion players to fly their fan flags in public

by Rubi Bayer Nov 14th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Culture, Events, real-world

NCsoft and the Aion staff have been spending a lot of time lately working to get the Aion community involved and engaged in ways beyond just playing the game. They began with the Eye on Community feature, brought out Aion apparel, and now NCsoft gives you Aion Around the World.

The Aion team is enjoying the international popularity of their game and want to see it in action. Community Manager Andrew "Tamat" Beegle explains "to highlight the global phenomenon that Aion has become, we want to see pictures of our community members in public locations. We're looking for pictures of our players participating in exciting activities or showcasing Aion-themed merchandise, art, or cosplay."

Tamat and two other Aion team members Ayase and Amboss illustrated the idea by cleverly getting themselves into one photo while 5,000 miles apart. (We anticipate someone taking the idea a step farther by doing the same thing with their entire guild.) Aion will be featuring the pictures on their site for the next few months, so get to work on those wings, grab your camera, and send your photos to the Aion Community email. Have fun!

Tags: aion, aion-around-the-world, aion-community, aion-the-tower-of-eternity, ncsoft, real-world-events

Aion live server numbers crunched

by Brooke Pilley Nov 13th 2009 at 4:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, New titles

Aion has been out for roughly 6 weeks so we thought it might be fun to crunch some of the numbers NCsoft provides on their official North American website. We've taken a look at realm balance, class balance, and what level Aion's population is at. Data collection occurred on November 12 at noon Eastern. A spreadsheet containing all data can be viewed here.

Realm population balance (Elyos vs. Asmodian)

Realm population balance is 50/50 on 3 of 14 servers. The remaining 11 servers have the Asmodians ahead of the Elyos by a 51:49 ratio. It appears as if NCsoft's forced realm population balance mechanic is keeping things under control, but one wonders how rampant these disparities would be if character creation was unrestricted. We've seen unbalanced two-faction MMOs before.

It should be stated that these numbers only represent a tally of Elyos and Asmodians across all servers and not how organized or active each realm is in PvPvE.

Tags: aion, featured, ncsoft, ncwest, number-crunching, numbers, population-balance, realm-balance, server-metrics, server-statistics

Get your Kung Fu on in City of Heroes

by Kyle Horner Nov 12th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Super-hero, City of Heroes, News items

Do you sometimes wish that when everybody is kung fu fighting they didn't all look so alike? NCsoft seems to feel the same way, because they've now made available the City of Heroes Super Booster IV: Martial Arts for ten bucks. Yes, now when you're fighting foes with malicious martial intent you'll look "spiffy" and whatever other adjective you feel like tossing into the equation. The booster comes with more than costume pieces, however. It also contains ninja-theme costume change animations and a ninja running power. There's also two new emotes for roleplayers, who tend to be the biggest emote fans.

This makes the fourth booster pack since the original (or microtransaction bundle, if you like) for City of Heroes and you can bet there will be plenty more as long as these continue to sell. Our guess for the next addition? Mutants would be a safe bet; mutants or zombies.

Tags: booster-pack, booster-packs, city-of-heroes, coh, cox, kung-fu, martial-arts, micro, microtransaction, microtransactions, ncsoft, paragon-studios

Aion announces holiday items for players

by Rubi Bayer Nov 10th 2009 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

The holiday season is approaching, and NCsoft is leading the charge for the annual rush of holiday celebrations and items in MMOs. Yesterday they announced the Aion Holiday Ascension Pack for those of you who haven't purchased the game yet, or are hoping to receive it as a gift.

The Ascension Pack comes with an extra holiday bonus in the form of four gifts to give your character a little boost and shine up his or her appearance a bit. It contains 20 Lesser Life Potions, 15 Lodas Amulets, 15 Lesser Running Scrolls, and a special dye for your character. You'll get a different dye color depending on where you purchase your Ascension Pack, so you may want to choose your purchase place with that in mind.

Amazon – Hot Orange Dye
Best Buy – Mustard Dye
Game Stop – True Black Dye
Target – True Red Dye
Wal-Mart – True White Dye

Aion is only the first game to begin announcing their holiday plans - we're sure much more will be coming soon, and we're looking forward to it!

Tags: aion, holiday, holiday-2009, holiday-ascension-pack, ncsoft

NCsoft hints at Guild Wars 2 beta in 2010, launch in 2011

by Rubi Bayer Nov 10th 2009 at 12:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, News items, Guild Wars 2

Fans of Guild Wars have been waiting for well over two years for Guild Wars 2, ever since ArenaNet fired up the hype machine in a big way back in March of 2007. Anet announced Guild Wars 2 and Eye of the North at the same time, and anticipated that the beta for GW2 would arrive in the second half of 2008.

Since the announcement, the Guild Wars player base has become intimately familiar with various versions of the phrases "We haven't released that information" and "TBA", punctuated occasionally with new information.

While the bits of information given here and there add up to something relatively substantial, fans are still asking the big question: When? Obviously the planned 2008 beta didn't happen, and now fans will have to wait a bit longer.

CEO Jaeho Lee referred to GW2 and Blade and Soul in a recent conference call with investors: "I believe there will be certain public events in the year 2010... at least a closed beta test for those titles. Commercialisation will be expected, at this point, probably some time in the year 2011."

At least fans have plenty of time and motivation to finish filling their Hall of Monuments. Silence and delays aside, when Guild Wars 2 finally arrives, most fans trust ArenaNet to give them something well worth the wait.

Tags: arenanet, beta, guild-wars, guild-wars-2, GuildWars, gw, gw2, jaeho-lee, ncsoft

Aion reports nearly 1 million copies sold in North America and Europe

by Rubi Bayer Nov 9th 2009 at 6:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, News items

Aion hit the ground running earlier this year, easily breaking the 400,000 mark for pre-orders, and they're continuing the trend. The first month post launch was occasionally rocky, but the good seems to easily outweigh the bad in the eyes of fans: NCsoft announced today that they have sold nearly one million copies of Aion: The Tower of Eternity in North America and Europe.

North America accounted for over 500,000 of those copies, and European sales stand at around 470,000, allowing Aion to make up an extremely respectable 52 percent of NCsoft's total sales last quarter.

Aion has their player base to thank for the sales, but their timing certainly didn't hurt. They enjoyed a launch time relatively free of competition -- the MMO market wasn't exactly glutted with new high-fantasy PvPvE titles in 2009.

Aion officially launched September 22nd in North America, and September 25th in Europe.

Tags: aion, aion-online, ncsoft, sales

Aion 1.5.1 patch additions receive an overwhelming "Meh"

by Brooke Pilley Nov 9th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Aion, Patches, News items

The latest additions to Aion's 1.5.1 patch notes illustrate the "damned if you do, damned if you don't" reality that is MMO development. They also show a potential communication disconnect between the game's players and developers or possibly even unrealistic expectations. Upon reading the pages and pages of player comments on these patch note additions, the general opinion can be summarized as such: "These changes don't address our major complaints."

There's no doubt that 1.5.1 will greatly improve Aion (less grind anyone?), but players seem to be sticking on a few major points that aren't yet in the tentative patch notes. Most of the players commenting on these notes seem to feel that Aion's first big patch should tackle the crashing fortresses issue (crysys.dll), flying spiritmaster pets, better UI customization, and a number of other issues (less grind included). There also appears to be resistance to a new debuff that will be added to aether extraction. Players will now be randomly debuffed when gathering, but can quickly remove it by typing a captcha. This change is obviously aimed at bots, but many state this will become an annoyance for everyone.

Check out our summary of part one of the patch notes and AionSource's interview with NCsoft's Lani Blazier to get a comprehensive view of the situation.

Tags: aion, aion-patch-1.5.1, aionsource, crysys.dll, interview, lani-blazier, nc-west, ncsoft, patches

Microtransactions and the splits in philosophy

by Eliot Lefebvre Nov 9th 2009 at 11:00AM

Filed under: Business models, Culture, Game mechanics, MMO industry, Opinion

No one was expecting the current 900-pound-gorilla of the MMO market to throw its hat in the ring regarding microtransactions, but the fact that it's in the mix has forced a large number of people to take a look at the philosophies and patterns of the business model. Killed in a Smiling Accident recently put down some thoughts regarding the differences, explaining that World of Warcraft's model is, in their opinion, inferior to the one found in the equally-significant microtransaction model of Dungeons and Dragons Online. The former has a store consisting of fluff items with no equivalent in the game, while the latter largely puts forth offerings that can be obtained in the normal game if you want to take the time.

Of course, there's the obvious counter brought up in the comments: that it's better to have microtransactions selling something you can't otherwise get in the game. Simply take a look at Champions Online and the controversy over retcon pricing to see how the two can be better left untethered. Getting something unique is a nice bonus for a game you enjoy -- for example, look at the bonus costume packs that City of Heroes sells. However, with items on sale that can be obtained from gameplay, the game can feel a bit more disjointed. There's a case to be made for both sides, and with the free-to-play model gaining speed, it should be interesting to note where the majority of MMO players draw the line.

Tags: blizzard, business-models, champions-online, city-of-heroes, city-of-villains, co, coh, cov, cox, cryptic, culture, ddo, dungeons-and-dragons-online, free-to-play, game-mechanics, killed-in-a-smiling-accident, microtransactions, mmo-industry, ncsoft, turbine, world-of-warcraft, wow

One Shots: The hat needs work

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 8th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Aion, One Shots

When it comes to Aion, many players love just how highly detailed and cool-looking their armor and weapons are. However, when it comes to the recent holiday hats from the Aion Halloween event, those glowy pumpkin heads just don't really cut it in comparison. Even considering that, they're still fun to see. This recent image comes to us from our long-time One Shots contributor, Johanis, who writes in: Here is Metros...now almost level 25 Templar who just got his Halloween Hat. Lookin' good!

One Shots is all about reader contributions. MMOs from big to small are welcome. Just email them to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post them out here and give you the love for sending 'em in.

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: aion, halloween-2009, johanis, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots

One Shots: A toast to your doom

by Krystalle Voecks Nov 7th 2009 at 2:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Screenshots, Guild Wars, One Shots

Every year in Guild Wars, the Mad King Thorn invades, demanding that the residents there laugh -- or die. But for all that this may sound incredibly ominous, you can't help but appreciate just how utterly cool the ArenaNet team has made their game look. Today's spooky yet gorgeous screenshot comes to us from Thorband, who captured this image during the recent Guild Wars Halloween events. Add in those especially awesome wings, the grinning moon, and a ghoulish visage, and that's a hard Halloween image to beat!

Have you seen something really, really cool but unquestionably evil? We'd be thrilled if you'd share with the rest of us. Just email it to oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit. (Meanwhile, we'll be turning it into our desktop image for the day!)

Gallery: One Shots

Tags: arenanet, guild-wars, gw, halloween-2009, mad-king-thorn, ncsoft, one-shots, screenshot, screenshots, thorband