october posts

New Blood Moon info released, we spy new costume pieces

by Kyle Horner Oct 13th 2009 at 9:00AM

Filed under: Screenshots, Patches, News items, Champions Online

If you needed proof that October 27th was just a couple weeks away (aside from a calendar, of course) then look no further than this massive update to the Blood Moon page on the official Champions Online website. The page is filled with event-exclusive perks, rewards, item drops, screens and even a snazzy Takofanes wallpaper. The zombie Foxbat toy in particular will be a wonderful way of making all your friends jealous, assuming you can get it to drop.

Those new screens are actually pretty key here, because they reveal something about Blood Moon we didn't specifically know yet: the new costume pieces. Looking through the screens, we noticed player characters who're obviously using the new Celestial powers. However, some of them -- like the character above this post -- are sporting outfit pieces that we're wholly unfamiliar with from our time in the game.

Now, it could be that we haven't come across these angelically inspired outfits yet, but something tells us this just isn't the case. We're sure to hear something more official in the next week or so, but you heard it here first!

Gallery: Champions Online: Blood Moon

Tags: atari, blood-moon, celestial, champions, champions-online, costume, cryptic, cryptic-studios, foxbat, october, zombie, zombies

Neo Steam lets in the soul reapers

by Seraphina Brennan Oct 8th 2009 at 1:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Contests, Events, in-game, News items, Neo Steam

It's October, and that means all of the spooky Halloween events are coming out of the woodwork. But how many of them are offering you a pair of steampunk goggles for completing them? Well, only one right now -- Neo Steam.

Atlus is throwing open the doors to the Underworld, and all sorts of creepy-crawlies are invading their fantasy steampunk MMO. Defeating these event monsters will get you souls to trade in to special soul reapers to claim pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie for recovery purposes, but the big 250 soul turn in will get you a special pumpkin hat (as seen above) to commemorate the event.

However, some monsters will drop event tickets, which enters your account in for a chance to win a pair of handcrafted steampunk goggles. So, what are you waiting for, an invitation? Kill stuff, get loots!

Tags: atlus, atlus-online, atlus-usa, ghosts, goggles, halloween2009, neo-steam, october, pumpkin, steampunk, steampunk-goggles, underworld

Champions Online October changes, Blood Moon releasing on the 27th

by Kyle Horner Oct 5th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Patches, News items, Champions Online

Champions Online has seen a lot of update love since launch. By all accounts it's continuing to throughout October with this look at what's to come by Cryptic. The addition of more missions is always welcome, especially in combination with the mission tracking improvements that'll make grouping easier. Even better is the Power House 2.0 that'll come with a new live combat training room and power tips from trainers. Those power tips are going to help a lot of confused players create builds that both suite and actually work for them.

Last but not least is Blood Moon, which will be released on October 27th and promises to bring a hefty chunk of content for all levels to enjoy. The new PvP map known as Zombie Apocalypse sounds like something out of Left 4 Dead and blasting the undead with superpowers is a wholly new concept that we're behind 100%.

Check after the break for a full rundown of what's coming to Champions Online in the month of October.

Tags: atari, blood-moon, champions, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, october, power-house, pvp, zombie-apocalypse, zombies

Cities XL launching in North America on Oct. 9th

by Kyle Horner Aug 25th 2009 at 4:30PM

Filed under: Launches, New titles, News items, Cities XL

This year's October seems like a busy month for gaming, and if you're into city building games it just got a little more crowded. Monte Cristo Multimedia has announced that Cities XL will be released in North America on October 9th and that it will come in two formats. You can either get it through a digital download or by mail order in case you prefer a boxed copy, and shipping is free. Both options will be available through the official website, but it's also possible to get the digital version from Steam, Direct2Drive, Trygames, Impulse Driven and Gametap.

We're sure plenty of you are excited to hear this news, or at least the small legion of you who've been building (or have wanted to be building) massive cities for the past several months.

Tags: breaking, cities-xl, digital-distribution, direct2drive, gametap, impulse, launch, monte-cristo, monte-cristo-multimedia, october, steam, trygames

System requirements revealed for Champions Online

by Kyle Horner Jul 7th 2009 at 10:00AM

Filed under: Super-hero, New titles, News items, Champions Online

Cryptic today revealed the minimum and recommended specs for Champions Online and they contain some happy and interesting surprises. Happy, because the overall requirements are fairly low, especially if you're the kind of person who plays MMOs on any sort of regular basis. Interesting, because for a game coming out a little under two months before Windows 7 hits retail, there's strangely no mention of support for the new Microsoft operating system.

We know that the current beta runs on Windows 7, but that's true of many older games released in the Vista era. Given the low upgrade prices currently being offered and the positive buzz surrounding the new OS, there'll probably be a decent amount of early adopters come October 22nd. Still, beyond that small curiosity, we'd have to say the required and recommended specs for Champions Online are definitely good. As an added bonus, this makes another delay beyond September highly unlikely -- as does the announced open beta, we suppose.

Check out the minimum and recommended system requirements after the break.

Tags: atari, beta, breaking, champions-online, cryptic, cryptic-studios, microsoft, october, open-beta, september, system-requirements, system-specs, windows-7

Stargate Worlds beta invites coming in "early September/October"

by Samuel Axon Aug 28th 2008 at 12:00PM

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

In addition to a previously reported train station appearance, and in defiance of all common sense in the midst of a global gas crisis and panic about carbon emissions, Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment/FireSky promoted Stargate Worlds at the Games Convention in Leipzig by meeting the press in a constantly-moving caravan of pimped-out, gas-guzzling Hummers.

In one of those Hummers, Ten Ton Hammer's John Hoskin recorded a video interview with Stargate Worlds studio head Dan Elggren. Hoskin asked Elggren about CME/FireSky's beta plans. Elggren said that the friends and family beta test has been going on for a while (it was when we visited the studio back in July, even) but that invites for "gameplay testing" will be going out to the public in "early September/October." Not quite the summer date we were promised, but we're still impressed at how quickly it's coming up.

Hopefully that will cheer up Stargate fans who are depressed over the recent news of Stargate Atlantis' imminent cancellation. Yet another spin-off -- called Stargate Universe -- will premiere in 2009, though.

Tags: beta, dan-elggren, gameplay-testing, gc-2008, interview, invites, leipzig, october, september, sgw, stargate, stargate-atlantis, stargate-universe, stargate-worlds, video

MMO subscriptions report -- who is beating whom?

by William Dobson Dec 12th 2007 at 9:30AM

Filed under: World of Warcraft, Dofus, EVE Online, EverQuest II, Guild Wars, Knight Online, Lord of the Rings Online, MMO industry, Second Life, Vanguard

MMOCrunch has started a monthly feature based on data from new site VOIG that shows subscription details for various different MMOs. What that boils down to is that they'll be reporting each month on the most subscribed-to games, position changes in the rankings, and basically which company gets bragging rights for that month.

The first report examines the data for October this year. The top 5 MMOs by subscription in October were World of Warcraft with 26.03% (surprise!), Second Life with 18.86%, Guild Wars at 12.6%, Knight Online with 11.9%, and Dofus on 9.73%. WoW, SL and Guild Wars I could probably have given you, but I had not realized that Knight Online and Dofus were so popular.

Other interesting tidbits: Lord of the Rings Online hit 300,000 subscriptions, EVE Online overtook EverQuest II and Vanguard grew a little, but still isn't doing too well. Assuming that the VOIG data is reasonably accurate (something that MMOCrunch themselves say they wanted to be sure of, and watched the site for a few months first before running the article) this should be an interesting feature to watch in coming months.

Tags: eq2, eve, lotro, market-share, october, sl, subscriptions, wow

Guild Wars: got $100,000?

by Jonathan Northwood Nov 25th 2007 at 1:30PM

Filed under: Guild Wars, Contests, PvP

NCsoft would like to remind you that the ArenaNet-sponsored Guild Wars $100,000 Tournament Series is still going strong. The October rankings are in, the November cycle is swiftly wrapping to a close, and the December season rules are now available for review. You'll be able to check out the schedule, the map rotation, and the upcoming prize list which includes in-game prizes such as cape trim for your guild and reward points, and physical prizes like a Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer sound card and a 160Gb iPod. So what are you waiting for? Let's get those slay bells ringing this holiday season.

Tags: ArenaNet, December, Guild-Wars, iPod, Map-Rotation, NCsoft, November, October, Prize-List, Prizes, PvP, Rules, Sound-Blaster, Tournament-Series