The Star Citizen site has been updated with a new FAQ to clear up some of the confusion that last week’s announcement caused with regard to the separation between Star Citizen, the persistent world, and Squadron 42, the single-player campaign.
General: Rich Vogel & Gordon Walton Co-Chair Austin Game Conference
The Austin Game Conference has been dated for September 21-22, 2016 and is aiming to provide “critical insight into developing live, connected, participatory games with real-time engagement between developers, players and spectators.” Of particular interest are the co-chairs of AGC, Gordon Walton of Artcraft Entertainment and Rich Vogel of Bethesda’s BattleCry Studios.
SMITE: New EU Office Opens to Support Growing EU Community
Hi-Rez Studios has announced that it has opened a branch office in Brighton, United Kingdom to support the growing European SMITE community. The new EU team will be primarily focused on community management, localization and marketing operations with development to continue in Hi-Rez’s Atlanta, Georgia office.
Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen: Latest Newsletter Begins Introduction of Classes
The latest Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen newsletter has been published on the official site that begins the process of introducing fans to the classes that will be coming with the game. Brad McQuaid begins the discussion by outlining the design objectives behind classes in general and then he provides a first look at the Cleric.
Marvel Heroes 2016: Kicking Off 2016 With a Bang
Marvel Heroes recently underwent yet another rebrand and the corresponding game update was suitably massive. Now Marvel Heroes 2016, Gazillion has kicked off the New Year with a bang by introducing some long awaited additions, with even more to come.
General: NCSoft Profits Up, Guild Wars 2 Sales Soar
NCSoft has released its Q4 2015 revenue report that shows quarter-over-quarter growth across the board, including a significant surge for Guild Wars 2 seemingly tied to the release of the Heart of Thorns expansion.
The Secret World: New Membership Perks Revealed
Funcom has revealed the new membership perks for The Secret World. Members will receive a number of pretty cool boons including 30% bonus XP, 10% item store discount, token capacity increase and more.
General: Conan Exiles – Bringing Hyboria into the New Age of Smaller Scale MMOs
After last week’s announcement from Funcom about the latest sandbox MMO Conan: Exiles we quickly got the team to do an interview about the game. Conan remains a hugely popular franchise and Funcom has a rich history with the brand after Age of Conan’s release. Now with games coming out in early access and offering a much more hardcore style of survival play, the company wants to bring Conan into the new age of smaller scale MMOs.
Gigantic: ‘Significant Percentage of Studio’ Temporarily Laid Off
A new article has been posted on the Motiga web site by Chris Chung that reveals that a significant percentage of the studio staff has been temporarily laid off. The letter goes on to say that the company intends to continue to support Gigantic, but that the lay offs will have a huge impact on every portion of the game.
Overwatch: Beta is Back + New Progression System Detailed
Jeff Kaplan is hosting a new Developer Update video that discusses the Overwatch progression system. As players participate in matches, experience is earned that at certain intervals will result in being given a loot box that can contain a number of random cosmetic items including skins, sound files, player icons, emotes, sprays, victory poses and highlight intros. Each of these can come in common, rare, epic, and legendary quality.