Everyone has a fighting chance
During a weekend fan event, Final Fantasy XIV’s producer Naoki Yoshida announced that a new race will be included in the forthcoming Heavensward expansion. Called the Au Ra, little else was revealed other than a screenshot. Also in Heavensward, players will be able to check out a pair of new Astrologian and the Machinist.
Industry veterans Todd Coleman (W101, Shadowbane) and Gordon Walton (Ultima Online, Star Wars Galaxies) just announced the formation of their own new studio ArtCraft in Austin, Texas. Guess what they’re making? That’s right… a brand new MMORPG.
We are down to the Final Four in this year’s inaugural Great MMO Face-Off! Can EVE beat down Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings? Can Elder Scrolls Online defy the niche powerhouse known as The Secret World? Click through and cast your votes!
This being my final Free Zone column for 2014, my first inclination was to choose a topic in the looking back vein. When I started considering possibilities, I immediately dismissed the idea of doing something "me too" like best of awards, which the site does far more prominently than I could anyway. Instead, I decided to discuss a few ways I’d like to see the MMOG development and publishing industry change, however unlikely they may be.
The latest Final Fantasy XV trailer has been released. In it, fans get a look at the game’s towns as well as some familiar faces, including ‘Cid", a non-playable female character players will recognize.
2014 saw quite a few changes to Guild Wars 2, both good and bad. Now 2015 is right around the corner, and we’re all wondering what ArenaNet has in store. While they have their own plan for the game, there will always be what we, the players, are hoping for. Here’s the 5 things players hope to see in 2015.
Just over a year ago, in December of 2013, a little game known as DayZ was released to the public on Steam Early Access. Just last week, an anniversary notice, video, and a 2015 roadmap were released to show where the game has been and indicate where it is going. Along with that came an update to the experimental build. Altogether, the game has sold 2,830,000 copies as of December 16th, 2014.
Fast forward the intervening 21 years to last week. Elite: Dangerous officially launched. Is there a credit bug? I doubt it. Is there the wormhole bug? I have no idea yet…. but I hope so. Where my first exposure to Elite was wide eyed wonder and my first experiences with it amounted to a lack of foresight, I decided I was going to take this easy. Work my way into the experience. Learn. Do it right.
Well, 2014 is almost over. It has been a year full of…stuff. Overall, the gaming industry as a whole was pretty disappointing. It seems like the biggest moments of the year are underscored by horrible launches, broken games, greedy publishers, and lazy developers. There were plenty of bright spots, no doubt, but overall it’s hard to argue that the year wasn’t disappointing.
Victor rounds up two more features that Everquest Next might want to take from its rivals!