Hail and well met my MMO brethren! PAX Prime is underway and exciting reveals are sure to arrive at any moment. The week leading up to the event, however, has been fairly quiet. Still, there are a few stories worth mentioning–so, let’s take a look!
“Secret Affairs” Funcom, currently presenting live demos of The Secret World onstage at PAX, has unveiled pricing details for the game. TSW will follow “a traditional paid subscription model combined with micro-transactions through an in-game store.” Exact pricing hasn’t been provided and is described as a work-in-progress. Funcom did state that items available for real-cash purchase at the in-game store will be focused on convenience and customization and will not give paying players an “unfair advantage.” As of Friday at the official Site, the “Secret War” is underway between the game’s three factions (Dragon, Illuminati and Templars) which is a fancy way of saying “Beta registrations are now being accepted.” Now, shush. Don’t tell anyone.
“Money Box” Cops vs. criminals MMO, APB Reloaded, will be free-to-play when it (re)launches this November. So, why is IGS teaming up with publisher, GamersFirst to bring a $29.95 USD retail box to store shelves at the same time? To “revolutionize” F2P games in North America, that’s why! According to the press release, the APB Reloaded retail box will include “more than $50 worth of in-game items, including a permanent in-game high-performance vehicle, (and) a permanent in-game weapon.” A month’s worth of in-game shop discounts is also provided. Feeling revolutionary yet?
“Robot Ruckus” Sci Fi squad-based shooter, Global Agenda, which recently joined the free-to-play crowd, has announced an expansion arriving in early Fall. Recursive Colony will be available to all players at no extra cost and will be the “largest content update” in the history of Hi-Rez’s game. Content includes an all-new Open Zone as well as fresh instanced missions, new pets, “easier” crafting and the Recursive Colony itself, which consists of “an electronic, hive-mind faction of robots constructing robots and intruding upon the player social hub of Dome City.” Sounds kinky.
“One crazy year” LOCO, also known as Lands of Chaos Online, is celebrating its one year anniversary. Free-to-play gaming portal alaplaya are offering in-game anniversary gifts and free Hero Cards in the AP Shop to get the party started. Hendrik Loga, Product Manager for LOCO, says “over 530,000 players registered across North America and Europe and over 850,000 in-game heroes (have been) created” in the game’s first year. That’s just plain coconuts!
“Zek On Deck” SOE has launched Game Update 61, also known by its sexier title, The War of Zek, for EverQuest II. The update allows players to challenge Rallos Zek, the God of War, on the Plane of War itself. Also included are major Alternate Advancement changes which include revamped subclass trees for all 24 classes. Sony has also power-leveled the EQII Free Trial offer to help bring in new blood to paying servers. 14 days of game-time are offered with the first seven expansions available immediately. An experience boosting potion and speed-enhancing cloak are also proffered. Or, you can stick with the completely free-to-play EverQuest II Extended version. Is this too confusing for potential newbies?
“Killed In Axion” UTV Ignition’s Faxion Online, which launched just three short months ago, has been canceled. The PvP-based game, in which players battled across Limbo, siding with either Heaven or Hell, has cut off new player sign-ups and will disappear like a puff of smoke within the next few weeks. Right back into “Limbo” again I suppose.
“Star Apps” Finally, you may remember my recent mention of Spacetime Studios’ Mobile MMO, Star Legends: The Blackstar Chronicles and the game’s release for Android devices. Today, we have news that the free sci-fi RPG is now available for Apple devices. Best of all, SL: TBC is a universal app and can be played on the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. iBall, iSpy and iDunno formats likely arriving in 2015.
That’s it for this week good people but like a role-player with rabbit ears, I’ll come bouncing back next week with a basket full of lucky MMO news bits. Keep it logged in.
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David Moore has run the site gamebunny.com for the past ten years and co-runs torwars.com, a site focused on all things Star Wars: The Old Republic.
