The World of Cars Online: Open Beta Started
Disney Online has announced that the Open Beta for The World of Cars Online, the MMO based on their popular multimedia franchise, Cars, has hit open beta status and is waiting for you to start the engine. In the open beta, players will be able to race against each other, explore the world, play games, make new friends and.. earn coins. Detailed information is available below.
WELCOME TO OPEN BETA!
Hey all! Sparks here!
Guess what I am? I’m TOTALLY PSYCHED! Open Beta’s here. What are you waitin’ for? Drive on in!
The World of Cars couldn’t have opened without all your awesome ideas and feedback. You created this World. So keep making it better by voicing what you want.
This is only the beginning, and Open Beta gives the Pit Crew a chance to fix stuff before the World officially launches.
Is something not working right? Is there something you like or something you’d like to improve? Let us know.
During Open Beta, you can race against each other on the local tracks, explore the World, play games, make new friends, and earn lots of Coins.
There will also be special events where you can try out being a Sponsored Car.
What does Sponsoring your Car mean? After we close our Beta, you can get your Car sponsored by paying a monthly subscription fee to get extra stuff. You’ll be able to race on the Pro Tracks in the Piston Cup Series and use Coins to buy cool gear to customize your Car and Home.
Remember to check back often. We’ll be updating you on stuff, like when you can try out the Sponsorship features. Let us know what you think about the World.
Who knows what World of Cars will look like in a year from now? It will be what YOU want it to be. So drive on in and start the fun!
Keep Coolant!
SPARKSP.S. Check out our Known Issues List (for updates on those tricky bugs), and don’t forget to Report a Bug if you see something not working.
The World of Cars Online: Open Beta Started
Disney Online has announced that the Open Beta for The World of Cars Online, the MMO based on their popular multimedia franchise, Cars, has hit open beta status and is waiting for you to start the engine. In the open beta, players will be able to race against each other, explore the world, play games, make new friends and.. earn coins. Detailed information is available below.
WELCOME TO OPEN BETA!
Hey all! Sparks here!
Guess what I am? I’m TOTALLY PSYCHED! Open Beta’s here. What are you waitin’ for? Drive on in!
The World of Cars couldn’t have opened without all your awesome ideas and feedback. You created this World. So keep making it better by voicing what you want.
This is only the beginning, and Open Beta gives the Pit Crew a chance to fix stuff before the World officially launches.
Is something not working right? Is there something you like or something you’d like to improve? Let us know.
During Open Beta, you can race against each other on the local tracks, explore the World, play games, make new friends, and earn lots of Coins.
There will also be special events where you can try out being a Sponsored Car.
What does Sponsoring your Car mean? After we close our Beta, you can get your Car sponsored by paying a monthly subscription fee to get extra stuff. You’ll be able to race on the Pro Tracks in the Piston Cup Series and use Coins to buy cool gear to customize your Car and Home.
Remember to check back often. We’ll be updating you on stuff, like when you can try out the Sponsorship features. Let us know what you think about the World.
Who knows what World of Cars will look like in a year from now? It will be what YOU want it to be. So drive on in and start the fun!
Keep Coolant!
SPARKSP.S. Check out our Known Issues List (for updates on those tricky bugs), and don’t forget to Report a Bug if you see something not working.
Aion: Info about Patch 1.9 Leaked
A secret link of “Aion Community Team” was found at the end page of Eye on Community 02.26.2010 which revealed(intentionally or not) some details on the upcoming Aion Patch 1.9. The information also notes that a larger update will release in late 2010. Ever since the info leaked, players have been speculating about whether this is the grand Aion 2.0 update or not. There have also been speculations about the level cap raising in version 2.0.
During this meeting hosted by the development team, we’ll finalize the plans for the upcoming Aion update. In addition, we’ll be discussing the larger update of late 2010 that follows the v1.9 content update. Communnity Managers have been invited and their attendance is mandatory. As usual, the information we discuss is confidential and should not be disclosed outside the company. This is especially important to all Community Managers that have been recently requesting the immediate release of information. We will be discussing new content for the entire player base, but this meeting will also address some of the upcoming content that will affect our higher level players. Some of those topics will include:
-Daily Quests for level 50 and below
-New abilities
-Stun attack defense system
-Two-handed weapon transformation
-Dark Poeta drop rate increases.We’ll be serving light lunch featuring the usual Tutty ‘n’ Beans.
Please discuss any vegetarian needs with the office manager. Please do not come wearing one of the transformed shapes from the Solarius items–we want attendees to be able to readily recognize each other. Review the attached PowerPoint slides and come prepared with your company-issues Shugo personal assistant and translator.
Aion: Info about Patch 1.9 Leaked
A secret link of “Aion Community Team” was found at the end page of Eye on Community 02.26.2010 which revealed(intentionally or not) some details on the upcoming Aion Patch 1.9. The information also notes that a larger update will release in late 2010. Ever since the info leaked, players have been speculating about whether this is the grand Aion 2.0 update or not. There have also been speculations about the level cap raising in version 2.0.
During this meeting hosted by the development team, we’ll finalize the plans for the upcoming Aion update. In addition, we’ll be discussing the larger update of late 2010 that follows the v1.9 content update. Communnity Managers have been invited and their attendance is mandatory. As usual, the information we discuss is confidential and should not be disclosed outside the company. This is especially important to all Community Managers that have been recently requesting the immediate release of information. We will be discussing new content for the entire player base, but this meeting will also address some of the upcoming content that will affect our higher level players. Some of those topics will include:
-Daily Quests for level 50 and below
-New abilities
-Stun attack defense system
-Two-handed weapon transformation
-Dark Poeta drop rate increases.We’ll be serving light lunch featuring the usual Tutty ‘n’ Beans.
Please discuss any vegetarian needs with the office manager. Please do not come wearing one of the transformed shapes from the Solarius items–we want attendees to be able to readily recognize each other. Review the attached PowerPoint slides and come prepared with your company-issues Shugo personal assistant and translator.
NetModerator to put an End to MMO Cheating/Farming?
Crisp, the foremost expert on behavioral analysis technology for online communities, today announced NetModerator for MMOs. NetModerator promises to finally put an end to cheaters, spammers, farmers, botters, powerleveling and griefing. Quite a list.
NetModerator will allow MMO companies to use real-time profiling to identify and deal with these naughty activities.
Crisp’s new control system gives moderators real-time management control of online interactions by reading, analyzing, reporting and intervening on abusive in-game activities and communications. Installations of the system are customized to analyze the specific activities each customer wishes to monitor. These include any or all of the MMO modules developed by Crisp as well as behaviors specific to a particular game.
This level of automation reduces the need for live moderation/customer service for low-level issues by up to 80 percent. The resources formerly dedicated to those activities can be directed to high instances that need high level human decisions.
“Gold farmers, cheaters and griefers are huge threats to the long-term success of any MMO. Yet, the industry has had to adopt a passive model — waiting for players to report the problems after their experience has been ruined,” said Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp. “NetModerator for MMOs gives companies a weapon that lets them actively detect and deal with problems before most players even have a chance to notice.”
Quite a lofty goal if you ask me, but definitely a welcomed one. My question would be what is the percentage of false positives? I mean we all farm a little, powerlevel from time to time and if we get mad we might say some inappropriate things in chat. I would be interested to see how this works while people are actually playing.
To find out more about NetModerator, check out the Crisp website here.
Star Trek Online – Pre-order Penalty
It should stand to reason that pre-ordering an MMO should result in nothing but benefit; at least compared to someone who purchases it within the next few months. Over the weekend Atari offered Star Trek Online at a discounted rate of $10 off plus 60 days of additional free gameplay (for a total of 90 days). I would expect this kind of promotion to run a year or more after release, but certainly not 3 weeks after launch. Are players upset about this? You bet. They take it as a virtual slap in the face. Wait, it gets worse. Due to the tremendous outrage of the current player-base and the numerous posts that followed, Atari rescinded the offer from their website. Not only did they cancel the promotion, but they also canceled the extra 60 day deal they had made with players who purchased it over the weekend. This reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon, and that did not play out well for the consumer.
Atari broke one of my rules of operating an MMO; “For every new player award, there shall be a veteran reward”. Keeping players is important, so it is good business to reward existing players with something of equal or better value than what you are awarding new players. Now the question is raised of who is actually responsible for this. Atari published the deal, so personally I am resting the blame on them. Whether or not Cryptic Studios is completely exonerable, they are taking most of the flak. At the time of writing, they have not released a statement. At its neonatal stage, the last thing Star Trek Online needs is more controversy. I would like to hear your opinions though, and we promise not to ban you for it.
NetModerator to put an End to MMO Cheating/Farming?
Crisp, the foremost expert on behavioral analysis technology for online communities, today announced NetModerator for MMOs. NetModerator promises to finally put an end to cheaters, spammers, farmers, botters, powerleveling and griefing. Quite a list.
NetModerator will allow MMO companies to use real-time profiling to identify and deal with these naughty activities.
Crisp’s new control system gives moderators real-time management control of online interactions by reading, analyzing, reporting and intervening on abusive in-game activities and communications. Installations of the system are customized to analyze the specific activities each customer wishes to monitor. These include any or all of the MMO modules developed by Crisp as well as behaviors specific to a particular game.
This level of automation reduces the need for live moderation/customer service for low-level issues by up to 80 percent. The resources formerly dedicated to those activities can be directed to high instances that need high level human decisions.
“Gold farmers, cheaters and griefers are huge threats to the long-term success of any MMO. Yet, the industry has had to adopt a passive model — waiting for players to report the problems after their experience has been ruined,” said Adam Hildreth, CEO of Crisp. “NetModerator for MMOs gives companies a weapon that lets them actively detect and deal with problems before most players even have a chance to notice.”
Quite a lofty goal if you ask me, but definitely a welcomed one. My question would be what is the percentage of false positives? I mean we all farm a little, powerlevel from time to time and if we get mad we might say some inappropriate things in chat. I would be interested to see how this works while people are actually playing.
To find out more about NetModerator, check out the Crisp website here.
Star Trek Online – Pre-order Penalty
It should stand to reason that pre-ordering an MMO should result in nothing but benefit; at least compared to someone who purchases it within the next few months. Over the weekend Atari offered Star Trek Online at a discounted rate of $10 off plus 60 days of additional free gameplay (for a total of 90 days). I would expect this kind of promotion to run a year or more after release, but certainly not 3 weeks after launch. Are players upset about this? You bet. They take it as a virtual slap in the face. Wait, it gets worse. Due to the tremendous outrage of the current player-base and the numerous posts that followed, Atari rescinded the offer from their website. Not only did they cancel the promotion, but they also canceled the extra 60 day deal they had made with players who purchased it over the weekend. This reminds me of a Dilbert cartoon, and that did not play out well for the consumer.
Atari broke one of my rules of operating an MMO; “For every new player award, there shall be a veteran reward”. Keeping players is important, so it is good business to reward existing players with something of equal or better value than what you are awarding new players. Now the question is raised of who is actually responsible for this. Atari published the deal, so personally I am resting the blame on them. Whether or not Cryptic Studios is completely exonerable, they are taking most of the flak. At the time of writing, they have not released a statement. At its neonatal stage, the last thing Star Trek Online needs is more controversy. I would like to hear your opinions though, and we promise not to ban you for it.
World of Warcraft Authenticator Hacked
The worst possible thing to happen to a MMO player is getting their account hacked. All the work that you put in to your account can be gone and the process of getting your character and items back is a painful and long process. Companies of course take steps to protect customers like Blizzard’s Authenticator for World of Warcraft but recent events show that even these aren’t fool proof.
The Authenticator for WoW has a reputation for being hack proof and because of that a lot of people own one. Basically what it does is it gives you a set of random digits that you put in with your original password. So every time you log in to your WoW account you get an extra random password that only the owner of the Authenticator can know.
From what I know there hasn’t been a case of an account that used an Authenticator getting hacked but that changed today. There is a virus going around that can hack the World of Warfcraft Authenticator. The virus intercepts the Authenticator code when you log into WoW and sends Blizzard a wrong one (which is why you can’t log in since you will get a “Wrong info” error) and then the people behind the virus have a few minutes to log into your account with the real Authenticator code. A Blizzard employee said this about the recently hacked WoW accounts that used Authenticators.
So the Authenticator is not a fail safe way to keep accounts safe but it is still a very good investment. If you want to check to see if you have the virus just search for the file “emcor.dll” on your computer. If you have it then your account most likely has already been hacked.
Tools like the Authenticator can only do so much. It is really unfortunate that people are getting hacked even with this security measure but it all comes down to the user. Safe browsing habits, a good anti-virus, common sense (against phishers) and things like an Authenticator can make your account virtually hack proof.
World of Warcraft Authenticator Hacked
The worst possible thing to happen to a MMO player is getting their account hacked. All the work that you put in to your account can be gone and the process of getting your character and items back is a painful and long process. Companies of course take steps to protect customers like Blizzard’s Authenticator for World of Warcraft but recent events show that even these aren’t fool proof.
The Authenticator for WoW has a reputation for being hack proof and because of that a lot of people own one. Basically what it does is it gives you a set of random digits that you put in with your original password. So every time you log in to your WoW account you get an extra random password that only the owner of the Authenticator can know.
From what I know there hasn’t been a case of an account that used an Authenticator getting hacked but that changed today. There is a virus going around that can hack the World of Warfcraft Authenticator. The virus intercepts the Authenticator code when you log into WoW and sends Blizzard a wrong one (which is why you can’t log in since you will get a “Wrong info” error) and then the people behind the virus have a few minutes to log into your account with the real Authenticator code. A Blizzard employee said this about the recently hacked WoW accounts that used Authenticators.
So the Authenticator is not a fail safe way to keep accounts safe but it is still a very good investment. If you want to check to see if you have the virus just search for the file “emcor.dll” on your computer. If you have it then your account most likely has already been hacked.
Tools like the Authenticator can only do so much. It is really unfortunate that people are getting hacked even with this security measure but it all comes down to the user. Safe browsing habits, a good anti-virus, common sense (against phishers) and things like an Authenticator can make your account virtually hack proof.
