VirginWorlds Podcast #139
This Week’s Topics:
VirginWorlds Podcast #132
As presented by Robotic Brent.
—
Podcast 132
This is VirginWorlds Podcast #132 for October 19th, 2008. I am your
host, Robotic Brent, and this is the Massively Multiplayer Gaming news
for the past week.
—
First, you are probably saying, "Hey, that’s not Brent, that’s a robot
voice." You are correct. Brent seems to have contracted a deadly
throat slaying ailment on his recent trip to London, and while he
doesn’t sound all that bad, he can barely get two words out without
coughing up a lung, and so, instead you have me, Robotic Brent.
Interesting isn’t it that I have nearly as much emotion in my delivery
as Brent does. Ha Ha Ha.
Yes, Brent flew into the UK this past week for work. And aside from
enjoying Boddingtons Pub Ale on tap and close to its home, he sampled
very little of London or the surrounding area. It was one of those in
and out work trips and he didn’t get a chance to get away and meet any
of the UK podcast crew. Brent sucks. He was particularly taken aback
by that whole, left side of the road thing. Sure, seems obvious, but
when he climbed into the taxi at the airport, it was strange seeing the
steering wheel on the other side, and he had to admit, every car trip
was a white knuckle adventure because it seemed like every turn would
surely result in death and destruction. Somehow, he made it. Also of
note, not every woman that sounds like Elizabeth Hurley, looks like
Elizabeth Hurley. This was a horrible horrible realization that may
take many months to recover from. All in all, it looks pretty much
like home, aside from that whole left-side-of-the-road thing and the
peculiar controls on his hotel room shower, which took quite a while to
figure out.
At the top of the show, not much else to say. No new podcasts have
joined the Collective this week, though there is one in the hopper that
Brent needs to add. He needs to work harder. But I’ll give him a
break. He isn’t a robot, like me, after all. My ability to process new
data is far superior to his, he is but a one hundred and sixty pound
bag of water, while I am a fine tuned machine.
Also, no new VirginWorlds supporters have been added this week. We are still hovering just under the mark for goal #2.
And now, here is the M M O news for the week.
Adventure Quest Worlds.
its first 100% browser-based MMORPG. You may remember that Brent
intereviewed the crew from Artix a few months ago, and they talked at
length about their single player browser based games … and they
hinted at a possible MMO in the works. It has now arrived. The crew
at Artix uses Flash to build eye catching battle-centric titles. Their
previous work includes the Free to play titles, Adventure Quest, Mech
Quest and Dragon Fable, which have had over sixty million players over
the past 5 years. Now they have announced Adventure Quest Worlds, an
MMO based on their most popular title, Adventure Quest. Daniel Vasile,
Business Development Manager of Artix Entertainment said: âOur Beta
testersâ positive responses indicate our move into MMOs was the right
decision. Weâre especially excited that AdventureQuest Worlds
may be the first MMO developed by a small, family-owned game
development studio. Our project shows MMO developers and players
worldwide that a small, truly dedicated team can create a quality
browser-based MMOG without spending millions of dollars.â The game
play will, of course, involve battling armies of monsters in real time
combat, performing quests, meeting thousands (nay, millions) of other
players and donning customizable armors, capes, helms and weapons.
Character classes exist, but in the spirit of casual play, the player
can change amongst the different classes at any time and can level
those class up independently, unlocking new skills and gear as they
go. Artix is commited to weekly updates of new content, just as they
have with their previous titles, so player can expect to have a ton of
material to work through, whether they start playing at launch or later
on. If you’d like to take a look at Adventure Quest Worlds, please
visit www A Q dot com to sign up for a free account. It’s all browser
based, so no downloads are required. Congrats to this small
family-owned business. While they’re not the first to do this, Maid
Marian Entertainment did it several years ago with a one man team,
still they’ve launched a big game that will surely be a success, and
they didn’t need millions of dollars to do it.
EVE ONLINE.
announced the next expansion for Eve Online this past week. It is
called Quantum Rise. They haven’t said much outside the press release
yet, but here are a few things included in this free expansion: In game
Corporations will be able to set their products apart from the rest by
building trust in their goods through customizable storefronts.
Industrial ships are being rebalanced to suit the needs of haulers and
industrialists-including the latest edition to the fleet, a massive
capital industrial ship dubbed the Orca. A new certificate system will
give a quick and verifiable means to discern a pilot’s skill level in
trading, gunnery or countless other professions, providing plenty of
bragging rights. Let’s face it, ego is a big part of M M O gameplay.
The release of Quantum Rise, much like previous expansions, will be
done in multiple stages. The upgrade began with the recent
implementation of technological breakthroughs such as Stackless I O and
EVE 64 which upgraded the server hardware and streamlined communication
between server and client to severely reduce lag. In order to enhance
the ability for hundreds of ships to take place in combat at the same
time, CCP will be making significant hardware and server improvements,
they say, and I quote "to bring the most massive player vs player
experience available, expanding a boundless universe into a limitless
one." End quote. More to be revealed in the coming weeks. For further
discussion of Quantum Rise, I, Robotic Brent, recommend the EVE Online
Podcasts that you’ll find on the VirginWorlds Podcast Collective, such
as Warp Drive Active, The Drone Bay and Micro Warp Cast. Also be sure
to check out two other Eve Podcasts that have sprung up somewhat
recently, FlyReckless and Titan Weekly, you can find them linked on
VirginWorlds.com.
Major avatar combat revisions are in development for Pirates of the Burning Sea.
Kevin Maginn, Lead Designer at Flying Lab Software, has written a dev blog on the subject.
Here is what he said: (Quote)
âOver
the last few months, Iâve been working almost completely off the radar
on just that: a major iteration of the avatar combat system. At the
same time, most of the content team has been doing the same for the
avatar missions; the animation team has been revising all the
swordfighting animations; the UI team has been revising the UI and the
particle effects; and the sound team has been iterating all the sounds
of avatar combat.
In
short, weâve been stripping avatar combat down to its foundation and
building up again. Weâve learned a lot from the first major iteration
of the system; we know what worked and what didnât, what was fun and
what was dull. Weâve gathered a lot of feedback from you as well as
feedback from our internal test team. Weâve applied that knowledge to
create a new system that (in my naturally biased opinion) is much more
fun and engaging, as well as easier to learn and easier to use.â (End
Quote)
This
is probably an extremely good idea as most people felt that the avatar
combat system was just ‘ok’ and somehow, the ship combat, while
effective, didn’t seem to carry the title on its own. Kevin did not
give any details regarding when this content would release, but let’s
hope it is soon.
Sword of the New World.
There
was a lengthy blog post on the subject, and I’d tell you about it, but
if you are not a Sword of the New World player, it would not mean
anything to you. Let’s summarize. Sword of the New World is still
getting very active additions, and as Brent has said in the past, this
is a rather solid game for a free to play port from the east, perhaps
the best one he has seen. I, Robotic Brent, didn’t particularly like
it, because, like Darren from Common Sense Gamer, I find ani-may style
graphics emasculating and when you have a dual core processor and 3
gigs of ram, you should be very macho, not playing elfen looking
boy-girls in lace and ribbons.
One note worthy addition
to this game is the new premium subscription program, with a full
customer support addition. All other players will only get basic
support (game client issues, bugs, etc). That means if you are not
premium but buy gold (via microtransactions), you will not get
support. They are also working to get name change, gender change and
character restoration options available to all players (these are paid
changes).
The 3 available Premium packs look like this:
Basic Pioneering Pack (Trial Pack) [$4.95 once a month]
Includes:
* 500 gold
* 1 Mystery Box
Veteran Pioneering Pack [30 Days for $8.95, 90 Days for $24.99, 180 Days for $45.99]
the Veteran Pioneering PackIncludes:
* 2000 gold
* 2 Mystery Boxes
* Receive 5% off on additional Gold purchases for the duration of the package.
next is the Expert Pioneering Pack [30 Days for $14.95, 90 Days for $39.99, 180 Days for $74.99]
the Expert Pioneering PackIncludes:
* 4000 gold
* 3 Mystery Boxes
* Receive 10% off on additional Gold purchases for the duration of the package.
and finally, the Master Pioneering Pack [30 Days for $24.95, 90 Days for $69.99, 180 Days for $129.99]
the Master Pioneering Pack Includes:
* 8000 gold
* 6 Mystery Boxes
* Receive 20% off on additional Gold purchases for the duration of the package.
Thanks to Jay for bringing this news to Brent’s attention.
Blizzard’s Next MMO.
suprise, Michael Mor haim said the next MMO from Blizzard, which was
confirmed as "happening", is not World of Warcraft 2. Well duh. Even I
could have told you that, and I’m just a bunch of circuits with a
pretty aluminum frame. I was talking to Human Brent about this a few
days ago and he started to give in to the idea that Blizzard might in
fact be building a Starcraft MMO to follow on the Starcraft 2 release,
just like they did with Warcraft 3 and World of Warcraft. He still
thinks that is lame, but is starting to accept it as a predictable and
boring possibility.
In other, some what related Blizzard
news, the leaders from Blizzard and Mythic have been participating in
some interesting mudslinging about who let who into which beta, game
imbalance, who will win in the long run and so forth. It is rather
ridiculous. I am shocked, completely shocked, that Jeff Kaplan from
Blizzard was allowed to say anything to the gaming press about his
expereince with Warhammer online or his thoughts. Typically Blizzard
just remains silent and stoic as if to silently indicate that their
competitors should, "Bring it". Mark Jacobs from Mythic, on the other
hand, continues to talk the same way he did when Mythic was independent
and not part of EA. This means, he pretty much says whatever he
wants. In this case, I think he would be best served by being silent
as well, and not implying that in the long term, war might beat wow,
because that’s crazy talk. My favorite part was when he said âIf you
look at âWarhammer,â there were so many points [where] we
consciously made the decision not to be like wow and to try to push
the envelope. I think youâll find that if youâre actually going to
compare the two products, I would say wow is certainly a more
polished game now than Warhammer is, of course theyâve had four years
and billions of dollars, but if you look at the innovations in
âWarhammer,â youâd be hard-pressed to find as many in wow.â End Quote.
After reading that, I laughed so hard, I had to reboot and defrag.
Pushing the envelope? Innovations? Uh oh, segmentation fault-
City of Heroes.
Love.
Brent, being completely out of touch with the MMO world (gotcha) hasn’t
talked about this one before, but it is billed as a
procedurally-generated moderately-multiplayer online world by one-man
studio, Eskil Steenberg. As a computer, I took particular interest in
the fact that this game or world or experience or whatever it is, is
supposed to be procedurally generated and was made by a single fellow
with a laptop, not that unlike myself. Rock Paper Shotgun .com , a
great gaming website, has the first trailer video form this game, and
calls it, quote, "A wondrous, impressionistic MMO world that
facilitates player
creativity and encourages co-operation, that looks incredible and
sounds too ambitious to be true. Itâs a bold, brave project of
independent game development." end quote. And based on the video, this
is true, though I have to admit, I was surprised at the level of
violence depicted in this game called, Love. Or maybe I should not
have been surprised. You humans do tend to be a tad ironic. To follow
the development of this one-man MMO, visit: http://www.quelsolaar.com
Wrap Up.
Ok,
short show for today, partly because news was light this week and
partly because you’re probably tired of listening to Robotic Brent.
I’m sure Human Brent will surface soon enough. In the meantime, go
check out some of his favorite sites, Massively.com and Gaxonline.com.
Be sure to become a supporter of the site and various podcasts if you
are willing and able, several podcasts still are seeking sponsors.
Have a good week gaming, and please be kind to your computer, we’re amaziningly sensitive sometimes.
Bye.
VirginWorlds Podcast #122
The News:
- Project Top Secret has a winner
- Blizzard tokenizes you
- Habbo Empire
- WTF. Don’t tailgate me.
- SOE Fan Faire
- Silkroad slays 7+ million
- Top 10 Free to Play MMOs
- Guild Wars 2 FAQ
The Mail:
- Matt corrects me
- Nathaniel pleas for FFA PvP
- Gio makes me give Uwe Boll credit
- Jmo hits the nail on the head
- Fred gets more Mac info than he anticipated
- Kassandra wonders which game is the biggest
- Els hits me with a shotgun blast of topics
- Alvin’s harddrive suffers
- Celebrity Mobhunter on the scene
- Blake reminds me, UO did that too.
Podcast 122’s Song Selections
[0:04:40] Auto Assault - Azure Torment
[0:06:38] Helmet - Wilma’s Rainbow
[0:07:56] Meshuggah - Obzen
[0:09:21] Extreme - Cupid’s Dead
[0:10:36] Spineshank - Forgotton
[0:12:41] Slaughter - Fly to the Angels
[0:18:00] Filter - The Wake
[0:21:57] The Church - Louisiana
[0:23:00] Burn Season - Carry On
[0:29:11] Institute - Bullet Proof Skin
[0:34:46] Nas - My War (unreleased)
[0:38:34] Eminem - Mockingbird
[0:47:32] The Exies - Ugly
[0:52:08] Breaking Benjamin - Topless
[0:57:10] Zero Seven - In the Waiting Line
[0:59:28] Warrant - Where the Down Boys Go
[1:01:46] Soul Coughing - Super Bon Bon
[1:02:56] Limp Bizkit - Creamer
[1:03:58] Conjure One - Make A Wish
Plenty of people have asked me to do this sort of listing. I admit
it is rather slick, but it’s a ton of labor pulling this together which
means it might not happen again. 
Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #100
Clocking in at just under 3 hours in length, show 100 has finally arrived. There are probably 30+ familiar voices on this show and you’ll find plenty of raw commentary and information as well as more laughs than any other episode of the VirginWorlds Podcast.
Special thanks to ALL of the contributors to this special 100th episode. It has been a great run and there WILL be 100 more podcasts from VirginWorlds!
Guests include:
Brenden from Another Here
Jonathan from TOGA
Darren from TCSG and SUWT
John from The Ancient Gaming Noob
Dennis from Potshot
Michael from MMOG Nation
Craig from Voyages in Eternity
Lauren from Mystic Worlds
Aimee from the Official SOE Podcast
Ethic from Kill Ten Rats
William from Ramblings of a Bildo
Yivvits & MrBubble from swgpodcast.com
Shawn from GuildCast, TabulaCast and OMGRL
Beau and Leala
Scytale 2 from The MMOE Blog
Adam from Witty Ranter
Kami from Comutiny
Patrick from Azeroth.fr
…and more…
Have fun listening!
Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #95
Topics in VirginWorlds Podcast #95:
Mobhunter Sponsor: noahk17 - www.fftrealm.com
Equipment Sponsor: Adam
Voyages of Vanguard Sponsor: Lucifrank - tenfoldhate.wordpress.com
The Online Gamers Anthology Sponsor: robg
EQual Perspectives Sponsor: KazeDreams
RingCast Sponsor: Jonathan from The Online Gamers Anthology
OMG Real Life Sponsor: Inhibitor - lagorama.blogspot.com
Elite Members:
UrbanMongral from Warp Drive Active
KevinC - www.theserverisdown.com
Ceadrick - www.knightsoftheinternet.com
VirginWorlds Supporters:
batavner
Morgardin - trollonfire.wordpress.com
Galaji
Sente
QforQ - www.UberguildsRadio.com
potshot - potshot.wordpress.com
cdsorden - random-battle.com
Corrin
RadarX - www.tentonhammer.com
krones - www.plaguelands.com
thejaxx - www.ahazi.org
Barolo
RFWarrior
VirginWorlds Members:
crazykinux - www.crazykinux.com
Ariannel
ajhfiddler
amaret - www.wowaddonspodcast.com
Kriss
Crowheart
VirginWorlds Podcast #94
Happy Thanksgiving to all of you in the US. I hope you had a fine meal
or two and had some free time to spend hunting mobs (and visiting your families.) Here are the topics for this week.
Topics:
-EverQuest II
-EverQuest
-Legends of Norrath
-Lineage II
-Marvel Universe Online
-Space Time Studios
-World of Warcraft
-The VirginWorlds Membership Plan
New Sponsors:
Sponsoring the VirginWorlds Podcast: Cuppycake and Michael
Sponsiring Shut Up We’re Talking: Belo, Hugh (hughnme) and John (wilhelm2451, TAGN)
Sponsoring TabulaCast: hauntshade and GreenGel
Sponsoring Warp Drive Active: StErroneous
Website Sponsor: Craig/DamianoV from Voyages in Eternity
New Members:
-Louis, the first member!
-Lucifrank
-Wye
-isanox
-DarkenedKnight
-d1551d3nt
-josejones
-Van Hemlock
-pvthudson
-chimps
-Ammon777 Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #90
Show 90 has finally arrived. Brent battled the demons of Skype-lag, weak laptops and bad luck, but the show has arrived and it is a monster. First we’ll address the weekly MMORPG news.
Topics:
- BioWare, Pandemic, and EA
- Codemasters and RF Online
- Gods and Heroes
- Guild Wars 2
- Lord of the Rings Online
- Metaplace
- Stargate Worlds
- Vanguard
- World of Darkness
- Mini-news items
- New podcasts to check out
- What I’m playing
And then we’ll roll the 2007 Podcast Roundup with guest hosts Troy from Voyages of Vanguard and Brenden from AnotherHere.com.
The featured podcasts include:
Medispective (AKA VGN Radio) - www.videogamenews.com
PC Gamer Podcast -
pcgamerpodcast.com
Buzz Out Loud -
podcast.cnet.com
Alpha Rant - alpha-shade.com
This week in Tech - twit.tv
GFW Radio - gfw.1up.com
Lucky Bitch Radio - wandawisdom.com
WoWCast - wowcast.net
Guerrilla Radioshow -
guerrillaradioshow.com
MOG - gaxonline.com (sorta)
In Our Time - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
EQ2 Daily - eq2-daily.com
SWGPodcast - swgpodcast.com
Grammar Girl -
grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #70 - Making of a Podcast
The long awaited Making of a Podcast show is
finally done and ready for your consumption. No MMO news in this one -
just details on how to make a podcast the VirginWorlds way. I’m
certainly no expert, but after 70 shows I’ve learned a few tricks that
have served me well. Hopefully they will serve you well too. Following
is a list of tools and sites I reference during the show. Enjoy, and
thanks for listening.
-Brent
Software:
Audio Editing Software
Adobe Audition
Audacity
Garage band
Waves Diamond Bundle
Voice over IP Software
Skype
Powergramo
Pamela
Gizmo Project
Misc Software
Filezilla FTp
iTunes
paint Shop Pro
Gimp
Ultra Edit
Hardware:
Plantronic DSP 500
iAudio U2
Rode Podcasting Mic
A decent AKG condenser mic
M-Audio interfaces
Marantz recorders
M-Audio Microtrack
Pop guard
Foam!
Resources:
Ascap
BMI
SESAC
Sound Exchange
Liberated Syndication
Podcast Directories
VirginWorlds
is a weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer Online Role
Playing Games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Guild
Wars, City of Heroes, Eve Online, Vanguard, and many many more. The
main site can be found at http://www.VirginWorlds.com Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #43
VirginWorlds Podcast #43
Featuring occasional co-host, Brenden from
FalconTwin
This show is super long. If you don’t like that, I apologize. If you love long shows, you’re welcome. Despite its length, we keep things moving pretty snappy-like.
Topics of the week include:
Archlord
Free To Play on January 4 2007.
Eve Online
Eve Online A New PCU Record - Close to 33,000 Users
EverQuest II
Play the Fae 7 day trial
The merging of EverQuest II OGaming into the Allakhazam Network
Dungeon Runners
NDA (non-disclosure agreement) is no-longer in place
www.dungeonrunners.com
Firefly MMO
Multiverse maker of a free MMO-creation platform to create MMORPG in the fashion
of Star Wars Galaxies or Eve Online.
Green Monster Games
Schilling hires all of SOE
Saga of Ryzom
Prospective buyers are still secret.
Vanguard
Pre-order boxes are now available.
World of Warcraft
Shawn Fanning is preparing to launch a WoW social networking site, dubbed
Rupture
MMORPG Reader’s Choice for 2006
Nominees in each category make us say WTF?
VirginWorlds is the 104th most popular MMO
blog (yay!)
What We’re Playing
Profile of the Week
Scott
Jennings
Listener Mail
Special Segments
Doug’s RMT Rant - Part 2
Phat
Loot from Pwnage Brothers
Carnival of gamers at
MMOG
Nation .
GameSetWatch
article about VirginWorlds
GDC
- I’m so in.
Read more
VirginWorlds Podcast #6
Weekly news podcast covering Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing
Games such as World of Warcraft, EverQuest, Guild Wars, City of Heroes,
Eve Online, Dungeons and Dragons Online, and many many more.
The main site can be found at http://www.VirginWorlds.com
Show notes:
Age of Conan - To PvP or To Not PvP?
Archlord - What it means to be Archlord.
Carpe Diem - Persistent Worlds mods a Korean game for the western world.
Dark and Light - Release delayed to 30th of May.
DDO -7 Day free trial and E3 news.
Dreamlords - A new MMORTS/RPG from Lockpick Entertainment.
Entropia Universe - New Oxford creates a 3rd Life.
Eve Online - A graphical overhaul is on the way.
EverQuest - Progression server details & 21 free days of EQ.
Goon World - You think this MMO is funny? Funny how? Funny like a clown?
Guild Wars- Expansion packs schedule, more character slots and the relesae of Factions.
The Legend of Ares - Another Korean game ported for the west.
Lord of the Rings Online - Playable races and classes, future PvP and the morale system.
Phantasy Star Universe - Will be playable on the 360. Has online and offline modes.
Second Life - 2000 Real Estate Agents to Learn Selling Virtually.
Seed - Open beta started on the 25th.
Spellborn - Release date has been pushed back.
World of Warcraft - AQ Bugs, Battleground revamp, and current dev tasks.
Misc - MMOG Chart is back & Microsoft acquiring Massive Inc.
Featured podcast: World of Warcast with Starman and Renata. http://www.worldofwarcast.com
Featured website: http://www.nerfbat.com/ Blackguard’s blog. New forums, great articles.
Feedback requests
-Send questions or comments to brent@virginworlds.com
-Please post a review on iTunes and/or at PodCast Alley or the variety of other podcast lists noted in the shownotes
-What the heck is news.virginworlds.com
The first contest
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