All Posts by Szark

The folks over at blizzard have posted details of the in-game loot that will be available with Fires of Outland, the latest expansion for the World of Warcraft TCG.

Anyone in the user's party can click the pot to receive one helping of gumbo. The pot will remain until all five helpings are taken. The gumbo food item will stay in the user's inventory until he or she logs out and is tradable to other players of the same faction. Eating the gumbo will grant the consumer a five-minute buff. At random intervals during that time, the player will belch out a stream of noxious green gas with a loud, audible, "Burp!"

The second Loot item in Fires of Outland is the Fishing Chair. Usable outdoors, the Chair is another in-inventory item that creates a wooden chair with an umbrella that the owner can sit in by right clicking. Additionally, the player can use a fishing pole to fish while sitting in the chair. It's great for catching Mr. Pinchy or watching two paladins duel for an hour. With the hibachi blanket and umbrella Loot item from Through the Dark Portal, you can now set up your own portable picnic.

Finally, we come to the rarest Loot card in Fires of Outland, the Spectral Tiger. Our second Loot mount, the Spectral Tiger is available at the standard level 40 mount speed and at epic level 60 mount speed. Like a standard mount, players will need the appropriate riding skill to use it. When you turn in the code for this card to Landro, it will allow you to open up a standard merchant inventory menu where you can buy either the level 40 mount or the level 60 mount. You can go back and purchase another mount later. So, if you first get the slower mount at 40, you can go back at 60 and purchase the faster version, too! These mounts are so awesome that I'm going to stop writing now so you can look at some in-game images.

Get the details here.

IGG has announced that hey are delaying their alpha test for Zu Online. Along with this announcement, they've also revealed information about their Quest, faction, pet, and mansion systems.

Zu Online's development is continuing smoothly with the support of all the players. During this period, we have enriched the quest system, added novice guides and Pet, Mansion and Faction Systems into the game. In order to make a more smooth game environment, we have to delay the Alpha Test from the 28th of August to later in September or October.

Faction System

Players are able to join a faction; different factions are hostile to each other. Player can fight with other Players in different factions for their own faction. The winner will be rewarded.

The game is in its final phase. Some unexpected problems are being solved. IGG is sorry for delaying the Alpha Test. We will announce the exact test date when the test is ready. We are anticipating its release as much as you are!

Mansion System

Players can join Guilds and scramble for mansions that are not occupied. The winner has the right to construct and develop the mansion, including building city vehicles, city gates, shops and a pet area; setting the flying route into the mansion, setting gate guards, gate deity beasts and watch beasts of the mansion; and collecting materials etc.

Read more here.

IGG has announced that they will be holding a Summer Holiday Carnival, an in-game event in Myth War Online from August 24th until September 15th. Along with this event, they also announced that they will be accepting a new payment method.

With summer passing along merrily, the official Myth War team has collaborated with the game developer to prepare a wonderful "fun-feast" to serve all players---a series of special contests including a Quiz Contest, Vision Contest, Bitter Choice and PVP which will lead to the completion of an awesome mission handed down from thousands of years ago.

For those who have always dreamed of being a hero, please pluck up your courage and take the challenge. To be the hero, to realize your dreams! We wish you good luck and great fun!

Time: From August 24th to September 15th

Afternoon Event: 3:00 PM----5:00 PM

Evening Event: 8:00 PM----10:00 PM

Read more about the new payment method here.

Read more about the Summer Carnival here.

The Star Wars Galaxies Official site has been updated with a new developer diary by Online Events Manager, Jason "Pex" Ryan.

Greetings! I'm Jason "Pex" Ryan and I'm the Online Events Manager for Star Wars Galaxies. Some of you know me pretty well by this time, others, not at all. If you don't know me or what I do, that's okay. I've been asked to put up a Dev Diary to indoctrinate...I mean, "inform" you about what I do around here. A bit of "the man behind the curtain" stuff.

So what is it I do here? Well, the easiest thing to say is that I get to be Darth Vader. That's an over-simplification, but it's true. Anytime you see one of the Star Wars characters interacting with players and being generally where they aren't supposed to be, it is me behind the keyboard pulling the virtual strings. I get to be Luke, Leia, Darth Vader, Boba Fett, Admiral Ackbar, Watto, Nautalans, droids, Ewoks, etc. Playing these "named characters", as I like to call them, is fun, but it's only part of running events for SWG.

I've been working on SWG since just after launch. Before I was hired, I managed to finagle a beta account while working at another game company, so I've been following the game as long as any veteran has.

Read the full article here.

The lord of the Rings Online official site has been updated with another edition of their recurring feature which looks at the various creatures that inhabit Middle Earth. This time around the focus is on one of the more mundane creatures of the land, who have taken on a more sinster edge in recent days since the rise of Angmar: the bat.

For those who wander beneath the moonlight on tranquil evenings in Eriador, the sound of bat wings in the darkened sky rarely brings a sense of fear or dread. In the wilds of Middle-earth, it is not uncommon to hear the rush of wings or catch a glimpse of small, darting shapes flittering on a night's hunt for insects around fields and still ponds. Even those who explore dark caves are more startled than truly afraid when the light of a lamp disturbs the slumbering creatures into a frenzied rush for the cave's exit. In these dark days, however, the wild creatures of Eriador are not as they once were.

A shadow of corruption now spreads throughout the wilderness, bringing with it an unwelcome darkness. The bats of Eriador, once content to be concealed from villagers and townsfolk, have begun hunting larger creatures, even swarming to attack unwary travellers in the night. Adventurers from outlying areas tell tales of menacing creatures with huge, leathery wings, cold black eyes, and needle-sharp teeth that deliver wicked bites. These tales are troubling indeed, for these creatures of the skies are numerous throughout Eriador. If they now fly in the service of a dark master, travel by night is likely to be perilous, even for the wariest adventurer.

Read more here.

Congratulations to NCsoft and ArenaNet who announced today that Guild Wars has reached the 4 million mark in units sold since its release in 2005.

Bellevue, WA. Aug. 21, 2007--The Guild Wars® franchise of online roleplaying games has broken the four million units sold mark in just over two years. Published by NCsoft® and developed by ArenaNet®, the Guild Wars series (consisting of Guild Wars, Guild Wars FactionsTM, and Guild Wars NightfallTM) has set the standard for online co-operative and competitive play with award-winning content and a subscription-free business model. Since the first campaign launched in 2005, Guild Wars has developed legions of loyal fans who are hotly anticipating the August 31 release of the game's first true expansion, Guild Wars: Eye of the NorthTM.

"ArenaNet's fantastic work on Guild Wars has helped make NCsoft the leading online gaming publisher in the world," said Robert Garriott, CEO of NCsoft North America. "Guild Wars players continue to join in droves and stay loyal to the franchise thanks to a business model that makes for a very accessible product. We are all excited about the future of Guild Wars with the expansion ready to be released and Guild Wars 2TM on the horizon."

Read the full announcement here.

Eight new images have been added to our Tabula Rasa screenshot gallery.

To view the full size images, and to see the rest of the new screens, visit our gallery here.

The Chronicles of Spellborn official site has been updated with their latest artistic developer journal. This time the focus is on the sound design and mood setting music in the game.

In The Chronicles of Spellborn music plays an important role in establishing moods for area's. As those of you who played the beta have found out a little (and a lot more had I done the volumes right ), music plays very seldom. Most of the time, you simply hear the ambience of an area. If you are in a forest, you'll hear forest sounds, on the road next to the forest there is a road ambience and once you go out into a field, it's different again. All of this is heard in gradual motion, as you move between the area's.

Every so often, the music belonging to that particular shard comes in and plays. At the moment this happens every hour or so, though we plan to make it such that people can change how often this happens.

Jesper Kyd composed those pieces of music, now almost two and a half years ago and as you can imagine, we have made a few changes in the mean time.

Read the full dev journal here.

GamersInfo.net is reporting that Horizons, an MMO which has spent a significant amount time in development limbo, is poised to make a comeback under the new management of Virtrium.

Like the proverbial phoenix (dragon?) that continually rises from the ashes, Horizons: Empire of Istaria is poised to take flight once again. Purchased just over one year ago by EI Interactive, the game has languished with no updates, billing errors and poor community support until recently when Virtrium, LLC purchased Horizons and all remaining assets from Tulga Games. The players have been wondering, though: exactly who is Virtrium?

Good question. In the previous two weeks alone they've re-established Blight, the test server; opened the community forums to registration (they've been closed for more than 8 months); established a new, very agile support ticket system (none had existed for nearly a year); and have somewhat covertly been talking to the players. Things the remaining rag tag bunch never expected as they were simply hanging on to the game until its dying breath.

Read the full article here.

Funcom has announced their plans to show at the Games Convention in Leipzig where they'll be displaying some of the game's pvp game-play as well as the much an anticipated siege warfare system.

Durham, USA - August 20th, 2007 - Funcom's highly anticipated massively multiplayer online game 'Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures' is getting ready to invade this year's Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany. Not only will the siege warfare system be demonstrated to select press behind closed doors, gamers will also be able to join in on the fun by playing against each other in brutal, bloody, and ferociously fast-paced player-versus-player battles on the show floor.

"It is time for the gloves to come off," says Game Director Gaute Godager. "This is the first time we will let consumers get their hands on the game at a trade show and we are kicking off by letting them experience the intensity of player-versus-player battles. This is the true Conan experience - bloody and barbaric!"

The siege warfare gameplay, one of the most anticipated features in 'Age of Conan', will be shown behind closed doors for select press for the first time ever. In the game guilds will be able to construct entire battlekeeps for themselves and they can even capture and destroy other guild's battlekeeps by going into battle against them. Players will enter into epic struggles for fame, fortune and land using swords, cavalry and catapults as they charge towards each other on the blood-soaked battlefields of Hyboria.

Read more about Age of Conan and Leipzig here.

The latest edition of Game/On, MMORPG.com's weekly podcast is now available for your listening pleasure.

This week on Game/On, co-hosts Jon Wood and Keith Cross talk about Jon's upcoming trip to the Games Convention in Leipzig and all of the games that MMORPG.com will be covering there.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Book 10: City of the Kings, the second free expansion to Lord of the Rings Online officially launched today. The new expansion brings to the game numerous additions to the game, including: the ability to play as a Troll or Ranger in Session Play, the new region of Annúminas, numerous Monster Play enhancements, over 100 new quests, the new reputation system, revamped hunter and Captain classes, and much more.

Read the release notes here.

The Chronicles of Spellborn official site has been updated with another developer journal. This time the focus is on looking cool in MMOs and the game's appearance system.

With Spellborn, we decided this was not how we wanted things. An MMO is all about living a fantasy life, and people like to pretend to be a hero. Even if you choose to remain a rookie throughout our shard world, you still would like to wander around feeling you're the toughest Daevi that ever existed. But if, for some reason, the next day you feel like a little happy hoppie, and want to stroll through Quarterstone in nothing but your pants on, you would like to be able to do that too! And if, after months of trying, you finally beat the biggest boss you'll ever find, and put on the trophy you scavenged off his stinky remains, you want everyone to see that it's *you* who wears The-Coolest-Helmet-Ever-Made-(TM)!

Exaggerating only a little bit, this was basically what I was asked to make possible within The Chronicles of Spellborn. A system where artists can design and import helmets, armours, clothing and weapons, and then have players buy, dye and wear them in every combination possible. Oh, and ofcourse in such a way that it doesn't put too much strain on network bandwidth.

So the first thing I did was making sure I got the numbers straight. I haunted our artists to the point they didn't like me anymore, just to make sure that when the races, body types, armours, pants, shirts and swords would be coming in, I wouldn't be caught off guard. When this was done, it was time to detail every part of a player's appearance: "Okay, so they have a race, a body type, a head type, a head skin variation, a voice, tattoo's, clothing items, armour, weapons.... nice..." A lot of different settings, and most of these are subject to change any time: a player might remove a shoulder piece, put on a different shirt, or finally decide to wear that cool reddish belt!

Read the full developer journal here.

IGG has announced that they have launched their oficial site for Zu Online.

With the Zu Online alpha test right around the corner, we are pleased to announce that the official site of Zu Online has been released. This site will be a resource for the testers and all players in the future, as well as serve the community as a place to follow what's happening in the game.

Detailed game information and forums are currently available for viewing. We encourage you all to stop by often to learn more about Zu Online. Pay close attention to the website: http://zu.igg.com

Visit the Zu Online official site here.

IGG has announced they will be holding several PK weekend events where players can battle other players for honor, glory, and loot.

IGG has announced that a PK weekend has been added to the weekly activity schedule for Tales of Pirates. Guild War and Lucky Survivor will be involved in the PK activities. Click here to check the weekly activity schedule.

Details for PK Weekend:

Guild War

The honor of the guild stimulates you; faith in the supreme power supports you. Want to be the best in the guild? Want your guild to be the Triton of the minnows? Then draw your cutlass, fight for your guild, and devote yourself to this heroic war.

Rule: Before EST 12:00AM each Friday, each guild can go to Guildmaster-Forlan(831,3249) in Shaitan City to bid for their right to fight against the Defending champion. Guilds with the winning bid will be allowed to challenge the Defending champion at EST 12:00AM each Saturday. The winning side will be given the title Champion Guild and will be rewarded generously. Click here for details about the guild war.

Lucky Survivor

It's the warrior's destiny to be tested. You have no choice, all you can do is to become stronger and stronger, push on and defeat whatever lies ahead.

Rule: Est 22:00~23:00PM every Sunday, GMs will make an arena in which Players are free to PK without any restriction. To apply to join, Players can go to find our GM near the PUB in Argent City (To apply, Players have to be included in the friends list of our GMs). There will be 40 Players in a group. When the battle begins, the GM will ask 20 Players to go into the arena first. Once a character has died, our GM will ask the next Player to go into the arena to join the fight. The last man standing will be the champion. There are no restrictions in the arena, you can use any item and even team up with other Players to form temporary alliances. However, there will be only one survivor and only the last Player standing can get the reward.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting!

Read more about Tales of Pirates here.

SOE has announced on the Star Wars Galaxies official site that high level Imperial characters will be able to take part in new Imperial content, including new quests and rewards.

Players who have already completed the Imperial Theme Park have been granted permission by the Galactic Empire to complete new tasks for the high ranking officials of the Empire. Imperial citizens and officers who complete the assignments set before them by the Empire will earn Galactic Civil War points for completing quests and will also obtain a brand new quest reward.

The Empire seeks your assistance in hunting down and eliminating threats to the Empire. You will be called on to thwart the efforts of the Rebel Alliance to recruit sympathizers and reinforce the Empire's position as the ultimate power in the universe. Your services are essential in reaching this objective.

To begin this adventure you must be a member of the Galactic Empire. You can become a member of the Empire by visiting a faction recruiter and declaring your allegiance. You can find an Imperial recruiter on Naboo near the spaceport in Theed at -4928 4228.

Read more here.

The Grab Bag returns this week to once again answer a myriad of miscellaneous questions from the Dark Age of Camelot community.

Q. I've killed Myrddraxis (Fomor Hydra) and got no remains nor have read ANYWHERE that he drops them. However, I still keep hearing that he drops them. So my question is does he actually drop remains and if so is it a random drop?

A. From the Bearded Wonder: There are no remains for Myrddraxis. Urban Legend. Seriously, Taxidermists have to draw the line somewhere, 1 head... okay. 5 heads? Sorry, no dice.

Q. Can/will you please officially state whether or not one is able to see an enemy player's torch if they have it on in an RvR area? Some people try to claim that two years ago there were patch notes saying that you are not supposed to be able to see enemy realm torches, but I know for a fact that you can since I see them all the time making people glow like a beacon, especially at night.

A. From the Keeper of the Devs: If a player has their torch on their face will be lit up to other players, regardless of realm. I must admit I can be found being yelled at by my group mates many a night. "Turn off your torch!" Gah...I hate running around in the dark.

Read the Grab Bag here.