I’ve heard an incredible amount of surprise from many over their enjoyment of Tabula Rasa. Something compelled them to try the game against their jaded outlook on what the game will likely entail, and they ended up having their MMO perspective taken right out from underneath them similar to how a person loses their perch resulting in a water-dunking, after someone threw a well aimed baseball towards the target at the local fair.

With all of these surprised gamers, you would think that I would see more articles regarding the game - but everything that I’ve read up until now has been much the same - almost like someone describing what is in the informational press release after reading it too often.

For those of you who have noticed the same thing, I’d like to point your direction towards a recent blog regarding the game which will give you a good variation and twist upon the information and excitement towards Tabula Rasa.

I’m talking about within World of Warcraft.

A recent post by Bornakk, the community manager for World of Warcraft at Blizzard, includes an update to the game which is causing quite the stir within the player community.

The word out on the street is:

Wait - what?! I AFK and my account is now BANNED? WTF^^!

But there is more to it than that. After asking some who have frustrated experiences and are hailing this update as godsent - or happy developer sent, as the case may be - I’m discovering this to actually be a good thing, not a bad one - this should be embraced with the same fervor as the banning of farmers.

( read more… )

SEATTLE, Washington, January 2, 2008 – With the start of a fresh new year, Evergreen Events announces the new ION Game Conference identity for the game industry conference formerly known as “OGDC”. Empowered with a new name, logo and website, the identity and schedule for ION is not only on track but infused with an even stronger focus. The ION Game Conference will take place at the well-appointed Seattle Waterfront Marriott Hotel in the picturesque waterfront district, from May 13 to May 15, 2008. The ION Game Conference will feature a broad array of expert-level lectures and panels, networking events and an expo area exhibiting cutting-edge technology and games for 2008 and beyond.The new ION Game Conference identity and logo reinforces the global reach of a game industry event that remains focused on top-quality networking and online game development. Last year, the conference drew nearly 20% of attendees outside the United States, such as from Korea, Germany, Japan and Australia.

( read more… )

Here is a YouTube recording of 38Studios and the tiny amount that they are willing to divulge to the public.

It’s very much worth watching.

The team behind Legends of Norrath’s artwork invited a few community members to send in photos to be encorporated into the amazing artwork displayed on their various cards within the game Legends of Norrath, and Calthine, one of the Community Administrators at EQ2 Allakhazam has had her image chosen for the “Fear” card. What an amazing honor to have your image immortalized by the strokes of painted artistry within the cards themselves for hundreds and perhaps thousands of players to be able to see.

…We all hooked up on a conference call with EM Stock, the Senior Community Manager at SOE Austin, who devised some complicated cross between /random, some 20-sided dice, and duck-duck-goose to let us choose which card we’d pose for. Then we were instructed to take lots of pictures, with a focus on interesting angles and being dramatic.

Interestingly enough, the card I got from EM’s lotto was not the card I ended up on. I had one picture come out with an interesting facial expression that definitely wasn’t right for my card, but was really striking so I sent it along. Apparently artist Kieran Yanner agreed, because I ended up on Fright…

Click here to read the entire article posted on EQ2 Allakhazam.

World of Kung Fu Launches Final Closed Beta

VestGame Entertainment, the North American Publisher of the Chinese hit MMORPG “World of Kung Fu” has announced that it will begin its final closed beta test on Wednesday, December 19th. The final closed beta of the game will incorporate many new elements and enhanced features. In addition to new NPCs and new items, the highly anticipated Item Mall will make its debut. Certain gameplay features have also been improved. Beta testers active in the previous beta test will be rewarded with game gold that can be used however they choose within the World of Kung Fu. Participants in the final closed beta will be able to roll their characters over into the open beta when it begins in January. Everyone is encouraged to sign up for the final closed beta test at the World of Kung Fu website (www.worldofkungfu.com).

So there has been this rumor spreading around that the beloved Scott Hartsman, EverQuest 2’s Senior Producer, has left SOE to embark out on his own with a startup company.

This rumor was started on the EQ2 Flames forums, and though people reposted the news/speculation, there is nothing more to indicate its truth or falsehood. Typically, Scott has been very prompt at squelching out the fires of rumor-hood and I haven’t seen this at all. He’s been around as the Senior Producer of the game since the day it launched. John Blakely, the pre-launch Senior Producer, swapped EverQuest 2 over to Scott’s hands upon launch and it’s been there ever since. We’ve seen a lot of Scott’s handy-work and it just seems far too uncharacteristic of him based on the past 3-4 years to up and leave without leaving a word, or even to NOT mention something to the contrary of the rumor.

Quite honestly, I’m wondering if there is really any truth to the rumor at all. Nothing on the his blog site, and he’s made quite recent posts on the official EverQuest 2 forums as well.

I guess we’ll all just have to wait, watch, and see.

BBC News reports the merger of Blizzard and Activision, a transaction with a price tag of $18.8 billion. The article explains the two business’s strengths; Blizzard and its incredible global strength in the MMORPG market, and Activision, renouned for their quality console games which release to most popular consoles such as the Xbox, Sony’s Playstation III, and the Nintendo Wii. These two companies have forged a deal and are coming out of the other end with a new name: Activision Blizzard.

So where is Vivendi, the company who prior to the launch of World of Warcraft, had seriously been contemplating selling everything over to Microsoft Gaming Studios, in on all of this? They are being reported as “the largest” Activision Blizzard shareholders.

Press released attached –> ( read more… )

Inbabble is reporting an interview with Matt Turetzky regarding the various games being released on their incredible success with mobile gaming. First notable mention brings local OGR amusement due to it’s name, Luxor 2. It is a shame that our very own Luxx doesn’t even use a cellphone, so he’s not even able to get in on the fun of playing a game which is so close to his own name.

So what’s new at RealNetworks as far as games go?
Turetzky: We are very excited about our three new mobile games launches this Q4. Coming first, in October, was Luxor 2, our second game based on one of the best selling PC games of all time. The Luxor brand has been downloaded over 60 million times on the PC and we are very pleased to be able to bring it to mobile gamers. We launched the first Luxor mobile game last year and it was our best selling game of 2006. The new version features all new levels and power-ups and much sharper design and effects, thanks to the capabilities of the newer handsets.

The interview is quite informative and interesting regardless of their website fubars. You should seriously check it out and see what they have to say regarding the mobile gaming industry. Click Here to read the full Q&A.

Though the publisher for City of Heroes/City of Villians has always been NC Soft, the actual developer stayed in the hands of Cryptic Studios… until recently.

A FAQ was posted on Cryptic Studio’s website outlining the specifics of the how and why of the finality of the sell and its complete creative control moving to the NC Soft developers.

How did Cryptic Studios arrive at the decision to sell City of Heroes and City of Villains to NCsoft?
When we considered the future of CoH/CoV and the future of Cryptic Studios, we had a difficult decision to make. We’ve invested a lot of time, effort, talent and passion into the games, and we care about them. But we’ve got a lot of other ideas we’re excited about too.

Ultimately, we decided that selling to NCsoft was the best and right thing to do for the CoH community. CoH/CoV will be in good hands at NCsoft, and the transition will be as seamless as possible. With this move, we now have complete creative freedom and the resources we need to develop new games.

To view the entire FAQ, click here.