5 March 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Perfect World Entertainment and Cryptic Studios welcome adventurers to Icespire Peak, the most popular winter getaway in Neverwinter. Adventurers aren’t drawn to the wintery wonderland to hit the slopes and sip some joe. No, the first adventurers, the Icehammer dwarves, descended upon these lands as 49ers, mining its veins for gold and mithril. During the land’s excavation they discovered a portal to Winterforge.
And accidentally activated it.
The portal unleashed a horde of ice golems and an army of frost giants that quickly wrestled control away from the Icehammer clan. Now, their home in the possession of a fearsome foe, the Icehammer clan has requested the support of adventurers to reclaim their frozen kingdom.
Purchasing a Neverwinter Founder’s pack will guarantee immediate closed beta access, including this weekend’s beta. Can’t make it? Fear not, Lore Hound will be streaming our experience on TwitchTV starting Saturday, March 9 at 12:00 PM EST.
Hit the jump for the latest zone trailer and a collection of applicable screenshots. Continue Reading
19 February 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
The fine folks at Red 5 Studios are ready to invite everyone back to the little world of FireFall. The near-future Earth MMO shooter first opened its doors to open beta testing in late January and is looking towards addicting more gamers with fast-paced action and competitive play.
Sticking with Red 5’s penchant for contests, which champions the company’s insatiable desire to market the hell out of the title, players have a handful of open beta contests to look forward to. This includes a chance to win hardware or get your mid-air deathshot featured on the title’s Facebook page. For all the contest deals head over to the FireFall Beta Weekend section.
Of course, what’s a new weekend without additional content? Red 5 Studios has had nearly a month to refine system’s since the last play session. The company didn’t go into massive detail about the day-to-day changes, but has added two new features, the final Founder’s perk – a Custom Thumper – and full integration of Twitch broadcasting.
All of this weekend’s beta participants will earn the “mid-air” decal as the community unlock.
The second open beta will begin at 3:00 PM EST, Friday, February 22 and shutdown at 2:59 AM EST on Monday, February 25.
Continue Reading
1 February 2013 | |
Pherephassa
Many years ago, I had a friend who rarely actually bought anything he wanted. We would go out shopping, and he’d just peer in the shop windows and heave sighs heavy with yearning. At one point, I asked him why he never bought anything. He said he was enjoying the wanting. He said that few things ever actually measured up once he actually had them, so he was just enjoying the wanting of them. I think of that line a lot when it comes to betas. Betas are my favorite time during any game’s lifespan. In a beta, everything is mysterious and shiny, and there’s that new game smell. I’m still fresh on the trail of anticipation, and there’s possibility. Every game can be great, right up until I’ve actually played it and it’s set in stone.
And this week there’s been a lot of beta news from several games. I keep thinking about that friend of mine every time I find myself becoming gleefully excited about the upcoming Neverwinter betas, trying to slow myself down, because I know that no game can possibly live up to the magic that decades of playing pen and paper D&D have wrought. I’m thinking about all the amazing games I’ve played in, and though the Foundry is more limited than any tabletop DM’s creations, the possibility of playing through people’s content is just giddifying.
I could keep going on that topic, but I believe I’ll stop there for now and actually write a full on article about the Foundry. So click the little button below for the week’s news!
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22 January 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Developer Red 5 Studios hasn’t withheld FireFall from many gamers. The MMO shooter has remained firmly in “beta” testing, but has been that way for a large chunk of 2012. If an interested party wanted to play, there were many ways to jump aboard, from an early purchase to friendly invites. It’s about to become even easier.
Red 5 Studios announced today that FireFall is heading into open beta testing beginning this weekend. Starting Friday, January 25, any interested party can jump into the revamped shooter to participate in what’s being labeled as a “stress test.” The first of three beta weekends planned for early this year, the later two will come in February and March.
Shooter fans shouldn’t overlook the opportunity just because it’s a stress test. The weekend will be backed with a full battery of perks, including two media contests, a community unlockable battleframe decal and the full brunt of Red 5 Studios TwitchTV’s streaming.
In addition, new gameplay trailer after the cut! Continue Reading
28 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
ArenaNet has finally done it. The company has finally announced the release date for its upcoming subscription-less MMORPG Guild Wars 2. And that date is, wait for it…August 28, 2012! Considering that the true date is a full three months earlier than the previously-expected date of “before Thanksgiving” this gamer is jumping for joy. With the date finally official it is time to begin planning that “sick” day (week) and pack in the extra sleep hours to prepare for a caffeine fueled powerleveling session at the end of August.
Clearly the most exciting news, but the post contained the date for the final Beta Weekend, July 20-22, and a short trailer to get us pumped up, as if we weren’t already.
You can catch the trailer after the jump. Now might be a good time to go pre-order the title.
Continue Reading
12 June 2012 | |
Beararms
This weekend The Secret World will be hosting its third beta weekend titled “Hell Raised”. Starting this Friday, June 15th and continuing through the 18th, players will get to see more of the game than in the previous beta weekends. Players will be able to play Illuminati, Dragon, and Templars and will be able to sample the starter experiences in Seoul, London, and New York. If that isn’t enough for you, players will also be able to experience the dungeons “Hell Raised” and “The Polaris”.
Players who have pre-ordered the game are automatically granted access to this beta weekend and will also have early access to the full game on June 29th, a few days before its initial release on July 3rd.
Hell Raised starts on June 15th at 9am PDT (16:00 GMT/ noon EDT) and lasts until June 17th at 11:59pm PDT (Monday June 18th, 06:59/ 2:59 EDT).
29 May 2012 | |
Mike
Seems we’ll have to make it through one more weekend without GW2. The date for the second Guild Wars 2 beta weekend has been announced and it will begin on June 8th at noon PST and last until June 10th midnight PST.
Characters have not been deleted since the last beta weekend, so player will be able to pick up right where they left off. See you on the battle field.
8 May 2012 | |
Mike
Today, Funcom spilled the beans about The Secret World‘s first beta weekend, revealing what factions and areas will be available to players.
This first beta weekend, titled “Kingsmouth Calling”, will restrict players to the Templar faction, allowing them to explore the small town of Kingsmouth and the city of London, one of the three hub cities in the game.
The beta begins this Friday on May 11th at 9am PDT, and runs until Sunday May 13th to 11:59pm PDT. The non-disclosure agreement has been dropped as of Friday, so players will be able to post information, pics, and videos of their experience over the weekend; which means you can expect us here at Lorehound to have you covered with first impressions galore.
