6 June 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Marvel Heroes has been in the wild for quite some time, but June 4 marked the official launch for the any interested gamer. Gazillion’s dungeon crawling Marvel title saw a mini-series focusing on the rise of Doctor Doom. This four-part motion comic was not part of the opening cinematic. Nope. Players beginning their adventure were meet with a completely different production.
Presented as an animated short, the trailer introduces players to numerous Marvel mainstays, from Iron Man to the Hulk, and a quick synopsis of their origins. However, the main reason to watch is the discussion of The Watcher and how it ties into the aforementioned motion comic mini series.
“For over three years we’ve been building Marvel Heroes to be an exciting, free-to-play massively multiplayer action game, and we are ecstatic to finally put it in the hands of Marvel fans and gamers alike,” said David Brevik, President and COO of Gazillion Entertainment. “The creation of Marvel Heroes has been a labor of love. As a die-hard Marvel fan, it’s an honor to give players the chance to take on the roles of their favorite Marvel Super Hero in an epic adventure.”
Hit the jump for the latest trailer and screenshot dump.
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4 June 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
We’ve been watching this one for quite some time, so we’re happy to see that despite some recent troubles, Marvel Heroes will be meeting its June 4 launch date. Penned by Marvel scribe Brian Michael Bendis, the dungeon crawling MMOG is now upon us. Recent beta improvements include a much cleaner heads-up display, the doubling of available powers and the addition of a new crafting feature.
Hit the jump for the Lore Hound coverage over the years. We’ve got everything from the rise of Doctor Doom, exclusive interviews, changes in the currency and Founders packages and, oh, so much more. Continue Reading
3 June 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Just hours ahead of the launch of Marvel Heroes, Gazillion Entertainment has released the final installment of the motion comic. Doctor Doom’s epic rise to power culminates with the fourth and final installment. The tale, penned by Brian Michael Bendis, wraps as Gazillion prepares for tomorrow’s full launch.
The Chronicles of Doom mini series develops the beginning lore for the dungeon crawling MMORPG designed by David Brevik, a co-creator of Diablo. The premise of Doom’s capabilities are based on the Cosmic Cube, a device originally capable of turning any wish into a reality.
Marvel Heroes allows players to experience unique leveling experiences for each of the superheroes as they explore locations throughout the Marvel universe. Previous closed beta players will be happy to see numerous changes to the user interface, a customization system and overall polish.
Marvel Heroes unlocks to the F2P world tomorrow, June 4, 2013. Hit the jump for the full trailer.
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31 May 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
The leaders of the universe, quite literally if you think about it, tried to stop Doctor Doom from increasing his foothold in the Marvel universe but failed. Despite delaying the launch of early access for Founders of Marvel Heroes, Doctor Doom’s epic storyline continues. The tale, penned by Brian Michael Bendis, continues today with the third installment in the four-part motion comic.
Episode 3 develops the beginning lore for the dungeon crawling MMORPG designed by David Brevik, a co-creator of Diablo. The premise of Doom’s capabilities are based on the Cosmic Cube, a device originally capable of turning any wish into a reality.
Marvel Heroes allows players to experience unique leveling experiences for each of the superheroes as they explore locations throughout the Marvel universe. Previous closed beta players will be happy to see numerous changes to the user interface, a customization system and overall polish.
Marvel Heroes unlocks to the F2P world on June 4, 2013. Hit the jump for the full trailer. Continue Reading
29 May 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
And now Marvel Heroes is in the spotlight for it’s first bit of bad news. After wrapping up open beta testing in the earlier half of May and beginning the run up to Doctor Doom’s rise to power, Marvel Heroes is experiencing its first bit of unspinnable bad news. Gazillion Entertainment announced yesterday that the Founders launch date of yesterday, May 28, has been delayed.
Mr. David Brevik, the Creative Director of Gazillion Entertainment, went to the blog to deliver the bad news. Brevik and his team promised “We will not leave this studio until you can play the game.” The culprit? An undisclosed “serious issue” that the team found late last week and has worked on for 96 hours in preparation of launch.
There hasn’t been a follow up since the post late yesterday evening. We’ll have more as it comes.
15 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Never one to shy controversial topics in the video game industry, Mark Jacobs is expecting the free-to-play genre to get hit hard soon. The lead designer to every Mythic Entertainment game worth mentioning, Jacobs explained to VG247 that the popular F2P business model is just that, another option. He took the analysis further, essentially calling the model an ever-increasing bubble. A bubble, that like the housing market in 2008 and Dot Com bubble in 1999-2000 and everyone before them, is bound to burst.
Again, like those aforementioned bubbles Jacobs expects a catastrophic failure of the F2P model in three to five years due to unsustainable practices. The results? Developer closures and substantial losses for publishers.
You’re going to see a lot of developers shutting down, and you’re going to see a lot of publishers going, oh yeah maybe spending $20 million on a free-to-play game wasn’t the best idea ever. That’s part of the reason, but the other reason is equally as important, that if you go free-to-play, you really have to compete with every other free-to-play game out there.
Jacobs believe that Camelot Unchained, his spiritual successor to Dark Age of Camelot, will fare better by targeting his specific niche of gamers with a (potentially lower) subscription title developed for them. This follows numerous basic business principles of delivering the right unique product to the right target market.
That doesn’t make F2P incorrect or subscription correct. Simply different. To follow the basic business analogy, F2P games are essentially consumer packaged goods that approach a wide market with low margins covered by high volumes.
What’s your take on the potential of a F2P bubble? Could even World of Warcraft launch today and be the same success it was in 2004?
Camelot Unchained is currently over halfway to its $2 million Kickstarter goal with 16 days remaining.
15 April 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
Our exclusive interview on The Elder Scrolls Online not deliver enough details on the highly-anticipated core MMORPG coming from ZeniMax Online for you? Well, the folks at The Escapist tracked down the first twenty minutes of leaked gameplay.
The footage kicks off at the character creation screen that offers a wide range of customization options. It also displays nine (current) playable races and only three classes. It then dives into the clearly beta gameplay. Plopping gamers on a ship without rhyme, reason or much explanation. Then you’re off on FedEx and Kill 10 Rats quests.
The actual gameplay is quite similar to everything experienced at recent trade shows and discussed in our interview. Right down to the opening scenario. That is, you’re effectively playing a multiplayer-based Skyrim, that, at times, can feel very lonely to your experienced MMOG player.
The original video was pulled from YouTube over the weekend. Nothing disappears on the Internet. The full 20 minutes was quickly rehosted over at Riot Pixels. There’s no embed code that I can see, so you’ll have to view it the old-fashioned way.
31 March 2013 | |
iTZKooPA
The announcement of The Elder Scrolls Online was a disparaging one. Some fans salivated, barely containing their excitement at taking the open-world single-player adventure to the massive multiplayer realm. Others felt it was a cash in, using the name and universe to create a watered down experience. Either way, the new was huge.
ZeniMax Online has been slowly coming out of its shell revealing morsels of juicy information. Being an expert in shells, iTZKooPA corned Nick Konkle in a back alley. The Lead Combat Designer goes into his field of expertise, including discussing the relative need a “holy trinity” grouping, the rotationless combat style and dungeons.
“If you wanna do your crazy builds…we love em.”
Konkle even hangs around to answer a few community questions, including the presence of guilds, such as the Thieves Guild, the characters role in them and numerous other lore topics. Hit the jump for details covering a wide range of The Elder Scrolls Online topics.
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