13 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
Last week, Turbine Entertainment released a live-action trailer for the upcoming expansion of Lord of the Rings Online. Named after the upcoming expansion, Riders of Rohan, the trailer eschews your typical in-game combat, gameplay additions and passing environmental shots for a taste of steel, long hair and knife sharpening to set the mood. The campfire enables Turbine to introduce players to the additional lore that will be unleashed on players on September 5, 2012 without having to spoil specific game elements.
Today, Turbine Entertainment following up the trailer with a behind-the-scenes look at its creation. The behind-the-scenes trailer allows Turbine to take players into the world at the ground level, expressing the excitement, pain, sadness and camaraderie that the general adventurers – us players – experience. Despite being a two-minute trailer, the company spent a lot of time on getting the details correct for the segment. Players looking for gameplay can experience in-game environments and combat later in the making of.
Riders of Rohan can be pre-ordered now, but only if you want all sorts of cool perks.
To summarize, there will be a lot of horseplay beyond the jump including all new screenshots.
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8 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
This article has been in my head for ages. Massive multiplayer online games, any subgenre from sandbox to themepark, do not show well at conventions. I’m not one to make blanket statements, but I’m fully confident with this one after traversing the convention circuit for half a decade. MMOFPS combat the notion, but ultimately falter.
Let’s set the stage of your general show and showgoer. There’s an insane amount of visual and audio noise when you hit the floor. There are options left, right, upside down and in every nook. Most of the offerings are visceral experiences that focus on the hook, something in the game that you’ll remember, ideally, when the game approaches release a few months down the road. Perfect for single- or normal multiplayer games.
The most disciplined of showgoers will get to their target games early and camp the line, assuming there is one. Finally, the moment comes where showgoer gets to jump on the open desktop. For most MMOGs the machine is set to offer some combination of: grind a few mobs, kill other showgoers, play with some new abilities or a character class or roam a new area. Before showgoer knows it time is up and the flabbergasted gamer is ushered out the back door. Maybe showgoer had 30 minutes. Probably less than 15 minutes.
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7 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
The console industry may have gone all peripheral crazy during the rhythm genre fad, but the PC industry is the home of collecting soon-to-be-obsolete plastic junk. Thankfully, times have changed with the advent of USB ports, the rise of standards, and companies that follow, them means plug-n-play devices have a longer life on PCs than ever before.
Peripheral specialist, Razer, caused a stir at E3 2012 by unveiling Artemis, a prototype controller for MechWarrior Online. The non functional controller will be sold and is being used to solicit feedback from prospective players. The current iteration is designed with fully customizable buttons, an 8-inch LCD screen, force feedback, mechanical keys, a throttle, and a slick flight stick.
It reminds me a lot of the original Steel Battalion controller, dropping foot pedals and dual sticks for an added information center. If only that LCD was touchscreen…
There’s currently no release date, which makes sense considering that MechWarrior Online is not in closed beta yet. Depending on the price – and quality of MWO – I may need to clear some desktop space.
Hit the jump for the official trailer and more media.
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6 June 2012 | |
Beararms
Yesterday, Turbine and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced the release date for Lord of the Rings Online: Riders of Rohan. This is fourth major expansion for the award-winning free-to-play MMORPG. The date that you’re all waiting for is September 5, 2012. In addition, Turbine announced an amazing pre-order program and even threw in media to dine on as we await release in a few months.
Riders of Rohan features are to include:
Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Théoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving wargs and orcs that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land.
Explore Largest Landscape Yet! – Nearly three times as large as Moria! Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Eastern Plains of Rohan. Raise high your sword to fight for honor and glory in the name of Théoden King! Experience hundreds of new quests, earn new favor, gear, deeds and more!
The Epic Story Continues – The Fellowship is on the move once again and must achieve their task at all cost. It falls to you to clear the path and turn the Eye of the Enemy away from their progress as you aid the Rohirrim in their own struggle close by. Witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, nephew of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow.
Advance to Level 85 – Learn what it means to be Rohirrim as you face new challenges throughout the Riddermark on your journey to level 85. Continue your legend as you grow in power with new skills and deeds and earn new armor and gear to aid you in the battles to come.
Hit the jump to see all the pre-order perks – there are many! – and the latest screenshots and trailers. Continue Reading
6 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
Turbine Entertainment continues to blow the lid of Menace of the Underdark giving gamers a peak behind the development curtain in the latest trailer released at E3 2012. The third part of the series opens with Fernando Paiz admitting that the addition of Forgotten Realms was one of the most common requests from the community.
Jeff De Puy discusses how much Underdark – a huge network of caves – was an immense undertaking in level design and technological improvements. After all, after playing corridor shooters for the past 15 years who wants to run through tight, barren corridors hour upon hour upon countless hour? Bioluminescent fungi, numerous lichen, massive two mile tall caves and other features will keep players from getting fatigued by the same textures. Barely shown, but talked about was the disconnected city of the drow in the Underdark envisioned by Turbine with support from Wizards of the Coast.
Check out the four minute behind-the-scenes video and the latest screen dump after the cut. Purple worms, drow, druids, water ladies and driders all make an appearance. Oh, and get this, a dragon will be encountered!
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6 June 2012 | |
iTZKooPA
Yeah, it’s true, the vast majority of gamers know the basics of Dungeon & Dragons, but Cryptic Studios has begun to unveil exactly what’s going on in its version of Neverwinter. As touched upon in our most recent Neverwinter interview, the latest D&D MMORPG focuses on the Jewel in the North, Neverwinter. To entice the Lore Hounds out there, Perfect World Entertainment has released two lore trailers as part of its E3 media blitz.
The first trailer focuses on the nearby location of Vellosk peaks. Once under the protection and control of a local barbarian clan, the mountainous region has been taken over by warlords willing to trade power for the service of the barbarians. The second trailer is part two of a three part series focusing on the Siege of Neverwinter itself (part one here). Both trailers clock in at under two minutes apiece, so give them a gander after the break.
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4 June 2012 | |
Mike
The E3 EA conference presentation is still going on, but Star Wars: The Old Republic fans already got the info they’ve been looking for.
EA announced information about the next major content update which includes the following:
- New Planet Makeb: Story revoles around the Hutt Cartel
- New end-game Operation: Terror from Beyond
- New playable race: Cathar
- Increase in level cap and new abilites
- New PvP warzone
- New companion: HK-51 assassin droid
- New space mission: Space station assault
- Permanent free trial up to level 15
