Rusty Hearts, currently in Open Beta, is being crafted by Stairway Games in conjunction with Perfect World Entertainment. PWE should sound familiar. The growing Chinese company is responsible for publishing multiple titles on this side of the pond, including Perfect WorldandForsaken World. Rusty Hearts is a massive multi-player, fast paced brawling game.
Who’s got large breasts, carries two loaded revolvers and had one hell of a Halloween costume? Natasha, the newest addition to the growing list of playable characters for Rusty Hearts, and the first that is focused on ranged fighting. Naturally, I had to give her a spin and see if she is as good as I really hoped her to be.
Stick with me and together we go down the road and discover how she works.
The first thing I noticed when I played her was that she is definitely a divergence from the other character’s gameplay. It took some getting used to, but then I noticed the gun play felt familiar. She shoots like a certain demon hunter, but then the female version of him. What makes it more outstanding from the rest of the characters is that she has to reload every time she has emptied her clips, and her abilities include stationary turrets. Making her versatile in a support role, as well as direct damage. Continue Reading
Holy crap, Metzen isn’t wearing sunglasses. Write this day down in history! Chris Metzen, Lionel Richie’s biggest fan, was caught without his token shades during his opening ceremony presentation. For those of you not into TMZ-style reporting, we’ll move to our regularly scheduled writing style.
Metzen, the vice president of Creative Development broke onto the stage for a short soliloquy compared to last year’s “Geek Is…” monolog. The voice of Thrall and so many others teased WoWers with a new expansion before shifting gears to the upcoming Diablo III, the newly revamped Blizzard DotA and StarCraftproper. Then, after calling the WoWers back, he unleashed pandas on the audience.
Check out the presentation, filled with cheap pops Mick Foley style, above.
Now that the Pre-E3 blues are gone, Beararms and Mordil are here to talk eagerly about this year’s biggest gaming convention in the Americas month’s MMO industry news.
See what toy they’re now using to keep track of the agenda, rather than that clunky and attention-stealing laptop here, or on our Facebook / Livestream page. Below the video is our topics for today.
Reminder: it starts at 11 AM PDT (2PM EDT).
Whatcha Been Playin?
Kyle: L.A Noire, Rift, Oblivion, Portal 2, Magic: The Gathering, Forsaken World
Nathan: Shakes and Fidget, Pathfinder, Starcraft II, Angry Birds / Hex Empire Continue Reading
It’s an incredibly simple feature and one that, arguably should have been implemented long ago. But regardless, the ability to rearrange characters on the login screen — currently being tested on World of Warcraft‘s Patch 4.2 Public Test Realm — is one that many players are eagerly awaiting. Here’s a quick look at how it works on the PTR. Stay tuned for more of our coverage of the 4.2 PTR.
For those of you guys fighting your way through Hyboria, I thought you would be interested to know that Ten Ton Hammer has added a feats calculator on their site. I’m sure most of us have used such calculators in the past to help us decide what skills to train and in what order and considering how new AoC is, I’m sure you guys will get some good use out of it.
I got say that I’m trying to hold out for some reviews before I get AoC, but it’s getting hard. I mean I’m not playing any MMOs right now and I bunch of friends have gotten it and keep talking about it, so I think after this holiday weekend, I’m going to give in and pick up the game on Tuesday. PvP all the way. See ya guys there.
In an interview with EuroGamer, World of Warcraft producer J. Allen Brack stated that eventually there will “probably” be an graphical update for WOW.
“Will we need a graphical update from the ground up at some point? Yep, probably. And I’m positive we’ll talk about it next expansion”
With the successful graphical revamp Eve Online pulled off back in Dec with their Trinity Expansion, it’s no surprise to see more and more MMOs taking this path. Other games such as Ultima Online and EverQuest have also done graphical upgrades to their games, but with mediocre results.
Personally I’d much rather the MMO I’m playing do a graphical update then release a sequel that basically makes everyone start from scratch.
From Starwars Galaxies to Lord of the Rings Online, MMORPGs have allowed players to visit and explore some of the most famous fictional locations every created. MMORPGs created from an IP (intellectual property) that is beloved by millions of fans can be difficult for developers as they have to live up to fan expectations, but done right it creates an atmosphere that engulfs the player into that fantasy world.
For me, the first time this happened was with I played Starwars Galaxies and arrived on Tatooine. Like most players the first place I searched for was the cantina at Mos Eisley. I wanted to walk in and experience the same feelings that Luke Skywalker felt when he walked in and I wasn’t disappointed. On my first visit there were musicians playing for tips, bounty hunters resting, as well as a slew of other characters all visiting one of the most famous locations in the Starwars Universe. I swear, I think some people only played SWG to hangout at the cantina. Sadly I only played SWG for 3-4 months and didn’t get to visit many other famous locations as the game was seriously lacking and I decided to move on to something else.
Then there was Lord of the Rings Online. I really have to say they outdid themselves with the locations. Walking through the front gates of Bree for the first time felt like I’ve already been there. I knew that a bit down the road on the curve would be the Prancing Pony, the inn that Frodo and friends stayed at and if I traveled east I would eventually get to Weathertop and then Rivendell. Being a huge LOTR fan, it’s hard not to get excited when visiting one of these locations for the first time. And for those of you interested, yes I’m still playing LOTRO, just not much lately.
There are others like The Matrix Online, Age of Conan, World of Warcraft and I’m sure more that give players the opprotunity to visit famous locations based on movies, books or past video games. It’s really a cool feeling when you first visit a location that you already know about and you get that “I know this place” feeling.
There is a lot to be said for user generated content these days. It has basically become the king of the internet, actually. People generally like to create their own stuff, and see their ideas come to life (as long as it’s not too hard to achieve). So why are MMOs still so reluctant to give us the same freedom that websites like MySpace or Facebook have, or games like Unreal Tournament and Oblivion allow?
One of the main ideas behind the MMORPG is to have a persistent world. A world where players can interact with other players and the world will generally react back to them as well, typically through quest lines. For example, if you kill x boss you will then restore y king back to power, or some such nonsense like that. The world will progress through you. An interesting concept, but one not without its own flaws. One of the flaws being that this does not allow for any sort of user generated content. My character can complete quests on behalf of NPCs, however he can’t make his own quest. He can live through the pre-set storyline, but he can’t forge his own story. An interesting problem…
Of course, that’s not to say nobody has tried. Today you can log onto Second Life and proceed to make all sorts of things (as illustrated by the castle above). However, Second Life also doesn’t really have a story line. You can make things but they really have no affect on the world because Second Life isn’t really a world, not in the same sense that WoW is. Another example is the Saga of Ryzom, while it doesn’t exist anymore, the game once provided a content update that allowed for users to create their own stories and scenarios. Unfortunately, I never took the time to test it out, but it is definitely something that sounded interesting.
MMORPGs are much like the internet was 10 years ago. The provide a function, and are generally liked by a good deal of people. However, they aren’t mainstream yet. The World of Warcraft is a huge game, but it could be bigger. As people slowly move toward more and more user generated content websites they are going to start looking for that same functionality within other parts of their lives, including MMORPGs. While it may sound like a challenge now, it’s gotta happen eventually. Nothing escapes consumer apathy. If you give people the tools to make their own toys, you’ll be much more popular because of it.
In an interview with 
There is a lot to be said for user generated content these days. It has basically become the king of the internet, actually. People generally like to create their own stuff, and see their ideas come to life (as long as it’s not too hard to achieve). So why are MMOs still so reluctant to give us the same freedom that websites like MySpace or Facebook have, or games like Unreal Tournament and Oblivion allow?
