ALL THE POSTS
Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick: ‘The leadership team has heard you loud and clear’
As ATVI stock dips and Blizzard employees plan a walkout tomorrow, Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has finally publicly addressed the company's workers in regard to the ongoing sexism lawsuit and fallout. He says that the company's initial responses were "tone deaf" and apologizes for the lack of empathy. "The leadership team has heard you loud and clear," he writes...
Blaugust blog writing initiative returns to challenge bloggers to write for a whole month
Regular readers of MOP doubtlessly know that we're all about highlighting and supporting MMO gaming blogs. Regulars also know that we like to signal boost the Blaugust writing initiative, a blogging community event kicked off by Belghast of Tales of the Aggronaut that seeks to encourage new and returning blog writers back to the writing fold by challenging them...
Perfect World Revolution is available for everyone to play now with one hand
You want to play an MMORPG of some kind, any kind, but you also have a delicious sandwich to eat. What can you do about this situation? Until very recently, you'd have to accept that modern technology had failed you by either eating the sandwich or playing the game. But Perfect World Revolution has finally addressed this inequity by...
Aether Story melds ‘glory days’ of classic JRPGs with the modern MMO
Two tastes that go good together: Peanut butter and chocolate. Strawberry and kiwi. Vanilla Ice and Ninja Turtles. And old school-style Japanese RPGs and... MMOs?
If you've ever imagined what an MMO would look like if Final Fantasy III was taken into an online format, then you might be in the vicinity of Aether Story, a promising new MMO from...
Pathfinder Online, Kickstarted for $1M in 2012, will sunset in November
I'm sorry to report that Paizo has announced the end of Pathfinder Online. MOP readers know that the MMO was Kickstarted for over a million dollars back in 2012, but its development and staffing struggles led to mass Goblinworks layoffs in 2015, followed by several years of Paizo attempting to salvage the game and find new investors. Since then, the studio...
Massively OP Podcast Episode 332: Does every voice really matter at Blizzard?
Justin and Bree discuss the Blizzard sexism lawsuit, with brief stops in New World, Lineage II, and Ship of Heroes.
Massively on the Go: August is recycling month in Pokemon Go
Well, we're finally on the downside of the Pokemon GO rollercoaster this year it seems, but things may still be exciting for some of us, at least until Niantic reveals what the third Ultra Unlock is. We previously mentioned how Part 1 (now live) was focused on fossil pokemon and Dialga, while part 2 starting on August 6th brings not Palkia,...
GDC 2021: Biometrics, advertising, and charming communities in video games
While other gaming conventions do big game reveals, the beauty of GDC is that we hear about some of the cool tech and practices going on behind the scenes. It helps devs out, for sure, but it also helps players paying attention better understand market trends and practices that guide our hobby. Oh, and there are also some ads...
Blizzard workers plan walkout over sexism scandal, WoW team addresses playerbase
Axios is reporting that Blizzard workers have organized a walkout tomorrow to protest the company's handling of the sexual harassment and sexual discrimination lawsuit that broke last week. According to the report, employees will walk out in-person at 1 p.m. EDT, while virtual workers appear to be invited to join all day. This particular leg of the protest is...
Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem releases its Arise update after a brief delay
Multiplayer ARPG Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem has gotten some new content after a short launch delay. Yesterday saw the developers release the Arise update, which brings a variety of features including a rework of summons that features improved visuals, auto-respawning, and summon power levels scaling with player characters, along with new areas, new endgame armor, new damage type variations...
Grab a MU Online scroll key to buff your new Gun Crusher toon on the speed server
Webzen MU Online is embarking on a new journey today with the release of the first chunk of its 16th season, which includes a brand-new toon and a quick-leveling server.
"Season 16 Part 1 brings a special giveaway to celebrate the arrival of a new character, ‘Gun Crusher’ with the addition of a new Speed Server. Starting from today, two...
Neverwinter’s Jewel of the North is live on PC with the new Bard class and level squish
It's a big day for Neverwinter players, as Jewel of the North is live on the platform. This is the big update that's adding the Bard class and squishing and improving the game's entire leveling experience and tutorial.
"Along with the new class, Neverwinter: Jewel of the North brings major game-changing improvements that make it easier for all adventurers to...
Guild Wars 2’s End of Dragons expansion launches February 2022, with preorders live now
The day is finally here: We're getting our first look at Cantha Cantha Cantha! Yes, Guild Wars 2 is taking the wraps off its long-awaited third expansion, End of Dragons. We're crossing our fingers for some launch details (as the expansion was delayed from 2021 to 2022 already), plus ArenaNet has promised "expansion features, a new trailer, details on...
Elite Dangerous details issue tracker work, Update 6 features, and four-player multicrew in July update post
Elite: Dangerous continues to try and do right by its fans with the next monthly roundup of its promised series of posts updating players on what's being done to correct the PC version of the Odyssey expansion.
In the July update bulletin, Frontier Developments first starts off with some issue tracker items that are being addressed in the expansion's...
Choose My Adventure: Wakfu definitely isn’t my cup of tea (and that’s alright)
Well, I tried, everyone. I really did. But sometimes you just have to sort of admit when you're diametrically opposed to a game. Thus is the way with me and Wakfu, a game that I had some curiosity about that has since been wholly and completely sated. And I came to that decision in alarmingly record time.
Picking up shortly...
PAX West 2021 will require attendees to prove they’re vaccinated or COVID-free
PAX West won't be letting folks through the doors unless they're vaccinated or have successfully passed a recent COVID-19 test. The convention will require proof of one of the other and ID verification to go along with it. "e feel confident that verification of fully vaccination or negative test, along with continued face covering requirements for everyone, will create...
Casually Classic: Making the call to quit WoW or not
A week ago I didn't think I'd be sitting here and writing this, but I'm done with WoW Classic -- and with this column.
As you've no doubt read, last Wednesday highly disturbing allegations of company-wide abuse and discrimination came to light as the state of California filed a lawsuit against Activision-Blizzard. Considering how intensive this two-year investigation was, how...
Old School RuneScape became a gold seller’s paradise fueled by Venezuelan hyperinflation
We can all agree that gold farmers in an MMORPG are a blight and that people shouldn't support such "businesses," but the problem of gold sellers being drawn in to Old School RuneScape some years ago has a few more wrinkles to it than one might expect.
In the most recent episode of NPR's Planet Money radio program, we...
Elyon locks in on a September 29 launch date
Kakao's steampunk fantasy MMO Elyon, formerly Ascent Infinite Air, finally has set a date for you and it to get much better acquainted. On September 29th, Elyon is scheduled to splash down in the west -- and sink or swim.
However, there's an easy way to get into the game before the 29th, thanks to a head start program that's...
The Daily Grind: Do you reroll old familiar classes on MMO progression servers?
When Aion Classic opened its doors last month, I saw an intriguing thread on the game's subreddit about what class they were going to roll, framed in the context of whether they were going to roll something new or pick something they'd never tried before. Maybe it shouldn't have been a shock, given that these types of games select...
