Star Citizen’s CitizenCon pretty much owned this weekend, and yeah, it was the “convention” kind of con, not the other one. Here’s a quick run-down of the big news:
- Star Citizen’s mo-capped, CGI single-player campaign, Squadron 42, will star Gary Oldman, Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Liam Cunningham, Andy Serkis, John Rhys-Davies, and Jack Huston, among a dozen other notables. “Take the role of a rookie UEE Navy combat pilot in a cinematic single-player epic adventure set in the Star Citizen universe,” blares the website. Commence squeeing.
- CIG showed off the game’s massive star map and recapped the story of Star Citizen’s creation — so far. You can even play with the star map in your browser.
- The studio pubbed two new demos for alpha 2 highlighting the persistent universe elements. Lookin’ pretty damn good for supposedly impossible “vaporware,” yeah?
- A new Around the Verse discussed explosions and the Drake Caterpillar module development.
- Wanna play? CIG posted a two-week free-play code for Arena Commander:Â CITCONFLIGHT2K15. There’s also a brand-new referral program to reward players who rope in their friends.
We’ve lined up all the big videos below: the full presentation, star map, clip from S42 and behind the scenes, the alpha 2.0 live demo and press demo, facial animation tech for S42, and the Bishop senate speech. Check ’em out, then read on for the very best of this week’s MMO news and opinions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5sRUYwgWGI
With thanks to I-Spy, Darkwalker75, and Gene for the extra linkies!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
RIFT goes Into the Wilds today; check out the trailer - RIFT's servers are down and getting patched with the game's 3.4 Into the Wilds update, but don't despair; Trion has posted a trailer to tide you over. Massively OP's Justin previewed the update a few weeks ago. Expect the brand-new Primalist…
Reforge Orsinium in Elder Scrolls Online’s new DLC, due in November - Landing on The Elder Scrolls Online's public test server today is the game's next DLC, set in Orsinium, the ancestral home of the Orcs. Says Bethsoft, Orsinium, the ancestral home of the Orcs, is being rebuilt…
Daybreak appoints Jens Andersen Executive Creative Director, hints at new title - Good news for fans of Jens Andersen's leadership of DC Universe Online over the last several years: He's gotten a nice promotion. Daybreak announced today that Andersen's been appointed the Executive Creative Director of the studio.…
WoW Factor: Cataclysm was bad, but revamping the world isn’t - For about four years, Cataclysm handily defended its title of Worst World of Warcraft Expansion, coming in behind all of the actual expansions as well as Star Wars: The Old Republic, Warhammer Online, and Superman 64.…
Flameseeker Chronicles: Guild Wars 2 raid beta impressions - [AL:GW2]I don't believe I've ever been more excited -- and simultaneously nervous -- about a beta test than I was for Guild Wars 2's third beta weekend that just passed. Raiding is by far my favourite MMO activity,…
Funcom explains The Park in a new video - Players of The Secret World already know the history of the eponymous amusement park in The Park, but there's a world of difference between going in there with the powers of a bee or just waltzing…
ARK has already sold 2 million early-access copies - How do you sell 2 million copies before you officially launch your game? Be a studio with a survival MMO on Steam. And, you know, not abandon your game. That part is not as easy as…
Check out preview videos for the next Lord of the Rings Online update - Minas Tirith is a big deal in Lord of the Rings Online; everything bringing player characters closer to Mordor is important, and Minas Tirith is a milestone. The game's next update will add in the region…
You’ll never see Camelot Unchained’s Archer before she shoots you - Interested in being a deadly threat at a distance? Then you should pay attention to Camelot Unchained's archer archetype, which comes in three class varieties: Winter's Shadow, Blackguard, and Forest Stalker. "At a minimum, we are…
Hyperspace Beacon: Quality-of-life tweaks in SWTOR’s Knights of the Fallen Empire - [AL:TOR]BioWare's Eric Musco delivered an amazing livestream last week. Many of the questions that players have been asking about the upcoming expansion for Star Wars: The Old Republic were finally answered. Most players were not looking for…
The Game Archaeologist: Dark Sun Online - Computer RPG players in the late '80s and early '90s were surely familiar with Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) and its now-famous Gold Box series. The series, so named because of their distinctive gold packaging, ran on…
EVE Online player builds a custom control board for the game - No one would argue that keybindings aren't important, but somehow just hitting X to fire all weapons doesn't feel as satisfying as, say, a proper control panel. One EVE Online player decided that it wasn't enough…
Massively Overthinking: PvP MMOs without the PvE - Back in April, we ran an Overthinking about a perceived lack of high-quality PvE-oriented MMO titles on the horizon, and that's a conversation that keeps coming up whenever we talk about upcoming MMOs, particularly Camelot Unchained, as…
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns will introduce the dragon Glint’s legacy - One of the vacation destinations awaiting Guild Wars 2 players in Heart of Thorns is Tarir, a "shining golden city" teeming with magic and mystery and the type of history that you never learn in school.…
Perfect Ten: Weird questions that I want answered before I play an MMO - Jumping into a new-to-me MMO can be a heady, nerve-wracking event. I think there's a reason why we find our "comfort" games and feel a pull to stay with the known than to venture out more…
Destiny is adding microtransactions, starting with emotes - Bungie is opening another revenue pipeline for its popular Destiny, as the game will introduce microtransactions next week. "This coming Tuesday, October 13th, Tess Everis will return to The Tower with a new look, a new…
Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns has a bevy of rewards in store for PvP - Don't fret your sweaty heads, PvPers -- ArenaNet has not forgotten you. In fact, the studio is throwing you all sorts of incentives to fight other players in Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns with new…
Star Wars: The Old Republic outlines crafting changes in its next expansion - [AL:TOR]Everything in Star Wars: The Old Republic is changing in a big way when Knights of the Fallen Empire launches, and that includes crafting mechanics. A new entry on the official site explains the ways in…
Player explorer returns from 10-month mission in Elite Dangerous - Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Pioneer. Its 10-month mission: to explore strange new systems, to seek out new contracts and new paydays, to boldly go where no player has gone…
John Smedley’s company moves into an office, is working on a new game - While ex-Daybreak CEO John Smedley isn't quite ready to reveal what his new game company is all about, he did post a couple of pages about his new office while saying that yesterday was the first day…
Revival’s tags support ‘elements of role playing that many still believe are impossible in an MMO’ - Just in case you thought Revival was all sex and gore, IllFonic's latest dev blog is here to discuss something relatively dry and technical: tags. Interestingly enough, the tagging system is also one of the most simple…
Star Wars: The Old Republic outlines changes to the core worlds - [AL:TOR]Given the fact that Star Wars: The Old Republic's upcoming expansion is very much focused around stories, it'd be a bit odd if all of the old missions went away entirely. At the same time, the…
Guild Wars 2’s first raid boss is downed and the beta weekend gets extended - Bugs are a natural part of any beta experience, so it's not exactly surprising that Guild Wars 2 would experience some bugs during the Heart of Thorns beta testing. What is a bit more heartbreaking for…
THIS WEEK’S CASTS & STREAMS
Massively OP Podcast Episode 32: WildStumble
The Stream Team: 12 days of SWTOR, day 8
The Stream Team: A peek into Final Fantasy XIV’s housing
The Stream Team: Requisitioning a rocket launcher in The Secret World
The Stream Team: 12 Days of SWTOR, Day 7
The Stream Team: A WildStar expedition to Fragment Zero
The Stream Team: The road to EverQuest II’s Nektropos Castle is paved with Heritage Quests
Stream Team: 12 days of TOR, day 6
The Stream Team: Checking out Marvel Heroes’ Kitty Pryde
AND FROM OUR FRIENDS AT BLIZZARD WATCH
Blizzard Watch is looking for WoW Druid columnists
Which WoW bonus events make you want to log on?
Every week, get caught up on the MMO genre’s latest news and Massively OP’s best content in our MMO Week in Review! Want more roundups of content? Try Monday’s Not So Massively for MOBA and multiplayer news, Friday’s Betawatch for MMO testing highlights, Saturday’s Make My MMO for MMO crowdfunding updates, and Sunday’s The MOP Up, which mops up all the little bits of news we didn’t cover anywhere else.
